Vit à : Paris , France
Alara Villa is a curator and researcher based in Paris, with a background in fine arts and history from the University of La Sorbonne, the University of Bologna, and the EHESS. Having grown up between Turkey and Italy, she focuses on exchanges in oral history, material and visual culture in the Mediterranean. Her interests range from the transmission of beliefs and rituals, symbols, and craftsmanship, to the production of new knowledge in the accelerated mobilities of the cosmopolis. Navigating across disciplines and utilizing formats that are often participatory, collaborative, and community-focused, she reflects on the continuity and change between the past and present.
Co-founder of the SPAM collective (2021-2023) and FESTA (2023-2024), she continues to experiment with exhibition and event formats, particularly in ways of engaging with difference and opening spaces for dialogue and imagination for the public. She has contributed to various cultural institutions, including Istanbul Modern in Istanbul, the Kadist Foundation in Paris, and the Itinérance Méditerranée association in Marseille. She was a resident at the Home Workspace Program at Ashkal Alwan in Beirut and curatorial fellow at Slavs and Tatars – Pickle Bar in Berlin, with the support of the French Institute of Germany.
CURATING: “When Hüsn-i Hat Learned to Spell in Latin”, roundtable and workshop, Pickle Bar – Slavs and Tatars, Berlin, 2024, with Tevfik and Emin Barın, Naïma Ben Ayed
RESIDENCY: Villa Alitti, Stazzona, Corsica, August 2024
PUBLICATION: Talismagic, Shani Leseman, contribution with the text: “The Endurance of Symbols”, 2024
FELLOWSHIP: “Jeunes Commissaires” at Slavs and Tatars – Pickle Bar, Berlin, June-December 2024, with the support of the Bureau des Arts Plastiques of the French Institute Germany and OFAJ/FGYO
CURATING: “Passa la Polenta”, culinary pop-up, with the Festa collective, Café Müller, Paris, 2024
CURATING: “Keşkek”, Banquet, with the Festa collective, Marseille, 2023
CURATING: “From Istanbul with Love”, public installation, Istanbul, 2022, with Altay Tuz, Dimitri Milbrun, Jungleye, Maya Minder, Mirat-Masson, Mona Young-eun Kim, Oddviz, Taysir Batniji and Umberto Coa
CURATING: “On Afternoons, Babybelle and Look at What a Nice View!”, Group Exhibition, Kiralık Depo, Istanbul, 2022, with Chiara Camoni – Ines Bassanetti, Nejbir Erkol and Teddy Milbrun
CURATING: “Strangerhood”, Group Exhibition, Restaurant Porte St. Denis, Paris, 2021, with Altay Tuz, Aslı Toraman, Ayşe Ertung, Can Yıldırım, Cem Gülsüm, Derin Demircioğlu, Ferhat Aktaş, Kıvılcım Güngörün, Lara Kalecik, Mehmet Süzgün, Nikkole, Oğulcan Kuş, Rosalie Anter, Viable, Vincent Krüger
RESIDENCY: “Home Workspace Program”, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon, January-June 2021