COLLABORATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS

COLLABORATIONS & EXCHANGES

El Nido’s work extends through a small number of carefully developed relationships — each grounded in dialogue, exchange, and a shared commitment to artistic inquiry.

Through both short-term partnerships and exhibition, performance, and event-based collaborations, these connections create bridges between Los Angeles and broader creative communities beyond, allowing ideas, practices, conversations, and works to move across different contexts in a considered and intentional way.

While exhibitions remain central to the platform, El Nido also hosts staged readings, performances, gatherings, lectures, screenings, concerts, and interdisciplinary events that encourage slower forms of engagement and conversation. Recent programming has included collaborations with HILMA. - through staged readings, as well as the production of intimate musical events such as pianist and composer Anthony Cardella’s concert programming in Northern Italy.

Alongside exhibitions and research-driven programming, El Nido also supports a select number of online and in-person courses focused on writing, literature, poetry, close reading, and contemplative learning practices.

you and your work - a conversation

lacp portfolio reviews | victoria chapman, vc projects | el nido, los angeles

I’m pleased to be returning as a reviewer for Exposure Portfolio Reviews 2026, presented by the Los Angeles Center of Photography.

I began working in the art field in the early 1990s. Nearly four decades later, I remain actively engaged with artists, exhibitions, and the evolving possibilities of photography.

My experience began in museums, where I worked as a registrar and assistant curator. I later spent 17 years as an art director, acquiring artwork and developing site-specific commissions for hotels and hospitality projects around the world. I have also worked as a contemporary gallery director and as a studio director and manager—helping artists develop bodies of work, realize commissions, and plan exhibitions.

In 2014, I founded VC Projects to work personally with artists across disciplines and at all stages of their careers. It grew from something I repeatedly encountered: artists seeking sustained, individual attention for their work—not simply a quick response, but a serious conversation about what the work is becoming and where it might go.

In 2021, I founded El Nido by VC Projects, an independent exhibition space in Los Angeles devoted to innovative and experimental practices. Its programming has brought early photographic processes, including collodion printing, into conversation with contemporary photography, sculpture, object, and installation.

Recent exhibitions have included Photography into Sculpture—An Homage and an Update, which has since traveled to Italy and Paris, and the current site-responsive exhibition An Anonymous Passage—within Blank Spaces.

My experience allows me to consider an artist’s work from multiple perspectives: museum, gallery, studio, curator, commissioner, collector, and exhibition space.

During a portfolio review, I am interested not only in individual photographs, but in the questions beneath the work. What is the artist trying to understand? How might the body of work develop? What form does it want to take, and where might it belong in the world?

A portfolio review should be more than an assessment. It should be an attentive, honest, and constructive conversation—one that helps an artist see the work more clearly and consider what may come next.

If this is the kind of conversation you are seeking, I would be very pleased to meet you.

EXPOSURE PORTFOLIO REVIEWS 2026
Los Angeles Center of Photography
September 30–October 2, 2026
Online

Appointments are now available through the Los Angeles Center of Photography.

https://lacphoto.org/events/exposure-2026/

sincerely, V.C.

FROM LOS ANGELES TO THE ITALIAN ALPS

EL NIDO JOINS THE MA/ARTE INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

(2025-2028 BIENNIUM)

EL NIDO IS PARTNERING WITH ZERO GRAVITÀ VILLA CERNIGLIARO (ITALY) FOR THE 2026-2027 / 2027 - 2028 BIENNIUM

EL NIDO HAS BEEN SELECTED AS A KEY "ARTISTIC OUTPOST" IN A NEW GLOBAL NETWORK DEDICATED TO INDEPENDENT RESEARCH, ENVIRONMENTAL ART, AND FEMALE LEADERSHIP. THIS COLLABORATION, CENTERED AROUND THE 4TH EDITION OF THE MA/DONNE PROJECT, AIMS TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN ISOLATED CREATIVE SANCTUARIES AND THE GLOBAL ART SCENE.

THIS NETWORK REDEFINES "INTERNATIONALIZATION" FROM THE BOTTOM UP. INSTEAD OF LOOKING TO MAJOR COMMERCIAL HUBS, WE ARE CONNECTING INDEPENDENT, FEMALE-LED SPACES—OUR ARTISTIC OUTPOSTS—THAT PRIORITIZE CREATIVE "CARE" OVER MASS CONSUMPTION.

THROUGH THE MA/DONNE PROJECT, EL NIDO COMMUNITY WILL ENGAGE IN A TWO-YEAR CULTURAL EXCHANGE WITH THE ITALIAN ALPS, FOCUSING ON SITE-SPECIFIC INSTALLATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL DIALOGUE, AND THE RESILIENCE OF INDEPENDENT ART SPACES. WE ARE BUILDING A BRIDGE WHERE THE "NEST" OF LOS ANGELES MEETS THE "HISTORICAL GRAVITY" OF ITALY

PARTICIPATION

2025 — THIRD EDITION, MA/DONNE ARTE
VICTORIA CHAPMAN — SOUNDSCAPE

2026 — FOURTH EDITION, MA/DONNE ARTE
CO-CURATORS: CHICCA BENEDETTO, VICTORIA CHAPMAN, ANDREA GARDINI, CRISTINA GHETTI, CATERINA GUALCO, MIROSLAVA HÀJEK, ANGELO PANTALEO, MARIA ROSA PIVIDORI, GERARDO ROSATO, LORENA SMANIOTTO, LUCA TAGLIETTI, ROSY TOGACI GAUDIANO.

2026 — FOURTH EDITION, MA/DONNE ARTE
BETHAN DEAR — PERFORMANCE ARTIST, DIRECTOR, WRITER (VIDEO PERFORMANCE)

ALPHABET OF HAVEN
LETTRISM, FLUXUS, AND THE LEGACY OF VILLA CERNIGLIARO

A CURATORAL JOURNEY BY CARLOTTA CERNIGLIARO

A PRESENTATION BY VICTORIA CHAPMAN | EL NIDO BY VC PROJECTS, LOS ANGELES

OPENING mid-OCTOBER - 2026

"ALPHABET" (THE RAW MATERIAL OF ART)
REFERS DIRECTLY TO THE CORE MATRIX OF LETTRISM AND VISUAL POETRY. IT SIGNIFIES THE USE OF THE LETTER, THE GRAPHIC SIGN, THE TYPOGRAPHIC CHARACTER, AND THE PHONEME DISMANTLED FROM ITS TRADITIONAL LINGUISTIC FUNCTION TO BECOME PURE VISUAL FORM. IT IS THE RAW MATERIAL WITH WHICH ARTISTS BUILD THEIR LANGUAGE.

"HAVEN" (THE SITE AND THE VISION)
REFERS TO VILLA CERNIGLIARO AND ITS HISTORIC PARK. THE VILLA IS CONCEIVED NOT MERELY AS A CONTAINER OR A CONVENTIONAL GALLERY SPACE, BUT AS A GENUINE HAVEN OF INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM. HISTORICALLY A SANCTUARY AND GATHERING PLACE FOR THE ANTI-FASCIST GROUP OF INTELLECTUALS CENTERED AROUND FRANCO ANTONICELLI, THE ESTATE CARRIES A DEEP LEGACY AS A PROTECTED SPACE FOR CULTURAL RESISTANCE. CONTINUING THIS TRADITION, HISTORICAL AVANT-GARDE MOVEMENTS AND LOCAL ARTISTS FOUND HERE A PLACE OF PRESERVATION, FOCUS, AND CREATIVE REBIRTH IN WHICH TO CULTIVATE TRANSFORMATIVE IDEAS.

COMBINING THE TWO CONCEPTS, "ALPHABET OF HAVEN" LITERALLY MEANS: THE VISUAL AND POETIC LANGUAGE BORN, PRESERVED, AND DEVELOPED WITHIN THE PROTECTED, REGENERATIVE ATMOSPHERE OF VILLA CERNIGLIARO. IT REPRESENTS THE UNIQUE EXPRESSIVE CODE FORGED WITHIN THOSE WALLS THROUGH THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN THE AVANT-GARDE COLLECTION (LETTRISM AND FLUXUS) AND LOCAL ARTISTS.

COLLABORATION WITH CASA REGIS: CENTER FOR CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY ART, ITALY

featuring a TRAVELING EXHIBITION:

PHOTOGRAPHY INTO SCULPTURE - AN HOMAGE AND AN UPDATE CURATED BY L MIKELLE STANDBRIDGE

Dates: OCTOBER 2025 - WINTER 2026: CASA REGIS: CENTER FOR CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY ART, MOSSO, ITALY

On display at el nido by vc Projects- DATES: APRIL 4 - June 6, 2026 - EL NIDO - LOS ANGELES

FEATURING: BENNIE FLORES ANSELL, ROBERTA TOSCANO, FABIOLA UBANI, OONA HYLAND
DAWN SURRATT, SILVIA GAFFURINI, L. MIKELLE STANDBRIDGE, AND OLGA CALDAS

CURATED BY L. MIKELLE STANDBRIDGE | STAGED BY VICTORIA CHAPMAN FOR EL NIDO, los angeles

the traveling group exhibition, photography into sculpture - an homage and an update, curated by l. mikelle standbridge

continues at immix gallery, paris, france, opening reception: September 17 - october 30, 2026

Featured artists:

Olga Caldas, Bennie Flores Ansell, Silvia Gaffurini, Oona Hyland, Diane Meyer, Villiam Miklos Andersen, Henrik Miklos Andersen, L. Mikelle Standbridge, Dawn Surratt, Roberta Toscano, Fabiola Ubani, Ugo Werner

Villa Magnani | Campiglia Cervo, Italy
Collaboration with El Nido & Villa Emma

As part of our ongoing collaboration with Villa Emma and Casa Regis, we are pleased to include Villa Magnani as a site-specific extension. During the summer retreat, participating artists are invited to spend time on the estate, engaging the landscape through observation, research, and creative practice across disciplines.

Located in Campiglia Cervo in Northern Italy, Villa Magnani is a nineteenth-century park shaped by the legacy of landscape architects Marcellino and Giuseppe Roda. Its grounds—marked by winding paths, grottos, and mature trees—offer a contemplative environment for artistic inquiry.

july 25, 2026 at 4 pm | CONCERT and art exhibition

FEATURING ANTHONY CARDELLA, PERFORMING CHOPIN AND NEW WORKS FROM THE VILLA’S HISTORICal PIANO also, on display, linda zambolin and francesco tori, once upon a time - incarnation of place, hand-painted and waxed photographs

ON JUNE 6, 2026, EL NIDO BY VC PROJECTS ALONG WITH HILMA. WILL PRESENT A STAGED READING OF NICK SILVER CAN’T SLEEP BY JANICE KERBEL, DIRECTED BY RHIAN REES.

THE READING WILL BE PRESENTED BY HILMA., A NEWLY FORMED THEATRE COMPANY BASED BETWEEN LOS ANGELES AND TORONTO, WHOSE WORK EXPLORES CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE, LANGUAGE, ATMOSPHERE, AND EXPERIMENTAL FORMS OF STORYTELLING.

PRESENTED WITHIN THE INTIMATE SETTING OF EL NIDO, THE EVENING CONTINUES THE SPACE’S ONGOING INTEREST IN INTERDISCIPLINARY DIALOGUE AND THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN VISUAL ART, THEATRE, LITERATURE, AND LIVE PERFORMANCE.

ARTIST RETREATS

VILLA EMMA | ARTIST RETREAT | NORTHERN ITALY

Originally designed to host artists engaged with Casa Regis: Center for Culture and Contemporary Art, Villa Emma is a treasure in its own right.

Set within the quiet beauty of Valle Cervo—“Deer Valley”—the villa’s historic architecture and surrounding landscape create an immediate sense of presence and inspiration.

From the moment I arrived, I felt it: a place that both holds you and invites something new to emerge within your creative practice.

The Hide | Artist Retreat | cotswolds, England

Just on the outskirts of the Gloucestershire town of Nailsworth sits The Hide, nestled within the Cotswolds AONB.

This is no ordinary getaway. It offers a quiet shift in pace for those seeking a change of scene, while also serving as an ideal setting for artists and creatives in search of inspiration.

online classes

Enclosure academy offers a range of ONLINE courses

Visit the blog to learn more: https://enclosuregroup.wordpress.com/contemporary-art/

ANCHORESSES NOW AND THEN

(ENCLOSURE GROUP)

This website IS for anyone interested in enclosures of any kind. The particular interest here is in enclosed communities of religious women in the Middle Ages and the symbolic systems developed within these communities. The Beguine women of the Low Countries, for example, were never overseen by the church. Inspired by the Life of Jesus and by the voluntary love bestowed upon him by the Virgin Mary, these women made it their mission to look after the poor and sick. Some see this group as an early form of a “women’s movement,” or a group of women intentionally gathered, who sought to create a just world. 

My name is Stacie Vos. I am a writer from Lansing, Michigan and hold a Master of Divinity from Yale. I am completing a dissertation in literature (at UC San Diego) called Englishing the Virgin, which traces the role of Marian devotion in late medieval prose works and early printed books in England.

I write short fiction and I research literature from the late Middle Ages to the early modern period. I also enjoy teaching modern literature and First Year Writing courses. One of my favorite authors to teach is Virginia Woolf, whose work A Room of One’s Own first theorized the importance of enclosed spaces and financial independence for women who sought to explore what we might call, following philosopher Hannah Arendt, the “life of the mind.” 

The resources gathered here will range from the literary to the visual and beyond, drawing from traditions reaching back to medieval devotional cultures forward to the sculptures, films, vessels and photographs artists are making today.

More images and sources are on the new Instagram page for the group @enclosedwithin

CONTACT: https://enclosuregroup.wordpress.com/contact/