Fra
gli otto artisti che rappresenteranno il padiglione dell'Iran ci sarà
anche Francis Alÿs.
Dal sito :https://ruyafoundation.org/en/
The
Ruya Foundation is pleased to announce the participating artists for
the National Pavilion of Iraq at the 57th Venice Biennale in May
2017. The exhibition, ‘Archaic’, will display the work of eight
Modern and contemporary Iraqi artists in dialogue with ancient Iraqi
artefacts. It will also include a new commission by internationally
acclaimed Belgian-born artist Francis Alÿs on the subject of war and
the artist.
The
exhibition will be curated by Tamara Chalabi, Chair and Co-Founder of
the Ruya Foundation, and Paolo Colombo, Art Adviser at the Istanbul
Museum of Modern Art. It will interrogate the notion of the
‘archaic’, which has a dual meaning whereby it can simultaneously
refer to an ancient cultural heritage and a fragile contemporary
political entity. The exhibition will draw out this duality and
explore the opportunities and restrictions presented to artists in
Iraq by the country’s momentous ancient inheritance.
The
exhibition will present works by Iraqi artists living in both Iraq
and the diaspora. Luay Fadhil (b. 1982) is based in Baghdad, Sherko
Abbas (b. 1978) and Sakar Sleman (b. 1979) are based in Sulaymaniya,
and Ali Arkady (b. 1982) is based in Khanaqin. Both Sadik Kwaish
Alfraji (b. 1960) and Nadine Hattom (b. 1980) are Baghdad-born but
are now based in the Netherlands and Germany respectively. The two
Modern artists represented in the exhibition will be Jawad Salim
(1919–1961), widely considered the most influential artist of the
Iraqi Modern period, and Shaker Hassan Al Said (1925–2004), his
pupil and friend.
Of
the six living artists, five have been commissioned by Ruya to create
new work for the Pavilion. A great number of artists working in Iraq
today continue to abide by an orthodox aesthetic tradition that has
been limited by mid-century education trends and the lack of cultural
exchange in Iraq in recent decades. All of the Ruya Foundation’s
work seeks to nurture and promote artists who move beyond these
paradigms and the selection of contemporary artists for the Pavilion
reflects that mission. Hattom and Sleman will both present
installation work, Abbas, Alfraji and Fadhil will present video work
and Arkady will present photography.
Each
of their Pavilion works will engage with Iraq’s heritage and
history, creating different resonances with the archaic theme. These
themes will interplay with the two Modern Iraqi artists, who were
amongst the first to strive for a new kind of Iraqi art in the 20th
century that would both engage with the European avant-garde and
create a distinctly Iraqi vernacular responding to the country’s
unique ancient heritage.
Francis
Alÿs’ commission will accompany the main exhibition and has been
the product of a longstanding dialogue between the artist and the
Ruya Foundation. In early 2016 Ruya organised a visit for the artist
to Baghdad and the refugee camps in northern Iraq. He followed this
visit with another expedition in October 2016 in which he was
embedded with a Kurdish battalion on the Mosul frontline, during the
ongoing campaign to liberate Mosul. The main line of enquiry for his
new work will be the role of the artist in war, whilst he will also
examine themes of nomadism.
Further
details of the artist commissions, along with information about the
ancient artefacts on display, will be announced in 2017.
#BiennaleArte2017
