Enter Views on Crisis

Enter Views on Crisis is a project with the overall objective of decoding, analyzing and mapping crisis. The ongoing multi-year long debt crisis, which has been taking place in some eurozone member states since end of 2009 has actually affected the political, economic and social identity of Europe in all EU and EFTA states. Crisis has an impact on personal identities, socialities, as well as the quest for co-existence and social welfare. It has also revealed hidden problems not only in how societies function, but also advanced ‘Crisis’ to a symptom of an overall urge for a global transformation within current political, economic, social systems and discourses of knowledge. Crisis in this regard acquires various connotations and meanings according to national, regional, and personal context. ...

EVOC is presented in Venice in the framework of the project "REALISE - The Resilience of Art in Liquid Crises". A short video, conceptualised and produced by Martin Schaffner and Max Spielmann - Institute Hyperwerk, features a selection of the most interesting segments of the interviews carried out by the project so far.  

VENICE
COLLEGIO ARMENO MOORAT RAPHAEL
PALAZZO ZENOBIO
6-10.05.2015

Jia Aili al Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi

Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana – Pinault Collection presenta da martedì 5 maggio a venerdì 31 luglio 2015 nel foyer del Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi un complesso di opere inedite dell’artista cinese Jia Aili (Liaoling, Cina, 1979).

 

Dal 2013, la Pinault Collection ha scelto di mettere in luce regolarmente l’opera di un artista contemporaneo, chiamato a stabilire un dialogo tra il suo lavoro e l’architettura di Tadao Ando. Dopo le prime due proposte di Zeng Fanzhi nel 2013 e Wade Guyton nel 2014 per il Cubo di Punta della Dogana, il foyer del Teatrino sarà per la prima volta il luogo di questo incontro.

 

Gli spazi del foyer del Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi, disegnato da Tadao Ando, che costituiscono il segno più contemporaneo dei progetti realizzati a Venezia dall’architetto giapponese, accoglieranno sei opere di Jia Aili, tutte realizzate tra il 2011 e il 2015, quattro delle quali inedite.

 

La presentazione di questi lavori costituisce la prima esposizione personale che un museo europeo dedica a Jia Aili, uno degli artisti cinesi più celebrati della sua generazione. Cresciuto durante la modernizzazione economica cinese e sotto il controllo del socialismo Jia Aili, esprime nelle sue opere la solitudine dell’uomo di fronte al mondo moderno: i personaggi incarnano creature innocenti e fragili, alla ricerca di una Storia che si ricompone in modo frammentario attraverso i detriti di un mondo sepolto.

 

Le opere esposte al Teatrino sono una combinazione di dramma e speranza e rappresentano una sintesi del suo lavoro e del suo stile, in cui il movimento rapido del pennello, usato per catturare le fugaci impressioni, risulta in perfetto equilibrio con i minuziosi dettagli che attribuiscono espressività e autenticità all’opera.

 

La mostra sarà aperta tutti i giorni, tranne il martedì, dalle ore 10.00 alle ore 19.00.

Per i visitatori sarà disponibile una piccola pubblicazione gratuita con testo di Karen Smith.

JIA AILI

Nato nel 1979 in Liaoling (Cina), Jia Aili vive e lavora a Pechino. Si è laureato presso la Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in Shenyang. Il suo lavoro è stato presentato in numerose mostre in Cina e all’estero: mostre personale al Singapore Art Museum a Singapore (2012), Cornell University Hartell Gallery a New York (2010), He Xiangning Art Museum a Shenzhen (2010), Invia (Institute of International Visual Arts) a Londra (2010), Platform China a Pechino (2007). Ha anche partecipato a delle mostre collettive al Pinchuk Art Centre a Kiev (2014), al Museo nazionale di arte contemporanea di Seoul (2013), alla Triennale di Guangzhou (2008), al Shanghai Art Museum (2006 e 2007), al Museo nazionale della Cina a Pechino (2006).

 

 

Elenco delle opere in mostra:

 

The Young Aeolus-Thor, 2015

Untitled, 2012

Untitled, 2014

The Memory of North Willow Grass Island, 2012-2014

The God of Small Things, 2006-2009

Noah’s Dream, 2012-2015

The venetian blinds - artist run bands

2015 TOUR - FIRST EDITION VENICE 7-8-9 MAY 2015

The opening of the 56th Venice Biennale will mark the first edition of THE VENETIAN BLINDS - ARTIST-RUN BANDS

Conceived and produced by
Palazzo Grassi - Punta della Dogana (Venice), LeConsortium Dijon andSilencio (Paris), The Venetian Blinds - Artist-Run Bands is the first Music Festival entirely dedicated to rock bands founded by visual artists. More international dates will soon be announced. The Venetian Blinds’ motto: “This is the price to pay to keep up a certain idea of behaviour, a certain idea of entertainment. The Venetian Blinds is on tour!”
The first concerts will take place in Venice on 7, 8, 9 May 2015 at 9:30 PM at Teatrino di Palazzo Grassi. (Doors open at 8:30 PM).

Tickets are free and exclusively available by pre-registration online from 30 April at : www.thevenetianblinds.com.

During three days the following bands will be on stage :
• EMILY SUNDBLAD & MATT SWEENEY
• THE RODNEY GRAHAM BAND
• THE CORNICHONS
• BOB CAROL TED
• I APOLOGIZE
• MARTIN CREED AND HIS BAND

More info & pre-registration on www.thevenetianblinds.com
Follow us on instagram : @thevenetianblinds


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LINEUP
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THURSDAY 7 MAY
DOORS OPEN AT 8.30PM
DJ SET BY ERIK RUG (SILENCIO RESIDENT DJ)
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9.30PM
EMILY SUNDBLAD & MATT SWEENEY
Emily Sundblad is a Swedish singer, actress and painter. She is one of the founders and portrayers of fictional artist and art dealer Reena Spaulings, whose work was exhibited at the Tate Modern and the Whitney Museum’s Biennial. Matt Sweeney is an American guitarist best known for his former heavy rock band Chavez and his collaborations with producer Rick Rubin and Bonnie "Prince" Billy.

10.30PM
THE RODNEY GRAHAM BAND
Feat. Rodney Graham, Paul Rigby, David Carswell, Peter Bourne
Vancouver-based artist Rodney Graham will bring to Venice his signature blend of psychedelic rock and folk music. “Graham has always kept the question open: am I a musician trapped in an artist’s mind or an artist trapped in a musician’s body”, wrote Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth.

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FRIDAY 8 MAY
DOORS OPEN AT 8.30PM
DJ SET BY ERIK RUG (SILENCIO RESIDENT DJ)
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9.30PM
THE CORNICHONS
Feat. John Miller, Dan Walworth, Aura Rosenberg, Jose Martos, Servane Mary, Jon Kessler
John Miller’s protean oeuvre (photographs, paintings, sculptures, videos), enlightened by his prolific production of critical texts, has ever questioned the values of our societies, both in the global societal sphere and in the more specific realms of media and art. Since studying at the Rhode Island Art School, he has been the member of numerous bands, including The Poetics alongside Mike Kelley and Tony Oursler. The Cornichons, his latest project, was founded in 2013.

10.30PM
BOB CAROL TED
Feat. Steve DiBenedetto, Dave Rick, Colette Russen
In the late 1980's, acclaimed painter and drummer Steve DiBenedetto and guitarist/bassist Dave Rick wrote, recorded, and performed together in progressive art punk bands Wonderama and Shapiro-rama. Throughout the '80s and '90s, Dave also played in paradigm shifting bands Yo La Tengo, Phantom Tollbooth, Bongwater, and King Missile. BOB CAROL TED reunites Steve's drums and Dave's guitar, and adds Colette Russen's bass. BCT is a pre-modern-green-energy-trio dedicated to coaxing twenty-first century noises out of twentieth century musics and materials.

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SATURDAY 9 MAY
DOORS OPEN AT 8.30PM
DJ SET BY ERIK RUG (SILENCIO RESIDENT DJ)
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9.30PM
I APOLOGIZE
Feat. Jean-Luc Verna, Gautier Tassart, Julien Tiberi
Siouxsie and the Banshees, T.Rex, Janis Joplin are among the music icons of Jean-Luc Verna. The French performer, photographer, sculptor and designer enjoys covering their songs and adopting their codes and attitudes. “I was born in the 60s, therefore I am 25. This is the perfect age to put on stilettos and take the mic.”

10.30PM
MARTIN CREED AND HIS BAND
Feat. Martin Creed, Anouchka Grose, Keiko Owada, Serge Vuille, Katy Huntley, Katrina Wilson, Rob Eagle
Turner Prize-winner Martin Creed founded his alternative rock band, formerly known as Owada, in 1994. His latest album Mind Trap, produced by Creed and Andy Knowles, was released last year on Telephone Records.

Artstack launches PALAZZOPECKHAM.COM

WELCOME TO PALAZZO PECKHAM!

ArtStack partners with Palazzo Peckham at Venice Biennale

ArtStack is pleased to announce its partnership with Palazzo Peckham at the 55th Biennale di Venezia. ArtStack powers the Palazzo Peckham web channel and will host the ArtStack Social Hours at Palazzo Peckham, from 5–7pm throughout the opening week of Venice Biennale at Palazzo Peckham’s space in Castello. Palazzo Peckham features works and interiors commissioned from international artists, which will also feature on the website. The space will host a series of live events and is additionally home to a temporary bar and kitchen created by Jackson Boxer, Frank Boxer & Andrew Clarke. ArtStack is the social media platform for art, where art lovers share and discover works from around the world. 

 

PalazzoPeckham.com is conceived as an integral part of the Palazzo Peckham experience, hosting specially commissioned new works and allowing guests to share their own videos, images and comments. It is additionally a live channel for material created by Palazzo Peckham’s in-house team with visitors to the Palazzo. Enabling an unprecedented level of audience engagement and participation, the website is fully integrated with ArtStack and gives guests an opportunity to explore more of the artists’ work, discover their influences and continue their experience after the project’s completion.

 

ArtStack Social Hours

ArtStack Social Hours at Palazzo Peckham will take place 5-7pm from Tuesday 28 May to Saturday 1 June 2013, providing a ‘real-world’ counterpoint to the online ArtStack experience. PalazzoPeckham.com and the ArtStack Social Hours are open to the public and will provide a complimentary art experience, where people come together around art – in discussion, creation, exhibition and documentation.

 

Ezra Konvitz, Co-Founder of ArtStack, said: ‘The Biennale is a global experience packed into a tiny space – it’s great to see art lovers documenting and sharing fantastic art on ArtStack’s mobile apps so people around the world can participate in the live experience. We’re thrilled to be sharing real-world art experiences online and our collaboration with Palazzo Peckham is an exciting way to bring online experiences back into the real-world.’

 

ArtStack is the social media platform for art, where everyone can share art they love. The platform demonstrates that the best way to discover art is through people. ArtStack is a global community includes some of today’s most exciting artists, curators, writers and creative thinkers in over 185 countries. ArtStack makes it easy to engage with the world's most exciting art and for people to discover art through the most trusted source: their friends and the people, institutions and artists they follow. The platform is available on web, iPhone and Android and in English, Chinese and Spanish.

Info palazzo.peckh.am and palazzopeckham.com

Otherwise Occupied

(English below)

Otherwise Occupied presenta due artisti palestinesi noti internazionalmente, Bashir Makhoul e Aissa Deebi. Entrambi gli artisti sono nati nell’ambito dei confini del 1948, ai margini di un altro stato nella loro patria e all’esterno della Cisgiordania occupata e dei centri della cultura palestinese contemporanea. Sono emigrati per diventare cittadini di altri stati che operano in un mondo artistico globale. Si considerano ancora palestinesi e sono alla ricerca di nuovi modi per immaginare la nazione, anche se ne sono fisicamente lontani. L’arte riesce a occupare gli spazi culturali che altrimenti sono inaccessibili o invisibili. Otherwise Occupied descrive altri modi per immaginare la nazione all’esterno e oltre il conflitto; è quindi un’occasione per ripensare in modo artistico e critico la de-territorializzazione della Palestina.

Liceo Artistico Statale di Venezia, Palazzo Ca' Giustinian Recanati, Dorsoduro 1012 (Accademia)

English

Otherwise Occupied features two internationally renowned Palestinian artists, Bashir Makhoul and Aissa Deebi. Both artists were born inside the 1948  borders, in the margins of another state in their homeland and outside the occupied West Bank and the centres of contemporary Palestinian culture. They have emigrated to become citizens of other states operating in a globalised art world. They still think of themselves as Palestinians and are in search of new ways to imagine the nation from a distance. Art is capable of occupying cultural spaces that are otherwise inaccessible or invisible. Otherwise Occupied describes other ways of imagining the nation outside and beyond the conflict; it is therefore a means of artistic and critical thinking through the de-territorialisation of Palestine.

Liceo Artistico Statale di Venezia, Palazzo Ca' Giustinian Recanati, Dorsoduro 1012 (Accademia)

May 29th – June 30th

Organization: Al Hoash

www.alhoashgallery.org 

www.otherwiseoccupied.co.uk

Culture Mind Becoming

Culture Mind Becoming è una mostra di un gruppo di eccellenti artisti cinesi il cui obbiettivo è di sovrapporre l’impatto culturale di appropriazione, riflessione e reinvenzione che esiste nella cultura cinese attraverso la lente della globalizzazione. In un periodo in cui in genere gli artisti riflettono sull’empirismo individuale come corpus sostanziale della loro prassi artistica, gli artisti cinesi sono tornati al loro patrimonio culturale dopo avere acquisito la conoscenza dell’arte occidentale. 

Grazie a una continua sperimentazione ed evoluzione promuovono un terreno comune in un contesto creativo e unico. Gli artisti cinesi sono influenzati a vari livelli dalla cultura occidentale in diversi momenti della loro vita. 

Vivendo in una società dalla cultura diversa, sono ispirati a ridefinire e reinventare la loro componente comune – l’esperienza culturale orientale - che si manifesta attraverso le presentazioni artistiche.

Palazzo Mora, Strada Nuova 3659 (San Felice)

Palazzo Marcello, San Marco 3699 (Rio Terà degli Assassini)

1 giugno - 24 novembre

Organizzazione: Global Art Center Foundation

www.globalartcenter.org 

"Culture‧Mind‧Becoming" - an exhibition of outstanding art by a group of Chinese artists - aims to juxtapose the cultural impact, appropriation, reflection, and reinvention existing in the Chinese culture through the lens of globalization.

Eastern artists were extensively influenced by Western aesthetic thought in the early 20^th  century. They learned to identify and reposition themselves in the global context from a different perspective. In the mid-20^th century, postmodernism from the West began to penetrate the East and, as a result of its coalescence and collision with indigenous thoughts, novel and inspiring ideas were born. As various campaigns and art groups emerged, people began experimenting with and applying audiovisual installations and new media, resulting in a boom in diverse artistic presentations. After year 2000, it became more difficult to distinguish an obvious conventional trend from the development of contemporary Eastern art, therefore, artists tended to base their creations on personal experience and sensation. Individuals have since become the interpreters of their very own perception and claim the right and venue to "represent themselves."

In a time when artists generally reflect upon individual empiricism as the main body of their artistic practice, the Eastern artists have returned to the womb of their cultural heritage after acquiring and applying their knowledge of Western art. Through constant experimentation and evolvement, they bring forward a common ground of unique, creative context. In this "transcultural site" we perceive an inclusiveness where the boundary between language and culture is challenged, and profound cultural memories revisited. Such context has led viewers to probe into the issues of contemporary Eastern culture.

The Chinese artists featured in the exhibition come from multifarious backgrounds, who have been more or less influenced by the Western culture at different points in their lives. Furthermore, living in a complicated society has inspired the artists to redefine and reinvent the common component of their earlier years - the Eastern cultural experience, which manifests itself through multifaceted, rich artistic presentations. The exhibited works are the "self-identification" of artists that derives from their being confident about their own culture, roots, and lifestyle.

The exhibition consists of three different but related curatorial concepts: "Re-discover" by independent curator Karlyn De Jongh from the Netherlands, "Ingrandimento" curated by Chinese notable independent curator Huang Du and Yang Shinyi, and "A Cautionary Vision" - Fang Lijun solo exhibition organized by Italian curator Danilo Eccher, current director of Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GAM) at Turin city in Italy.  

   

Section I： Re-discover 

In discussing the Eastern arts today, when we limit our consideration to a gaze at the external expressions, we observe plentiful reliance on rich Eastern visual semiotics and imagery in the works seemingly purposefully selected in the international arts platforms, to evoke substitutes for the "Eastern" through these traditional cultural symbols. As contemporary Chinese artists are confronted with challenges from internationalization, they must imbibe, digest and rebirth as they experience learning and borrowing from the Western arts, then adopt various schools methods and artistic movements before proceeding to a silent hibernation, from which they have emerged in recent years. Many Asian artists have become conscious of the imperative of rediscovery of their own cultural roots as the deep nutritive sources for their expressions to be authentic, allowing their work to take on a more powerful presence, and this consciousness relies on continuous experimentation and free expression, and to eventually elicit its own unique vocabulary in an expressive language - this is what we hope to have captured and rediscovered in the curatorial process of this exhibition. 

The emerging creative collocations of the Spirit of the East do not arise from any particular school or group of artists, but rather from independent expressions naturally arising from works, and through the curatorial process evincing their Eastern origins or spirit in the quest for their unique lifestyle expressions. Among the Chinese artists participating there is a tremendous variety of backgrounds, as well as exposure to challenges from Western arts at varying stages of their professional development. They find themselves in a society fraught with contradictions which confront their earlier periods of exposure to their common foundations in Asian culture, compelling a reconfrontation and renaissance, a "Re-discover" designed to reflect a deep or superficial "form" in their works, to re-explore, analyze, deconstruct and restructure, so that these creators visions, seek to express their own place in a world of globalization. Thus this exhibition, above all, put this issue onto an international platform, eliciting viewers to consider how to, during the "labor pain" of transformation, appropriate art form and to find a pertinent methodology between Chinese macro cultural structure and micro local personal narration. 

Section II：Ingrandimento

"Ingrandimento" (in English "Enlargement"), as the title suggested, aims to reflect on the value of contemporary Chinese arts, which lies in refracting cultural potential and vitality in the process of China's modernization, and the performance of the individual imagination and creativity of the Chinese artist. Thus, "Ingrandimento" adequately captured the dynamic characteristics of contemporary Chinese fine arts.

"Ingrandimento", refers to the physical sense of a microscope, as well as to enlarge images, voices or functions. It also includes the following several subtle layers of signification: 1. In physics it refers to increasing the volume of some material. It thus refers to the process of enlarging. It also includes the transformation of matter in the natural world. 2. In the sociological sense it includes the expansion of a nation, social progress or an individual's spiritual state. 3. In terms of the visual arts it refers to the artist's subjective imagination, creativity and expressiveness, as the realization of artistic language and concepts.

The 55^th annual Venice Biennale in 2013 resounds to the theme of "Encyclopedia Palace", with the range of thought, conceptions, identification, nationhood, variation, and diversity, as cultural values-"Ingrandimento" as a curatorial section under the Collateral Event "Culture‧Mind‧Becoming" is certainly a conjunct to the Biennale, broadening and deepening the theme. Thus, the Chinese artists participating in the exhibition shared in a common lingua franca of expressive language and conditions to exercise their imagination and creative potential, to create uniquely and characteristically Chinese art works. They depart from their local culture to discover a sense of the human spirit, or alternate cultural existences, or the significance of unfettered conceptions, or the representativeness of traditional aesthetics, and to reconceive their personal organization in relation to the collective sense. "Ingrandimento" does not mean a mere microscopic enlargement of the overall expression of contemporary Chinese arts, nor does it intend to create its own new descriptive jargon, but to use a little to express a lot, as the means of expressing and realizing the contemporary Chinese artistic aesthetic in its grandest variety.

"Ingrandimento" invited some 19 artists to participate, including the famed artist Xu Bing who presented his new multimedia Work On Site, Zhang Huan with his film To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond, along with Hainan's "Chaile (to demolish) Travel" (collaboration of Weng Fen, Wen Wu, and Huang Xuebin), an interventionist regional sociocultural work, the famous Abstractionist painter Mao Lizi, the young painters Su Ke, Yang Fan, Geng Yini, Hou Xiaowei, Li Hua, Liu Zhengyong, Meng Si'te, and Zhang Kai. Also participating was new works of sculptors Li Xiangqun and Li Chen's latest works. The young artist Fan Yaping also had a sculpture installation and paintings, as well as an installation by Huang Hsin-Chien, and photography by Zhang Wei. Each participant presented a micro-scopic lens to realize and interpret aspects of Chinese society whether through the variety of daily living experiences, psychological reactions, cultural traditions or social vibrancy.

Section III : Complexity theory in the work of Fang Lijun

"Complexity theory" has taken a leading role in contemporary theoretical physics since the 1960s; but in recent decades, the social, economic and philosophical repercussions of this theory have become even more evident. Indeed nowadays, the process of developing a nonlinear way of thinking, even linguistically, seems more conscious and concrete than it did just a few years ago. The very idea of evolving a complex way of thinking, a development capable of accommodating its "chaotic" content, an apparently disordered proliferation of ideas, can inspire interpretative and analytical practices that are completely unexpected and quite astonishing. Complexity theory interconnects with chaos theory, complex algorithms, quantum physics, and the tumult of new logic and mathematics. In short, this chaotic way of thinking has revolutionized our entire notional approach to knowledge. In theology, this would be like revisiting the suggestions of polytheism, and it is no coincidence that the latest developments in theoretical physics have made anthropological leaps in their analyses of shamanic knowledge. Complexity, not simplicity, is proving to be the authentic path to truth. On an emphatically marginal, but coherent, level, those involved in artistic inquiry also seem interested in this discordant way of thinking. An art historical reinterpretation of aesthetic phenomenology using reductive chronological, social or psychological methodologies does not provide an adequate framework for the analysis of contemporary events but, perhaps, it is also reductive in terms of a complex historical reading. This calls for a different critical and interpretative approach, one that can somehow clear the field of the evolutionary linearity that places the origin of contemporaneity within the context of the historical avant-garde. This interpretative logic is clearly rooted in Hegelian philosophy, with its spiraling linearity that proceeds through synthesis, and through advances that are coherent and connected, possibly complicated but never complex: there is a growing need for new tools of critical analysis that are able to call into question our current knowledge through an awareness of nonlinearity, of a complex route to knowledge that can no longer reject the truth of chaos. Art, and particularly painting, has moved decisively in this direction in recent years, in the multiple new artistic languages coming out of Asia. This art boasts a millennial iconographic tradition, sophisticated symbolism, an incredibly rich lexicon, a surprising philosophical weight, and a masterful capacity for expression. The absence of the very idea of the avant-garde, which has only recently been introduced through contact with the West, makes Asian art, especially that of China and India, an incredible critical and aesthetic laboratory in which artists can experiment with new interpretative methodologies and new lines of analytical complexity. In this context, the work of Fang Lijun testifies to the complex relationship between one-off and multiple, singularity and quantity, just as, in the algorithm of starlings in flight, the chaotic unpredictability of one bird's movement triggers an orderly collective of birds that move together in unison. Within the complex model generally established by a Fang Lijun work, the relationships between singularity and multiplicity are blurred with those of size, creating a dissonance between the large surfaces or dominant figures and the host of minute insects or imperceptible spider webs. Interpreting these works means constantly having to look at them from a distorted, skewed, oblique point of view, in other words, not allowing ourselves to be sucked in by the leading actors, but scanning the surface to find a more subtle, more obscure kind of protagonist, a scenic transparency captured in the minute, or the fragile. These works do not depict radiant epiphanic butterflies, but insects trapped and condemned in invisible spider webs; just as the heroes of other monumental works are not the corpses of revolutions but the ants and other insects that feed on them, which the eye must seek out. But seeking out the Cartesian coordinates in these works, the perfect proportions and the right point of view, is misleading: our vision must become fluid and unstable, glide over the surfaces, caress the images without ever stopping, in other words it must activate a nonlinear gaze, a complex gaze. Solar luminosity and nocturnal tragedy coexist in these works, which liberate bats and mice, cram jubilant crowds of madmen on the edge of the abyss, and enclose newborn babies in claustrophobic bubbles. Fang Lijun does not simply dramatize contradiction; rather than limit himself to the astonishing effect of opposition, his "Cynical Realism" is in reality a narrative about complexity, about the art of chaos that refutes linear interpretation, and that is immersed in an engorgement of languages and meanings. In this way, it is possible to access one of the secrets of an art that is covered by a thousand veils, infinite filters that impede our vision, opaque layers that must not be removed but that instead enrich our vision with surprises and truths. Although our critical gaze is often guided by purity and synthesis, in this case they only confuse and disorientate it, because this type of art cannot give up its ambiguity, or allow the mists that swirl around its narrative to dissipate.

Last year, when I presented Italy's first major solo show on Fang Lijun at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Turin, I wrote the following words: "The art of Fang Lijun contains all the secrets of the East: a sweet, simple figurative style enveloped in a brilliant use of color; a visionary, childlike fascination with an unattainable world; and a calm, graceful, balanced narrative: but all of this is just the brilliant patina of a style of painting that is able to suggest the contemporary anguish of loss of identity, the obsession of the collective, the presence of disease, pain, sin. It is an art of ambiguity and deceit, of levity and depth, of nightmares and emotions, of cynical fantasies", an art that demands to be interpreted by the most current categories of complexity.

Central Asian Pavilion 2013

Appena lanciato in rete il nuovo sito per l'iniziativa Central Asian Pavilion, http://www.cap2013.net/en

Oslo-based artists Ayatgali Tuleubek (Kazakhstan, 1985) and Tiago Bom (Portugal, 1986) have been appointed curators for the Central Asian Pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale.

For the fifth time, Central Asia will be represented at the Biennale by artists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with the Academy of Fine Art/Oslo National Academy of the Arts as the commissioning institution and Hivos (Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation) as partner and main supporter. The project team includes commissioner Vanessa Ohlraun, Dean, and project leader Susanne M. Winterling, Professor of the Academy of Fine Art in Oslo. 

The curators will unfold their concept of Winter – inspired by a poem from the influential 19th century Kazakh poet and thinker Abay Qunanbayuli – in the Central Asian Pavilion in Palazzo Malipiero with six artistic statements by eight selected artists. An important part of the programme is the cycle of film screenings, conferences and seminars that will take place in several cities in Central Asia and Oslo, from spring through to autumn 2013, as satellite projects, prior to and during the Biennale. The curators’ programme further includes a website platform for exchange and shared practice, as well as a publication accompanying the exhibition and satellite events. Abay’s poem ‘Winter’(1888), though commonly read as a depiction of the natural phenomenon and a traditional lifestyle, will be reinterpreted through 

its elements as a series of metaphors for the current socio-political situations in Central Asia. The curatorial project Winter will stress the complexity of the region’s current context, by employing tools of a poetical and metaphorical language to achieve a deeper understanding of the regional situation, both from within, and in relation to, the rest of the world. 

A much-needed light is intended to be shed on historical facts, motivations and desires, represented by the people that inhabit these specific spaces. As a result of an open call by the curators for artists from Central Asia, the Pavilion will present works by the following: Visual artists and scenographers Kamilla Kurmanbekova (1986) and Erlan Tuyakov (1985), from Kazakhstan. Both artists graduated from Kazakh National Academy of the Arts and will collaborate on an installation for the pavilion.

Ikuru Kuwajima (1984), originally from Japan, but based in Kazakhstan, works with photography and editorial projects focusing on Central Asia and the former Soviet Union. 

Kyrgyzstan-raised multidisciplinary artist Aza Shade(1988) is based in London, where she graduated from Central Saint Martins with a BA in Graphics (Moving Image). Her work plays with dark humour and the absurd, based on dysfunctional childhood, mental disorders and poverty. 

Anton Rodin (1988) and Sergey Chutkov (1984) both from Tajikistan, will work on a collaboration. Both artists have a background in linguistics and journalism. Saodat Ismailova (1981) from Uzbekistan studied filmmaking at Tashkent State Art Institute before joining the cinema department of Fabrica, a communication research centre in Italy. Ismailova is interested in the crossover of fiction and documentary observation, with a special focus on sound and cinematic experimentation. 

Vyacheslav Akhunov (1948) from Uzbekistan is one of the most distinguished artists in Central Asia today. As an artist, writer and philosopher his work comprises abstract paintings, installation, performance and video art as well as numerous essays and novels. His recent exhibitions include participation in  documenta 13 (2012), the Beirut Art Center (2012) and the New Museum, New York (2011).

The project team of the Central Asian Pavilion will further include Venice  coordinator Andris Brinkmanis and Central Asia coordinator Yekaterina Serebryanaya. 

Prossimamente nei musei veneziani

Nell’anno della Biennale la Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia che aggrega undici musei veneziani, dalla Torre dell'Orologio a quello del Vetro, ha presentato oggi parte del suo ricco programma.

Presso il salone centrale del Museo Correr, segnalo che è ancora in corso la stupenda mostra sul Guardi, prolungata fino al 17 Febbraio, la direttrice della Fondazione  Gabriella Belli, ha introdotto la variegata panoramica di mostre realizzate con una particolare attenzione alla qualità e alla tradizione culturale del territorio veneziano.

Le mostre saranno:

Manet. Ritorno a Venezia è il titolo della mostra che la Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia ospiterà dal 24 aprile al 18 agosto 2013 nelle monumentali sale di Palazzo Ducale, progettata con lacollaborazione speciale del Musée D’Orsay di Parigi, l’istituzione che conserva il maggior numero di capolavori di questo straordinario pittore.

Seguso  Vetri d’arte 1931-1973 Dal 18 maggio al 29 settembre 2013 al Museo del Vetro, Murano

La mostra è il frutto di un lungo lavoro di ricerca da parte dello studioso belga Marc Heiremans, grande esperto di storia del vetro muranese contemporaneo, su una delle eccellenze produttive del XX secolo: la “Seguso Vetri d’Arte”.

Attraverso una carrellata di capolavori viene focalizzata la vicenda di un’imprenditoria familiare, vera e propria “dinastia” della lavorazione del vetro, che ha contribuito in modo determinante allo sviluppo di quest’arte durante il Novecento. La fucina di famiglia, in cui lavorano Antonio Seguso, il figlio Archimede e i nipoti, diviene azienda nei primi Anni ’30, in un periodo di forte innovazione e grande progettualità manifatturiera.

La mostra, coprendo l’arco cronologico che va dall’avvio dell’azienda al periodo in cui si attua la separazione dei membri della famiglia, traccia il fondamentale contributo artistico di questa celebre vetreria.

NON SOLO GIUSEPPE VERDI. Gli inediti di Francesco Maria Piave - Dal 9 marzo 2013 al 7 gennaio 2014 a Casa di Carlo Goldoni, Venezia

Francesco Maria Piave (Murano, 1810 – Milano, 1876), celebre librettista e compositore muranese, affiancò la sua più prolifica produzione alla figura di Giuseppe Verdi, per il quale scrisse ben dieci libretti, tra cui “La signora delle camelie“ di Alexandre Dumas.

Di Piave il museo di Casa Goldoni custodisce una preziosa e inedita raccolta di venti libretti autografi provenienti dal Museo del Vetro di Murano, al quale furono donati dalla famiglia.

L’occasione del bicentenario della nascita di Verdi, che ricorre quest’anno, permette di cogliere l’opportunità di esporre questi rari esemplari, che rappresentano un tassello fondamentale per indagare il rapporto non solo culturale ma anche umano e socio-politico, intercorso tra il librettista e il maestro di Busseto.

LA COLLEZIONE ADELE FORNONI BISACCO  2 febbraio – 28 aprile 2013 al Museo del Merletto, Burano

Il nucleo di opere della “Collezione Adele Fornoni Bisacco” costituisce una delle più importanti raccolte conservate al Museo del Merletto.

Si tratta di cinquanta esemplari di merletti appartenenti a diverse tipologie tecniche ed ornamentali, recuperati e conservati con competenza e amore nel corso della sua vita dalla nobildonna, veneziana d’adozione, Adele Fornoni Bisacco Palazzi (1869 – 1968).

I preziosi manufatti permettono di ricostruire a grandi linee la storia di quest’arte antica e straordinaria e, anche attraverso esemplari provenienti da prestigiose realtà produttive di tutt’Europa, raccontare in maniera articolata come la preziosa tecnica del merletto si è sviluppata nel corso dei secoli.

MIRCO MARCHELLI. Scena muta per nuvole basse - Dal 9 febbraio all’8 aprile 2013  a Palazzo Fortuny, Venezia

A Palazzo Fortuny, la mostra Fortuny e Wagner. Il wagnerismo nelle arti visive in Italia, con cui la Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia ha inteso rendere omaggio al grande compositore tedesco nell’anno del bicentenario della nascita, si arricchisce del contributo dell’artista italiano contemporaneo Mirco Marchelli, che, per l’occasione, presenta un’installazione musicale e una serie di dipinti e sculturedal titolo Scena muta per nuvole basse.

Mentre sono in definizioni le mostre di Agatha Ruiz de la Prada al Museo Correr, quella di Vedova a Ca’ Rezzonico, Tapies a Palazzo Fortuny,  e altri interessanti progetti che saranno svelati a breve. 

Palazzo Enciclopedico veneziano

Nei giorni scorsi il Presidente della Biennale di Venezia, Paolo Baratta, accompagnato dal Curatore della 55. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, Massimiliano Gioni, ha incontrato a Ca’ Giustinian i rappresentanti dei Paesi invitati, dei quali 8 partecipano per la prima volta: Bahamas, Regno del Bahrain, Repubblica del Kosovo, Kuwait, Maldive, Costa d’Avorio e Nigeria, Paraguay. Era inoltre presente all’incontro il vice Presidente del comitato promotore del padiglione della Santa Sede alla Biennale Arte 2013. 

La 55. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte si svolgerà dal 1° giugno al 24 novembre 2013 ai Giardini e all’Arsenale (vernice 29, 30 e 31 maggio 2013), nonché in vari luoghi di Venezia. 

“La Biennale d'Arte si ripropone ancora una volta nella forma "duale" definita nel 1998: una grande Mostra Internazionale diretta da un curatore scelto a tal fine e le Partecipazioni nazionali.” Così Paolo Baratta ha introdotto la 55. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, ricordando che “i padiglioni dei paesi sono una caratteristica molto importante della Biennale di Venezia. Una formula antica di presenza degli stati eppure viva e vitale più che mai. Preziosa in tempi di globalizzazioni, perché ci dà il tessuto primario di riferimento sul quale possono essere osservate e meglio evidenziate le autonome geografie degli artisti, sempre nuove, sempre varie. Ci si può chiedere in che misura questi Padiglioni portino con sé, per quanto ampia sia l’autonomia lasciata ai curatori, anche desideri di rappresentazione del Paese che li organizza. Ognuno ha la sua storia e il suo stile. Possiamo senz’altro dire che in essi i Paesi rivelano il ruolo attribuito all’arte contemporanea quale messaggera del loro presente e della loro ricchezza culturale. Ma dai Padiglioni vengono anche rivelazioni su realtà e ricchezze più profonde di quelle delle pretese o consuete immagini ufficiali e stereotipate.” 

Il titolo scelto da Massimiliano Gioni per la 55. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte è: Il Palazzo Enciclopedico. 

Massimiliano Gioni ha introdotto la scelta del tema evocando l’artista auto-didatta italo-americano Marino Auriti che “il 16 novembre 1955 depositava presso l’ufficio brevetti statunitense i progetti per il suo Palazzo Enciclopedico, un museo immaginario che avrebbe dovuto ospitare tutto il sapere dell’umanità, collezionando le più grandi scoperte del genere umano, dalla ruota al satellite. L’impresa di Auriti rimase naturalmente incompiuta, ma il sogno di una conoscenza universale e totalizzante attraversa la storia dell’arte e dell’umanità e accumuna personaggi eccentrici come Auriti a molti artisti, scrittori, scienziati e profeti visionari che hanno cercato – spesso in vano – di costruire un’immagine del mondo capace di sintetizzarne l’infinita varietà e ricchezza. Queste cosmologie personali, questi deliri di conoscenza mettono in scena la sfida costante di conciliare il sé con l’universo, il soggettivo con il collettivo, il particolare con il generale, l’individuo con la cultura del suo tempo.” 

“Oggi, alle prese con il diluvio dell’informazione, questi tentativi di strutturare la conoscenza in sistemi omnicomprensivi ci appaiono ancora più necessari e ancor più disperati – spiega Gioni. 

“La 55. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte indagherà queste fughe dell’immaginazione in una mostra che – come il Palazzo Enciclopedico di Auriti – combinerà opere d’arte contemporanea e reperti storici, oggetti trovati e artefatti.” 

Al centro dell’esposizione sarà “una riflessione sui modi in cui le immagini sono utilizzate per organizzare la conoscenza e per dare forma alla nostra esperienza del mondo.” Ispirandosi a quello che lo studioso Hans Belting ha definito una “antropologia delle immagini”, la Biennale Arte 2013 curata da Massimiliano Gioni avvierà “un’indagine sul dominio dell’immaginario e sulle funzioni dell’immaginazione. Quale spazio è concesso all’immaginazione, al sogno, alle visioni e alle immagini interiori in un’epoca assediata dalle immagini esteriori? E che senso ha cercare di costruire un’immagine del mondo quando il mondo stesso si è fatto immagine? Fino a dove si estende il dominio dell’immaginario, quando ancora si lotta in nome delle immagini?” 

“Come nei teatri della memoria progettati nel Cinquecento dal veneziano Giulio Camillo – cattedrali interiori in cui ordinare il sapere in immagini – l’esposizione “Il Palazzo Enciclopedico” cercherà di delineare – conclude Gioni - la cartografia di un’immagine-mondo, componendo un bestiario dell’immaginazione.” 

La 55. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte della Biennale di Venezia presenterà, come di consueto, le Partecipazioni nazionali con proprie mostre negli storici Padiglioni ai Giardini, oltre che nel centro storico di Venezia. 

Anche per questa edizione si prevedono selezionati Eventi collaterali, proposti da enti e istituzioni internazionali, che allestiranno le loro mostre e le loro iniziative a Venezia in concomitanza con la 55. Esposizione. 

Note biografiche 

Massimiliano Gioni (Busto Arsizio, 1973) è curatore e critico di arte contemporanea. 

Direttore artistico della Fondazione Nicola Trussardi di Milano, Gioni è Associate Director e Director of Exhibitions del New Museum of Contemporary Art di New York. 

Nel 2010 ha diretto la 8. Biennale di Gwangiu essendone il più giovane direttore nonché il primo europeo. Nel 2003 ha curato la mostra “La Zona” per la 50. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte della Biennale di Venezia; nel 2004 è stato il co-curatore della biennale di arte contemporanea itinerante Manifesta 5 e nel 2006 ha curato la 4. Biennale di Berlino in collaborazione con l’artista Maurizio Cattelan e la curatrice Ali Subotnick. Con Cattelan e Subotnick ha fondato la rivista Charley e lo spazio no profit The Wrong Gallery, inizialmente allestita nel 2002 a New York e ospitata nel 2005 alla Tate Modern di Londra. 

Gioni ha curato innumerevoli mostre collettive – tra cui si ricordano “Ghosts in the Machine”, “Ostalgia” e “After Nature” al New Museum – e mostre personali di, tra gli altri, Pawel Althamer, Tacita Dean, Urs Fischer, Fischli e Weiss, Paul McCarthy, Pipilotti Rist, Anri Sala, Tino Sehgal, Paola Pivi. 

Caporedattore della rivista Flash Art a New York dal 2000 al 2003, Gioni ha collaborato con importanti riviste d’arte contemporanea tra cui Artforum, Art Press, Frieze, Parkett e pubblicato saggi e cataloghi con Charta, Mondadori, Phaidon, Les Presses du Reel e Rizzoli.