GLOBAL MYOPIA (pencil & paper) Marco Maggi at Uruguay Pavilion

GLOBAL MYOPIA (pencil & paper)

 

Marco Maggi will represent Uruguay at the upcoming Venice Biennale, opening to the public on May 9 and on view through November 22, 2015. The Uruguayan pavilion is one of the 29 national pavilions located in the Giardini della Biennale. Marco Maggi's drawings, sculptures and installations encode the world. Composed of linear patterns that suggest circuit boards, aerial views of impossible cities, genetic engineering or nervous systems, his drawings are a thesaurus of the infinitesimal and the undecipherable. Marco Maggi's abstract language refers to the way information is processed in a global era, and his work challenges the notion of drawing itself. For the 56th Venice Biennale he will present "GLOBAL MYOPIA (pencil & paper)", a site-specific installation of self adhesive paper and pencils on the inside of the pavilion, and a large floating sculpture on the outside.

Saying that the world is myopic sounds depreciative: a planet without perspective, moving forward without any clear sense of direction. Marco Maggi, on the contrary, claims and prescribes myopia as the extraordinary ability to see from very close. Nearsightedness allows one to focus carefully on invisible details, it challenges the acceleration and the abuse of long distance relationships characteristic of our era. After a farsighted 20th Century with solutions for everyone and forever, it is time to stimulate our empathy for the immediate and the insignificant.

In "GLOBAL MYOPIA (pencil & paper)", paper and pencil, the two basic elements of drawing, get separated and the act of drawing is split into two stages. A portable kit composed of 10,000 elements cut out of self-adhesive paper becomes an insignificant alphabet that the artist will fold and paste onto the walls during the three months preceding the biennale. The diminutive papers are disseminated or connected following the specific traffic rules and syntax dictated by any accumulation of sediments. The colonies of paper drawings on the walls enter in dialogue with a custom lighting track provided by Erco. Myriads of high definition shadows and infinitesimal incandescent projections will aim to slow down the viewer. The only ambition of the project is to promote pauses and to make time visible.

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1957, Marco Maggi lives and works in New Paltz, NY and Montevideo, Uruguay. His work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America in galleries, museums, and biennials. He is represented by Josée Bienvenu in New York. In 2013, he received the Premio Figari (Career Award). Selected exhibitions include: Functional Desinformation, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2012); Optimismo Radical, NC-arte, Bogota, Colombia (2011); New Perspectives in Latin American Art, 1930–2006, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2008); Poetics of the Handmade, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2007); Fifth Gwangju Biennial, Korea (2004); VIII Havana Biennial, Cuba (2003); 25th Sao Paulo Biennial, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2002); Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2001). Public collections include: The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; The Drawing Center, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis; Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach; El Museo del Barrio, New York; Cisneros Collection, New York; Daros Foundation, Zurich.

The 56th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia is directed by Okwui Enwezor, curator, art critic and writer, and the Director of the Haus der Kunst, Munich. The Uruguayan Commissioner is artist Ricardo Pascale and the project is curated by Patricia Bentancur, Senior Curator and New Media Director at the Centro Cultural de España in Montevideo (CCE) a leading space for Iberoamerican art.

Uruguay Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

Marco Maggi

May 9 – November 22, 2015

Uruguay Pavilion at the Giardini della Biennale

Global Myopia II - Progetto di Marco Maggi per l'Uruguay

foto Josee Bienvenu Gallery

E' stato reso pubblico il progetto di Marco Maggi per il Padiglione dell'Uruguay, titolo Global Myopia II, una installazione specifica tutta realizzata col materiale tipico dei lavori dell'artista, l'impalpabile carta. 

foto Josee Bienvenu Gallery

Press release 

Marco Maggi will represent Uruguay at the upcoming Venice Biennale, opening to the public on May 9 and on view through November 22, 2015. The Uruguayan pavilion is one of the 29 national pavilions located in the Giardini della Biennale. Marco Maggi’s drawings, sculptures and installations encode the world. Composed of linear patterns that suggest circuit boards, aerial views of impossible cities, genetic engineering or nervous systems, his drawings are a thesaurus of the infinitesimal and the undecipherable. Marco Maggi’s abstract language refers to the way information is processed in a global era, and his work challenges the notion of drawing itself. For the 56th Venice Biennale he will present Global Myopia II, a site-specific installation of paper, stickers and pencils on the inside of the pavilion, and a large floating sculpture on the outside.

Saying that the world is myopic sounds depreciative: a planet without perspective, moving forward without any clear sense of direction. Marco Maggi, on the contrary, claims and prescribes myopia as the extraordinary ability to see from very close. Nearsightedness allows one to focus carefully on invisible details, it challenges the acceleration and the abuse of long-distance relationships characteristic of our era. After a farsighted 20th century with solutions for everyone and forever, it is time to stimulate our empathy for the immediate and the insignificant.

In Global Myopia II, paper and pencil, the two basic elements of drawing, get separated and the act of drawing is split into two stages. A portable kit composed of 10,000 elements cut out of self-adhesive paper becomes an insignificant alphabet that the artist will fold and paste onto the walls during the three months preceding the biennale. The diminutive papers are disseminated or connected following the specific traffic rules and syntax dictated by any accumulation of sediments. The colonies of paper sticker on the walls enter in dialogue with a custom lighting track provided by Erco. Myriads of high-definition shadows and infinitesimal incandescent projections will aim to slow down the viewer. The only ambition of the project is to promote pauses and closeness.

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1957, Marco Maggi lives and works in New Paltz, NY and Montevideo, Uruguay. His work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America in galleries, museums, and biennials. He is represented by Josée Bienvenu in New York. In 2013, he received the Premio Figari (Career Award). Selected exhibitions include Functional Desinformation, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2012); Optimismo Radical, NC-arte, Bogota, Colombia (2011); New Perspectives in Latin American Art, 1930–2006, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2008); Poetics of the Handmade, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2007); Fifth Gwangju Biennial, Korea (2004); VIII Havana Biennial, Cuba (2003); 25th Sao Paulo Biennial, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2002); and Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2001). Public collections include The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; The Drawing Center, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis; Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach; El Museo del Barrio, New York; Cisneros Collection, New York; and Daros Foundation, Zurich.

The 56th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia is directed by Okwui Enwezor, curator, art critic and writer, and the Director of the Haus der Kunst, Munich. The Uruguayan Commissioner is artist Ricardo Pascale and the project is curated by Patricia Bentancur, Senior Curator and New Media Director at the Centro Cultural de España in Montevideo (CCE), a leading space for Iberoamerican art.

Marco Maggi per l'Ungheria

Hotbed Marco Maggi Hotbed, 2009 (detail) Cuts on paper Courtesy of Hosfelt Gallery © Marco Maggi

Manca solo più un anno alla prossima edizione della Biennale di Venezia e le nomine cominciano ad arrivare, ecco ora quella di Marco Maggi per rappresentare l'Uruguay. L’artista vive fra il suo paese e gli Stati Uniti, dove ha già partecipato a diversi eventi internazionali. 

L'Uruguay proporrà Wifredo Díaz Valdéz.

L'Uruguay proporrà Wifredo Díaz Valdéz.

La Bienal de Venecia surge en 1893 por resolución del Consejo Municipal, que proponía la creación de una bienal nacional de exhibición artística que se llevaría a cabo al año siguiente, para celebrar la boda de plata del Rey Umberto y Margerita de Savoy. Recién dos años más tarde, el 30 de abril de 1895, se inagura la primeraBiennale di Venezia y Uruguay participa por primera vez en la década del 50.

El día 19 de julio de 2012, la Comisión Nacional de Artes Visuales -conformada por: Ricardo Pascale, Octavio Podestá, Lacy Duarte, Enrique Aguerre, Marcelo Legrand, Pablo Uribe y Gabriel Peluffo- designó a Wifredo Díaz Valdéz como el artista seleccionado para exponer en el Pabellón Uruguayo en la Bienal de Venecia 2013 (ver acta adjunta).

Además la misma comisión decidió solicitar a Pablo Thiago Rocca, Ángel Kalemberg, Carlos Capelán y Verónica Cordeiro, la presentación de un proyecto curatorial para el envío a la 55º Bienal de Venecia. Los proyectos, que se presentarán entre el 30 de agosto y el 10 de setiembre de 2012, serán evaluados por la Comisión a la que se le sumará el artista Wifredo Díaz Valdéz.