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La Biennale di Venezia 2011: ILLUMInazioni / Arsenale
June 2, 2011
ILLUMInazioni – ILLUMInations is the title of the Biennale di Venezia 2011, the 54th International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy. This time, the curator of the international exhibition is Bice Curiger. She has chosen 83 artists. In this video we have a look at the artists presented in the Arsenale, among them Yto Barrada, Monica Bonvicini, Song Dong, Urs Fischer, Nicholas Hlobo, Christian Marclay, Roman Ondak, Monika Sosnowska, and others.
For the exhibition in the Central Pavilion in the Giardini, click here! More videos coming soon.
La Biennale di Venezia 2011: ILLUMInazioni – ILLUMInations / Arsenale. Preview, June 1, 2011.
> Right-click (Mac: ctrl-click) this link to download Quicktime video file.
From the press release:
The 54th International Art Exhibition, with the title of ILLUMInazioni – ILLUMInations, directed by Bice Curiger and organized by La Biennale di Venezia under the presidency of Paolo Baratta, will be accessible to the public from Saturday June 4th to November 27th 2011 in the Giardini and the Arsenale. The preview will be taking place on June 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2011. The award ceremony will take place June 4th.
Bice Curiger is an art historian, critic and curator of international exhibitions. Her curatorial activity at Kunsthaus Zurich parallels her important work in the publishing sector. In 1984, she cofounded the prestigious art magazine “Parkett”, of which she is editor-in-chief. She has been publishing director of London Tate Gallery’s magazine “Tate etc” since 2004.
The exhibition ILLUMInazioni – ILLUMInations will be laid out in the Central Pavilion in the Giardini and in the Arsenale, forming a single itinerary, featuring 83 artists from all over the world, including 32 young artists born after 1975, as well as 32 women artists. The director asked four participating artists to create “parapavilions”, architectural and sculptural structures erected in the Giardini and the Arsenale to house the works of other artists.
As usual, the Exhibition will be paralleled by 89 National Participations, a record for the Art Biennale (they were 77 in 2009), housed in the historical Pavilions in the Giardini, in the Arsenale, as well as in other locations around the city. The Padiglione Italia in the Arsenale, organized by the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities together with PaBAAC – General Direction for landscape, fine arts, architecture and contemporary art, will be curated by Vittorio Sgarbi. The countries that will be participating for the first time will be Andorra, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Haiti. Other countries will be participating after a long period of absence: India (1982), Congo (1968), Iraq (1990), Zimbabwe (1990), South Africa (1995), Costa Rica (1993, afterwards with IILA), Cuba (1995, afterwards with IILA). There will be 37 Collateral Events arranged by international organizations and institutions, that will set up their exhibitions and initiatives in various locations around the city on the occasion of the Biennale.
“La Biennale di Venezia is one of the world’s most important forums for the dissemination and illumination of current developments in international art – Bice Curiger stated. The title of the 54th International Art Exhibition, ILLUMInations, literally draws attention to the importance of such endeavours in a globalized world. As the biggest and oldest Biennale, la Biennale di Venezia has always been buoyed by an international spirit, and even more so now in an age in which artists themselves have become multifaceted, discerning migrants and cultural tourists”.
“ILLUMInations emphasizes the intuitive insight and the illumination of thought that is fostered by an encounter with art and its ability to sharpen the tools of perception – the director underlined. While the last Biennale ‘Making Worlds’ highlighted constructive creativity, ILLUMInations will focus on the ¢light’ of the illuminating experience, on the epiphanies that come with intercommunicative, intellectual comprehension. The Age of Enlightenment also resonates in ILLUMInations, testifying to the enduring vibrancy of its legacy”.
“The Biennale is like a wind machine – Paolo Baratta reveals. Every two years, it shakes the forest, unveils hidden truths, gives new strength and light to new sprouts, showing older trunks and persisting branches from a different perspective (this year trunks are really old considering the intention expressed by the curator to open with Tintoretto). The Biennale is a great pilgrimage, where in the works of artists and in the work of curators the voices of the world meet, to talk about their own and our future. Art here is meant as a continuous evolution”.
“In an age in which art has long since ceased the emphasis on the provocation of anti-art – president Baratta adds – we seek the ways of the dialogue between the artist’s work and our vision and our spirit, we want to understand and feel the ‘beyond’ that art generously offers and whispers to us, we wish ¢illumination’ as visitors, as art lovers, as individuals and as members of the human community”.
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June 4th, 2011 at 9:10 am
[...] On the second day of the Venice Biennale Preview, we had a look at the Central Pavilion in the Giardini. ILLUMInazioni – ILLUMInations is the title of the Biennale di Venezia 2011, the 54th International Art Exhibition in Venice, Italy. This time, the curator of the international exhibition is Bice Curiger. She has chosen 83 artists. Click here for the ILLUMInations exhibition in the Corderie / Artiglierie, Arsenale. [...]