Viva l’Arte Viva – The 57th International Biennial Exhibition 2017 in Venice is opened to the public on Saturday 13 May and is open until Sunday, 26 November 2017. We are almost at the end of the most important event for the art world and since the opening there we found ourselves in the historic Pavilions to the Gardens, then to the Arsenal and in the historic center of Venice, it is always a great commitment to walk to reach the various pavilions but some were a nice surprise, something new. An exhibition accessible and enjoyable for the public.
There are 120 participating artists coming from 51 countries; of these 103 artists are present for the first time in the International Exhibition. Affiliated with 85 National Participations. There are 4 countries present for the first time as Antigua and Barbuda, Kiribati, Nigeria, and Kazakhstan, only for the first time and with a space inside a very interesting church!
This year they created a meeting table with artists on Fridays and Saturdays, one at a time. Open to the public in order to let artists have the space to talk about their work with video selfie, with lists of favorite books written for the project “My Library”. The main theme is: Dialog
The show is this year is curated by Christine Macel, chief curator at Center Pompidou in Paris, the fourth woman called for artistic direction during the 122-year history of this event, after Maria de Coral and Rosa Martinez, who together took care of that of 2005, and Bice Curiger who was entrusted with the 2011 edition.
Marcel has created a homogeneous project “An Exhibition inspired by humanism. A humanism that is not focused on an artistic ideal to chase, nor is it more marked by the celebration of man than being able to dominate the surrounding; but a humanism that celebrates man’s ability, through art, to not be dominated by the forces that govern what is happening in the world, forces that if left alone can greatly reduce the human dimension in a reduced way. It is a humanism in which the artistic act is at once a form of resistance, liberation, and generosity. ”
Presided by the President of the Biennial Paolo Baratta: “The Biennial must be characterized as a place that has as a method, and almost as a reason for being, the free dialogue between artists and between them and the public. Because this Biennale is dedicated to celebrating, and almost to giving thanks, to the very existence of art and artists, who offer with our worlds a dilation of our perspective and the space of our existence. ”
VIVA ARTE VIVA develops around nine chapters or families of artists, with two first universes in the Central Pavilion at Gardens and seven other universes that wind up from the Arsenal to the Garden of the Virgins. “An exhibition inspired by humanism – emphasizes Christine Macel – a humanism in which the artistic act is at once a form of resistance, liberation and generosity.” What I was most impressed with this year was a number of Selected Collateral Events that even the public was able to admire in a particular way! A series of scattered exhibitions and artists in the center, the one that excites the most. In general, it is always interesting to see many artists coming from all over the world. The light sweepers, the flowered shoes, the tunnel-obedient, the colorful “cramps”: This year’s novel the creation of very interesting thematic areas, the performance is mastery of works that are intrinsic to reflections, ideologies, new technologies and new cognitive ways. So in the Central Pavilion at the Franz West Gardens we sleep like Yelena Vorobyeva and Victor Vorobyev and lie on a bed where they lie, Frances Stark sitting on the sofa of his atelier, while Katherine Nuñez and Issay Rodriguez Filipino artists, crochet. The boredom and the books become creativity, as well as very special and beautiful installations like Olafur Eliasson’s title otium-negotium, where a group of refugees produce lamps designed for an artist who is not there anymore, all made in common and which you can buy. As always, around the Biennale is scattered all over the city an offer of great opportunities not to be missed, everything revolves around life and magic and dreams, it is worth getting lost in the calling and diving into spell celebrating British Art Damien Hirst at the Pinault Foundation from the Customs Point at Palazzo Grassi; and Master Hector Sottsass at the Glass Rooms of the Giorgio Cini Foundation.
What did it hit us anymore? Among the 12 best pavilions of 2017 in order:
Germany: Anne Imhof Faust title curated by brilliant Susanne Pfeffer, a performance that has won this year’s Best National Award for performance that has made performance and minimalism work. Dogs have shifts, rest hours as in the circus and are the canine performance: six doberman puppies inside a rasp fence around as many guys-emerged from the gaze, is not understood if for artistic needs or for strife. (The dogs were taken from a Venetian Woman).
Italy: Giorgio Andreotta Calò Roberto Cuoghi Adelita Husni-Bey by Cecilia Alemani titled “The Magical World” title inspired by the book by Anthropologist Ernesto de Martino (1908-1965). Cuoghi proposes works performed on life and death portraying Christ in the ‘mummy’ version. Enter so inan inflatable plastic tunnel, that is a morgue of bodies of organic compounds that change shape depending on the voraciousness of the mold. At the end of the tunnel, however, there is no light but a refrigerating cell where the remains are stored and a dehydrated machine where it is reduced. The journey continues through the exciting and exciting installation of “The End of the World” by Giorgio Andreotta Calò, to the video installation by Adelita Husni-Bey. I would say interesting but wanted. The curator Alemani has had the merit of narrowly selecting young artists and value (instead of proposing yet another large collection of names) to give an incisive sign. A work of great value and emotional impact, made possible also because you chose the commissioner in advance.
Belgium: With the splendid works of Dirk Braeckman and “One thousand and one night” title of Belgian work Edith Dekyndt as though it were dust, it is light; as if it were a carpet, but it is a white rectangle. With the idea, he also found a virtuoso of the ramazas willing to sweep for eight hours a day the dust from the invisible Persian.
Mexico: With Carlos Amorales in “life in the folds”, artist’s alphabet, creating a total artwork in which various disciplines are involved such as visual arts, graphics, animation, film, music, literature, poetry and performance converge by activating unconventional reflections.
Japan: The flying houses of Takiro Iwasaki, in the “Upside-Down Forest” artist, make us dive into his forest of wood houses and beyond. The artist comes from Hiroshima is known for his small-scale reproductions of towers and shrines all over wooden. The exhibition curated by Meruro Washida.lo wait in Italy soon!
Korea: Cody Choi Wan lee counterbalance the stone and the mountain curated by Lee Daehyung, cheerful genius colored, with its neon facade looks like an unreal motel. The artist is inspired by other cities that share with Venice the power to make people dream and even dominate commercial spirit like Las Vegas to the west and Macau to the east. “His research is against Korea’s strong Westernization and study conflicts cultural influences that affect art.
England: the colors of Phyllida Barlow in the term “Folly” which indicates the extravagant architectural decoration and the state of mental incapacity. The work interacts with architecture everywhere the artist has installed a group of colorful giant balls like bubbles, which somewhat demystify the serious neoclassical forms of the building, edited by Delphine Allier and Harriet Cooper.
USA: Marc Brasford “Tomorrow is Another Day” by Chirstopher Bedford and Katy Siegel is very beautiful and interesting between art and politics, has created a site-specific work in five different rooms, combines a strong color approach, remembers Rothko and the subject with deep focus on social issues and people living on the margins of society. In one of the rooms there is a Medusa, made with black waxed strands, frequently used material, to form a classic-contemporary triptych around the theme of female representation.
France: Xavier Veilahn Venice studio curated by Lionel Bocier and Christian Marclay, special with his contemporary performance music. Veilahn transformed the pavilion into a geometric “acoustic wooden box”, with a recording studio, where music is made throughout the life of the Biennale.
Switzerland: Carol Boce, Teresa Hubbard at Alexander Birchler “Woman of Venice” draws inspiration from the absence, unknown to Alberto Giacometti of the Biennale Arte, curated by Philipp Kaiser, confronts the universe of Alberto Giacometti and wants to explore the history of Pavilion and Swiss contributions to the Biennale from a contemporary perspective and at the same time.
New Zealand: On a 40-foot long screen, Lisa Rehiana’s mega digital animation film tells about colonialism, power, and desire for the Tose dell’Isolotto. To see it all you have to move on the benches.
Chile: The Mapuche masks are 1500 exhibited by artist Bernardo Oyarzùn, enter the dark pavilion, illuminated by the red led writings on the walls bearing 700 family names, resilient to everything and extinction thanks to its culture.
The pavilion of collaborations and the Dionysian pavilion: it strikes me, those run by women. Beautiful room dedicated to Raymond Hains, Embroidered Fabrics by Maria Lai, Gabriel Orozco, Leonor Antunes, and Ernesto Neto and Kiki Smith. A “Bio” note, halfway through the Corderie, is the work of Michel Blazy: from Converse sneakers, sow seeds, rosemary, field flowers and other aromas sprout;
Some artists in the Pavilions are not to be missed:
Michel Blazy of Monaco, lives in Paris
Achraf Touloub of Casablanca, lives and works in Paris
Special Biennale Off:
Sarah Revoltella, from the Pistoletto Foundation, a wonderful performance at the same time in a six countries in the war against the use of Weapons, a current and dramatic theme. The Action is the explosion of weapons in public. The shreds of weapons and shreds treading up to 3 larges circles of flowers and seeds that can in turn germinate.
57th Venice Biennal – Viva Arte Viva from 13/05/2017 to 26/11/2017
Curator: Christine Macel
Contemporary Art, in Exhibition Space: CENTRAL PADIGLIONE
Address: Fondamenta dell’Arsenale – Venice – Veneto
Official Web Site of the Art 2017 Biennial:
www.labiennale.org
Official Hashtag : #BiennaleArte2017
She is an independent curator, art advisor and international marketing management consultant. For more than 20 years, he has been a cultural designer of events related to contemporary art with particular attention to unusual spaces and interactions with other arts.