Monday, March 11, 2019

Venice: Looking Forward to: La Biennale di Venezia 58th International Art Exhibition – May You Live in Interesting Times

  Copyright - Korakrit Arunanondchai and Alex Gvojic - Courtesy: - Carlos/Ishikawa, London, C L E A R I N G, New York/Brussels, Bangkok CityCity Gallery, Bangkok - La biennale di Venezia


La Biennale di Venezia 58th International Art Exhibition
May You Live in Interesting Times
Preview - Press Conference

Looking forward to the 58th International Art Exhibition, titled May You Live In Interesting Times, 11 May - 24 November, curated by Ralph Rugoff, director of the Hayward Gallery, London and organized by La Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta.  The title of the exhibition is a phrase of English invention that has long been mistakenly cited as an ancient Chinese curse that invokes periods of uncertainty, crisis and turmoil; "interesting times", exactly as the ones we live in today.



Korakrit Arunanondchai in collaboration with Alex Gvojic
No history in a room filled with people with funny names 5 - 2018
Video with boychild: 3 channel video, 30:44 min. Installation: Mixed seashells, tree branches, laser harp, hazer, resin, LED lights, fabric pillows


  Screenshot – Press Conference 

La Biennale di Venezia 58th International Art Exhibition
May You Live in Interesting Times
Preview - Press Conference

 “The title of this Exhibition could be interpreted as a sort of curse, where the expression "interesting times" evokes the idea of challenging or even "menacing” times, but it could also simply be an invitation to always see and consider the course of human events in their complexity, an invitation, thus, that appears to be particularly important in times when, too often, oversimplification seems to prevail, generated by conformism or fear. And I believe that an exhibition of art is worth our attention, first and foremost, if it intends to present us with art and artists as a decisive challenge to all oversimplifying attitudes.”
Paolo Baratta
President La Biennale di Venezia

Ralph Rugoff and Paolo Baratta


Courtesy of the artist, Karma, NY and Gio Marconi, Milan – La Biennale di Venezia


Alex Da Corte
Rubber Pencil Devil - 2018
Video, color/sound; 2:39:52 min.

Screenshot – Press Conference

“May You Live in Interesting Times will no doubt include artworks that reflect upon precarious aspects of existence today, including different threats to key traditions, institutions and relationships of the “post-war order.” But let us acknowledge at the outset that art does not exercise its forces in the domain of politics. Art cannot stem the rise of nationalist movements and authoritarian governments in different parts of the world, for instance, nor can it alleviate the tragic fate of displaced peoples across the globe (whose numbers now represent almost one percent of the world’s entire population). “
Ralph Rugoff
curator

Photo: Nils Klinger - Courtesy the artist and Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich - La Biennale di Venezia

“…in an indirect fashion, perhaps art can be a kind of guide for how to live and think in ‘interesting times. The Exhibition will focus on the work of artists who challenge existing habits of thought and open up our readings of objects and images, gestures and situations. Art of this kind grows out of a practice of entertaining multiple perspectives: of holding in mind seemingly contradictory and incompatible notions, and juggling diverse ways of making sense of the world. Artists who think in this manner offer alternatives to the meaning of so-called facts by suggesting other ways of connecting and contextualizing them. Animated by boundless curiosity and puncturing wit, their work encourages us to look askance at all unquestioned categories, concepts and subjectivities. It invites us to consider multiple alternatives and unfamiliar vantage points, and to discern the ways in which “order” has become the simultaneous presence of diverse orders.”
Ralph Rugoff


Teresa Margolles
Muro Ciudad Juárez (Ciudad Juárez Wall) - 2010
Concrete blocks, barbed wire and gun holes result of a vengeful shooting linked to organized crime in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico
Collection Frac Grand Large – Hauts-de-France, Dunkerque
Exhibition view: Teresa Margolles - “Frontera”, Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, 2010

 Zanele Muholi - Courtesy of Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York
 La Biennale di Venezia

Zanele Muholi
Bona, Charlottesville, Virginia, 2015
Silver Gelatin Print - 80 x 50.5cm

 Photo – Sam Kahn - Courtesy Zabludowicz Collection – La Biennale di Venezia

Henry Taylor
Another Wrong - 2013
Acrylic on canvas - 294.6 x 191.8 x 6.4 cm

  Photo - Nicholas Knight - Courtesy the artist, Corvi-Mora, London; 303 Gallery, New York; Esther Schipper, Berlin. – La biennale di Venezia

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Joi Bittle
Cosmorama - 2018
Exhibition view - Galerie fur Zeitgenossische Kunst, Leipzig, 2018
Diorama - Dimensions variable

Photo - © Lance Brewer – courtesy the artist – La Biennale di Venezia

Avery Singer
Self-portrait (summer 2018) - 2018
Acrylic on canvas stretched over wood panel - 241.9 x 216.5 x 5.1 cm


May You Live in Interesting Times
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