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
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
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
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
Ralph Rugoff
Teresa Margolles
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
Collection Frac Grand Large – Hauts-de-France, Dunkerque
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
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
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