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The 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale will take place in 2011, directed by the art historian and critic Bice Curiger :
- Preview: 1-2-3 June 2011
- Official Opening: 3 June 2011
- Opening to the public: 4 June > 27 November 2011
Introduction by Bice Curiger
ILLUMInations
La Biennale di Venezia is one of the worlds most important forums for the dissemination and illumination of current developments in international art. 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.
Questions of identity and heritage have long been crucial to contemporary art and the intensity of artistic inquiry into these issues is unlikely to diminish in the near future. Art is a seedbed for experimentation with new forms of community and for studies in differences and affinities that will serve as models for the future. The title also suggests a wide range of associations, from Arthur Rimbauds wildly poetic Illuminations and Walter Benjamins Profane Illuminations on the surrealist experience to the venerable art of mediaeval illuminated manuscripts and the philosophy of illumination in 12th century Persia.
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. 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. Despite the fact that, in recent years, the idealization of enlightened reason and a specific brand of European western scholarly practice have come under fire, we cannot help respecting and even defending their value particularly in regard to the debate on human rights.
In organizing a Biennale today, it is vital to bear in mind that contemporary art is characterised by collective tendencies and fragmented identities, by temporary alliances and objects in which the transitory is inscribed even if they are cast in bronze. The expansive drive that has propelled art since the 1960s has turned inwards. Art no longer cultivates the pathos of anti-art. Perception is now focused on the foundations of culture and art in order to illuminate semantic conventions from within. On one hand, the artefact has given way to an emphasis on process, while, on the other, the revival of classical genres like sculpture, painting, photography and film is motivated by an interest in dissecting their codes and activating their dormant potential. These concerns go hand-in-hand with another aspect that is of great relevance today: art strongly engages and commits its viewers.
Many of the works presented at the 54th International Art Exhibition have been created especially for the occasion by such artists as Monica Bonvicini , James Turrell , Nicholas Hlobo , Norma Jean, R.H. Quaytman , Haroon Mirza , Loris Gréaud, Carol Bove , Gelitin , Dayanita Singh , and Christopher Wool , often referring directly to the theme of ILLUMInations. In it works by the Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594) will play a prominent role in establishing an artistic, historical and emotional relationship to the local context. These paintings exert a special appeal today with their almost febrile, ecstatic lighting and a near reckless approach to composition that overturns the well-defined, classical order of the Renaissance. Although self-reflection is a defining factor of contemporary art, it rarely moves beyond the territory covered by the history of Modernism . The incorporation of Tintorettos work from the 16th century into la Biennale di Venezia transmits unexpected, stimulating signals and casts light on the conventions of the art trade regarding both old and contemporary art. The analogies of interest in this juxtaposition are not formal in nature but rather reinforce the significance of works of art as visual vehicles of energy.
The 54th International Art Exhibition should emerge and develop in a process of inspired exchange and mutual stimulation with the artists. We asked four artists (Monika Sosnowska, Franz West , Song Dong and Oscar Tuazon ) to create so called parapavilions to host other artists works. Although ILLUMInations is primarily focused on the presentation of younger artists, an older generation will also be represented, whose vibrant, highly contemporary work deserves to be showcased, for instance Llyn Foulkes (*1934), Luigi Ghirri (*1943-1992), Jack Goldstein (*1945-2003), Gedewon (*1939-1995) and Jeanne Natalie Wintsch (*1871-1944).
Art is a highly self-reflexive terrain that cultivates a lucid take on the outside world. The communicative aspect is crucial to the ideas underlying ILLUMInazioni, as demonstrated in art that often declares and seeks closeness to the vibrancy of life. This is more important now than ever before, in an age when our sense of reality is profoundly challenged by virtual and simulated worlds.
Bice Curiger, March 2011
KünstlerInnen:
Giorgio Andreotta Calo, Meris Angioletti , Nairy Baghramian , Yto Barrada , Elisabetta Benassi , Birdhead (Song Tao, Ji Weiyu), Monica Bonvicini , Mohamed Bourouissa , Carol Bove , Gerard Byrne , Mariana Castillo Deball , Gianni Colombo , Martin Creed , DAS INSTITUT & Kerstin Brätsch , Guy de Cointet , Gintaras Didziapetris , Song Dong , Trisha Donnelly , Shannon Ebner , Latifa Echakhch , Ida Ekblad , Omer Fast , Urs Fischer , Fischli & Weiss , Llyn Foulkes , Luca Francesconi , Katharina Fritsch , Cyprien Gaillard , Dani Gal , Ryan Gander , Gedewon , gelitin , Kristaps Gelzis , Luigi Ghirri , David Goldblatt , Jack Goldstein , Loris Greaud , Nicholas Hlobo , Karl Holmqvist , Bruno Jakob , Norma Jeane , Rashid Johnson , Annette Kelm , Gabriel Kuri , Elad Lassry , Klara Liden , Christian Marclay , Fabian Marti , Nathaniel Mellors , Asier Mendizabal , Haroon Mirza , Jean-Luc Mylayne , Shahryar Nashat , Navid Nuur , Roman Ondák, Nicolas Paris , Philippe Parreno , Mai-Thu Perret , Amalia Pica , Giulia Piscitelli , Sigmar Polke , Seth Price , R. H. Quaytman, Nick Relph (Oliver Payne & Nick Relph), Pipilotti Rist , Marinella Senatore , Cindy Sherman , Dayanita Singh , Josh Smith , Monika Sosnowska , Frances Stark , Elaine Sturtevant , Anya Titova , Rosemarie Trockel , Oscar Tuazon , James Turrell , Emily Wardill , Rebecca Warren , Corinne Wasmuht , Andro Wekua , Franz West , Jeanne Natalie Wintsch , Christopher Wool
