Curator听Philipp Kaiser transforms the Pavilion of Switzerland into an exhibition titled,听Women of Venice. Open within the grounds of the听Giardini della Biennale, the presentation explores Alberto Giacometti鈥檚 absence in the history of the Swiss Pavilion through a selection of new work by Carol Bove and Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler. Responding to the fact that Giacometti declined all requests to exhibit work at the Venice Biennale, the three artists provide audiences with a chance to learn about听his oeuvre听with fresh eyes. Named after the artist’s only appearance at the Biennale, in the French Pavilion’s 1956 show听Femme de Venise, it explores听concepts of national identity and cultural policy.
As one of the most听influential Swiss artists of the 20th century, Giacometti’s absence from the country’s听Pavilion听is surprising. From an early age, he saw himself as an international artist and refused to be defined through a national identity. Even when his brother, the architect Bruno Giacometti, built the new Swiss Pavilion in 1952 and the artist听was asked to show there, he turned the invitation down and suggested another artist instead. As a form of international recognition for his practice, he was awarded the Grand Prix for Sculpture in Venice in 1962, a few years before his death.
Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler’s film installation 贵濒辞谤补听fills part of the听Pavilion. The piece weaves together extensive research with fictional and documentary material in order to reconstruct and re-imagine the life and work of Giacometti鈥檚 first great love, the largely unknown American artist Flora Mayo, who also studied in Paris in the 1920s. The creative duo and American-Swiss couple Hubbard and Birchler draw on their own relationship and collaborative artistic activity for inspiration, while shedding new light on听Giacometti鈥檚 early life.
Carol Bove accompanies the duo with an enquiry into the essence of sculpture. For the Swiss Pavilion, she听takes Giacometti鈥檚 figurative constellations as a starting point,听raising issues听of theatricality and autonomy within the discipline. In听response to Giacometti鈥檚 absence, Bove听creates a new group of seven powder-blue sculptures presented in the courtyard of the Pavilion referring to the artist鈥檚 late figurative work. Interested in the verticality and physicality of Giacometti鈥檚 figures, her pieces听engage sculptural vocabularies through both material specificity and eclecticism. In conversation with these are two additional sculptures by Bove听which address the notion of presence in correspondence with their architectural surroundings.
Women of Venice:听Carol Bove and Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Pavilion of Switzerland, until 26 November, Giardini della Biennale, Venice.
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Credits
1. Carol Bove, First Blue Column (detail), 2016. Courtesy of the artist and David Zwirner.
