罢丑别听, titled VIVA ARTE VIVA and curated by Christine Macel, is fast-approaching. The 2017 edition will be open to the public from 13 May to 26 November at the Giardini and Arsenale venues, following a sequence of preview days. Unfolding over the course of nine chapters or families of artists,听VIVA ARTE VIVA will begin with two introductory realms in the Central Pavilion, proceeded听by another seven across the Arsenale through the Giardino delle Vergini. With a total of听120 invited artists from 51 countries (103 of these are participating for the first time), as well as听85 National Participations in the historic Pavilions at the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in the historic city centre of Venice, this year’s exhibition听is set to be the Biennale’s largest and most diverse event to date.
Curator Marcel comments that 鈥渋n a world full of conflicts and jolts, in which humanism is being seriously jeopardised, art is the most precious part of the human being.鈥 We take a look at the upcoming programme and select 10 shows and events to see across the Central Pavilion, National Pavilions and Collateral Events:
1. Scotland + Venice (Chiesa Santa Caterina): Rachel Maclean will present a major new film commission for Scotland + Venice. With considerable recent success, Maclean鈥檚 work raises critical questions about identity, economy, society and morality. Through a unique and often disturbing vision, the artist听creates fantasy narratives under the guise of a hyper-saturated aesthetic. Presented within a dramatic church, the exhibition will question notions of truth, conscience and power in the 21st century.
2. Diaspora Pavilion:听The International Curators Forum (ICF) and University of the Arts London听(UAL) present Diaspora Pavilion, a听project conceived to challenge the prevalence of national听pavilions within the structure听of a biennale. Through the work of eight mentors and 11 UK-based emerging artists, the exhibition will听expand听on diaspora听as a term, and forms part of the ICF and UAL’s joint 22-month Diaspora Platform project. Artists include听Michael Forbes, Isaac Julien, Hew Locke and听Yinka Shonibare.
3. British Pavilion (Giardini): Phyllida Barlow will present a major solo show. Best known for her colossal sculptural projects, for over four decades Barlow has employed a distinctive vocabulary of inexpensive materials such as plywood, plaster, fabric and paint to create striking sculptures and expansive installations that confront the relationship between objects and the space that surrounds them. Emma Dexter, Director Visual Arts, British Council, is the commissioner of the project, which has also been supported by Hauser & Wirth.
4. Greek Pavilion (Giardini): George Drivas听explores the complexities of the current refugee crisis in the narrative film installation Laboratory of Dilemmas, curated by Orestis Andreadakis and commissioned by the EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens. The work, selected by an advisory committee, is based on Aeschylus鈥 theatre play Iketides (Suppliant Women), which poses a dilemma between saving the Foreigner and maintaining the safety of the Native. Addressing current global sociopolitical issues, it听deals with the anguish and confusion of individuals and social groups.
5. Pavilion of Chile (Arsenale): Curated by Ticio Escobar, the Chilean pavilion sees Bernardo Oyarz煤n听focus on the theme of the current representation of the Mapuche community, a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. Titled Werken, it will feature an installation of over 1,500 Mapuche masks. Oyarz煤n鈥檚 work often combines anthropological, social and historical elements in order to present a critique of Chilean culture and society.
6. James Lee Byars, The Golden Tower (Campo San Vio): Byars has created a new piece to coincide with the 57th Venice Biennale. Towering to a height of 20 metres, the sculpture听is the artist鈥檚 largest and most ambitious work. Presented in collaboration with Fondazione Giuliani, Rome, the Venice installation of The Golden Tower is the first to fully realise the artist鈥檚 intentions of presenting the sculpture in a public space. It is part of the Biennale Collateral programme.
7. Nordic Pavilion听(Giardini):听A space for collaboration between the nations of Sweden, Finland and Norway, the Nordic pavilion exhibition has been听commissioned by Moderna Museet, Sweden, in 2017.听Mirrored听features works by six artists from different generations: Siri Aurdal, Nina Canell, Charlotte Johannesson, Jumana Manna, Pasi 鈥淪leeping鈥 Myllym盲ki, and Mika Taanila. The artists听map connections that override the national and regional boundaries, and seek to听track a multi-faceted view of how their听practice may听link together.
8. Wales in Venice:听James Richards鈥 presentation for Wales in Venice Cymru yn Fenis is his first major commission at an international biennale and consists of a new, site responsive sound installation that moves across a wide range of genres and musical languages – from rhythmic scores through sequences built up from field recordings to incidental sound. The resultant work is a cinematic and multi-sensory experience
9. Open Table / Tavola Aperta (Central Pavilion):听Artists will be the guiding force behind this year’s central exhibition听and they will be given the opportunity to speak about their work, every Friday and Saturday of each听week of the six-month Biennale. Exhibiting artists will host an Open Table and hold a lively conversation about their practice with visitors over lunch. These bi-weekly events will be organised in two dedicated spaces refurbished for this purpose in front of the Central Pavilion of the Giardini and in the new Sala d鈥橝rmi in the Arsenale.听Events will be streamed live online.
10. Glasstress Commission (Campiello della Pescheria):听Loris Gr茅aud听transforms听an abandoned glass furnace on an island in the Murano district of Venice, a location which is famous for producing elaborate glassware. Gr茅aud will show 1,000 pieces made from hourglass sand within an exhibition titled The Unplayed Notes Factory.听Organised by Nicolas Bourriaud, the former director of the Ecole Nationale Sup茅rieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, the project will take place on the Campiello della Pescheria site.
The 57th Venice Biennale, International Exhibition, 13 May – 26 November, sites across the city of Venice.
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Credits
1. Loris Gr茅aud,听The Unplayed Notes Factory, 2017.
2. Phyllida Barlow, Duveen Commission, 2014.
3. George Drivas, Laboratory of Dilemmas, 2017.
