When, as an eighteen-year-old, Liselotte Höhs arrived in Venice, she fell in love with the city at first sight. Mozart’s friend the Viennese doctor Mesmer, writing in the early 19th century, would have classified this fatal attraction as “animal magnetism”, and explained it through the mysterious energetic fluid which enshrouds the whole universe and its living beings. Like Mesmer, Liselotte Höhs is convinced that there are forces, energies beyond those which are known to the exact sciences, secret interactions occuring between humans and other beings.

It’s no coincidence that she fell in love with Venice, the city which has spontaneously grown in the shape of a fish – she was even born under the sign of Pisces. An innate love between Venice and her, the same affection that she feels towards the animals who steadly fill up her creations.

Information:

From September 1st to 30th  2011
Sale Monumentali of Marciana National Library

The museums themselves are always very interesting and full of details that you always discover again and again, but some of them welcome a particular exhibition as satellite event of the Biennale.

Here a list of them:

- The Beautiful Museo Correr on Saint Mark’s Square hosts this year a wonderful exhibition of the Artist Julian Schnabel called: Permanente becoming and the architecture of seeing. This genius is considered as a real  american phenomenon who revisit the ancestor’s of this speciality like Giotto, Goya, Dalì, Picasso, and others more modern like Pollock.

- The very famous Museo Fortuny welcomes the exposition TRA – Edge of Becoming. This itineray through different domains of Art bring the spectator to reflect about the concepts of transit and passage, with the will to underline the aspects of revelation to the pleasure and the knowledge.

- The important Museo Ca’ Pesaro hosts the exhibition of Pier Paolo Calzolari with 25 works from 1968 until nowdays introduced by the sclupture in front of the Palace on the Grand Canal called Frozing Structure. Teh exposition gives us the possibility to understand how the artist uses the different languages of the Art.

- In the same Museo Ca’ Pesaro, Ana Sieff presents you her Psyche. Experimental videos of the artist about the topic of integration of the body and the soul in our world. “The reality is cybernetic and multiple, is important to understand body and soul, spacetime and cyberspace“.

- The Museo Ca’ Rezzonico disposed in all this beautiful Palace and through its art collection of the XVIIIth century, the works of Barry X Ball. A wonderful and unique  exhibition which brings you inside your soul. The artist chose the marble to sclupt these characters giving them life, thoughts, and life.

- At the Museo Palazzo Mocenigo, inside the costume’s collection of the antique family, the exhibition Miniartextil of Ruth Adner Schnee takes place. Various minitextil works write together a beautiful poem.

- The Museo del Vetro in the Murano Island welcomes the exhibition called SiO2nH2O – wich is the formula of the Elba’s Opal – Illuminazioni e Transizioni (Illuminations and Transitions). Different artists have used the glass to express their feelings and thoughts, others revisit the everydaylife objects.

- Ca’ Corner della Regina – Fondazione Prada. In the Palace of the Cyprius’ Queen, the Prada foundation installed a very interesting exposition with important artists of the traditional European school.

Information:

Official WebSite

In Palazzetto Tito, near Campo San Barnaba, ENRICO DAVID’s first Italian solo show, entitled Repertorio Ornamentale, will be held. The artist from Ancona trained in the UK, and has participated both in the Venice Biennale (2003) and the Turner Prize (2009). He has held a solo show at the ICA in London (2007) and been given a residency at the Schaulager in Basel (2010).

His work comprises paintings and sculptures which owe a great deal to manual skill, featuring lattices, stylised human figures, large mouths telling of expressive difficulties, and the lump in one’s throat that is felt when one uses a tongue – be it metaphorical or real – which one does not entirely feel to be one’s own.

In the St Mark’s Square Gallery, the first Italian show by the artists’ collective XIJING MEN will be held, featuring a Korean, a Japanese and a Chinese artist. The name ‘Xijing’ evokes that of a make-believe capital of modern Asia, with a veil of irony over the cults of activism and capitalism pervading the Far East. The show has been designed specifically for the rooms of the Gallery, where the great light-blue flag of a fictitious state is unfurled, irony on the notion of national identity, the symbols of economic power and collective identity.

In the same Gallery, from June 2, TERRARIUM FOR TWO PUBLISHERS: an adaptation of the notion of the aquarium to a situation in which, instead, the books seem to spring up from the soil in which they are rooted, as if they were living beings. Rirkrit Tiravanija’s display features books published by Thea Westreich/Ethan Wagner and Three Star Books.

The artists’ studios in Palazzo Carminati on San Stae and in the Complesso di Cosma e Damiano on the Giudecca Island, which are assigned every year to 12 young artists living in the Northeast of Italy, will be open to the public as part of the OPEN STUDIOS – ATELIER 2011 event.

Visitors will be able to enter the ateliers and examine the various work phases: from the planning stage, the sketches that then go on to become paintings or even sculptures and installations.

In fact, you can find the new version of the Tentation de Saint Antoine by Dali, the Nascità di Venere by Boticelli, painted with bright and intence colours.

The artist is inserted in his time and proposes a new way of perseption of the modern heroes as Spiderman, Superman in strange and unique situations which can shock or please you.

It’s safe to say that the artist has a fondness for portraying pop culture icons and historical figures in a less than flattering light.

Venice’s Contini Art Gallery features paintings by number of famous artists, such as Chagall, Giacometti, Magritte, and Picasso.

Information:

Campo Santo Stefano
2765 San Marco

The contemporary art system in Russia was formed in the Nineties, concurrent with the extreme political and social upheaval following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Many artists at that time considered art to be an instrument of social reform, a means with which to directly address the reality that had come out of the great traditions of their avant-garde history. The new art had political connotations and a radical aesthetic, characterised by a taste for provocation and scandal.

Contemporary art in Russia today has entered a new phase, as stated by one of Russia’s most interesting and influential artists Anatoly Osmolovsky. The idea of artistic practice as a form of direct action has paved the way for a more reflective approach that focuses more on the work of art itself, reconsidering its modernist inheritance and ambitions of social and aesthetic reform.

The title of the exhibition, Modernikon, merges its reference to modern with the most classical of Russian art forms; it is a word that is suspended between the present and the past, between the idea of an image that aims to transmit all things new and, at the same time, the mythology of an outdated cultural trend. Modernikon features the work of 20 artists, some of whom are already established on the international art scene and others who are still emerging.

All the artists work with a wide range of media, from painting and sculpture to video, photography and installation. As well as existing works, many new pieces have also been especially commissioned for the exhibition.

The exhibition will be presented at La Casa dei Tre Oci, an architecturallandmark in Venice built in the early 20th century and characterised by itsarchi-acuti (the three eyes) windows.

The palazzo was designed by the artist Mario De Maria (Marius Pictor) in 1913, as his home and studio space. La Casa dei Tre Oci reopens with this exhibition, following a lengthy restoration period.

Information.

Until November 27th – Casa dei Tre Oci – Giudecca Island

Viaggio in Italia

Viaggio in Italia at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia displays the first stages of the project and bears witness to it. The trip began in the small town of Perdaxius in Sardinia’s former mining region of Sulcis Iglesiente, and then unexpectedly headed to Dakar.

Rubbi decided to travel all the way to Senegal to follow an international cooperation project born in Sulcis and promoted by Cherimus, a Sardinian association, and Ker Thiossane, a Senegalese organization.

The project is called Chadal, after a migrating bird that lives in both regions, and aims to bring together Sardinian and Senegalese musicians, creating a dialogue between two distant musical cultures that are both rich in history. At the end of this first stage, the artist produced an LP record with the original music and texts born of this collaboration.

The record will be installed and played in a small area of the Palazzo Querini Stampalia near the water door, a place in which to take a break and discover news of the trip in progress. Matteo Rubbi describes it as “A human-sized space, open to the outdoors, a threshold subject to the vagaries of the weather”.

After Sardinia, Senegal and Venice, Matteo Rubbi will continue his trip in the province of Bergamo, where he was born and raised.

Viaggio in Italia marks the conclusion of the 8th Furla Prize, Italy’s preeminent award supporting contemporary artists. The project was financed by the Fondazione Furla and will be available to the public through a free loan at Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna (MAMbo).

The artist will also participate in an itinerant residency in the United States, with his home base at the Arizona State University Art Museum (Tempe, USA). Fondazione Carisbo will also acquire Matteo Rubbi’s work Domenica (Ingresso) for its collection. The work was created for Pleure qui peut, rit qui veut, an exhibit of the works of the five 2011 Furla Prize finalists (Bologna, Palazzo Pepoli Vecchio, 29 January-6 February 2011).

Matteo Rubbi was selected by the curators Lorenzo Bruni and Carson Chan, and named the winner of the 8th 2011 Furla Prize on 28 January by an international jury composed of Christian Boltanski (sponsoring artist of the award), Stefano Chiodi (historian and art critic), Vít Havránek (director of Tranzit Display Gallery in Prague) Jörg Heiser (critic and associate editor of Frieze) Miguel Von Hafe Pérez (director of the CGAC Centro Galego de Arte Contemporáneo in Santiago de Compostela, Spain).

The jury explains its choice: “For his ability to interact with the spectator and create unexpected relationships between the exhibition space and the public space in a spirit of generous openness.

His work involves a variety of cultural spheres both conceptually and materially, and reveals an acute experimental sense from his invitation to passersby to tune in to the rebroadcasting of Luigi Nono’s 1960 work Intolleranza on Rai Radio Tre, to his project exploring lesser-known Italy through the local press, in the spirit of Pasolini, Ghirri and Celati’s ‘travels in Italy’.”

Information:

Matteo Rubbi – Winner of the 8th Furla Prize
Viaggio in Italia
3 June – 18 September 2011
Opening Friday 3 June 2011, at 11:00 a.m
Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice

From children to parents, grand parents, everyone can find a usefull system to enjoy this 54th edition of the Venice Biennale.

The Educational offer is addressed to individuals, groups of students, scholars, experts, art lovers and families. These initiatives are led by operators who are selected and trained by the Venice Biennale and have an open and interactive nature.

EDUCATIONAL:

La Biennale gives a strong impulse to activities termed Educational.
Biennale’s Educational activities have the following goals:
• encouraging a “direct knowledge” of the art world by younger generations
• opening Biennale’s activities to their surrounding areas, turning a “visit to the Biennale” into part of the “family sayings” of youngsters from Venice, the Veneto and its surroundings
• encouraging “creative activities” in schools, as a moment in the education and training of the youth

On the occasion of the 54th International Art Exhibition and of the International Festivals of Music and Theatre, our Educational programme gave itself objectives which will turn Venice and its surroundings into a real capital city for this important field of cultural activity.
Paolo Baratta, President of La Biennale di Venezia

La Biennale di Venezia’s Education activities are addressed to students from schools and universities, scholars, experts, individuals and groups of professionals, firms, art lovers and families; they are devised and led by professional operators selected and trained by la Biennale; they are open and interactive.

SPECIAL PROJECTS:

Focusing on the relationship between the Biennale and its surrounding territory.

Biennale Summer
for children summer schools and youth entertainment centres
Biennale’s Giardini and Arsenale, average duration 2h per venue
available with a reservation / packages (admission + education activities)

2-day Formula
first day: visit of the Arsenale followed by a practical workshop
second day: treasure hunt at Biennale’s Giardini
3-day Formula
first day: visit of the Arsenale followed by a practical workshop
second day: treasure hunt at Biennale’s Giardini
third day: nature and art at Biennale’s Giardini

Creative Ateliers for families, for children (4-10 year-old), parents and grandparents Biennale’s Giardini or Arsenale, average duration 1h45’
activities available with a reservation / admission fee not included
from June 10th until August 26th, every Friday at 4 p.m.
from September 4th until November 27th, every Sunday at 2.30pm
(the site of activities, Giardini or Arsenale, will be communicated at the moment of reservation).

TRAINING DAYS, MEETINGS AND PRESENTATIONS:

For professionals and firms following a schedule available online
Biennale’s Giardini and Arsenale, average duration 2 hours per venue
activities available with a reservation.

PROGRAM FOR SCHOOLS:

Stimulating creativity and the ability to re-elaborate themes independently Biennale’s Giardini and Arsenale, average duration 2 hours per venue activities available with a reservation / admission fee not included, or free* (Free admission up to the age of 6, adults accompanying disabled visitors, primary schools and secondary schools attending educational activities) / free shuttle.

GUIDED VISITS:

For high schools, universities, art lovers and all kinds of public
Biennale’s Giardini and Arsenale, average duration 1h45’ per venue
activities available with a reservation / admission fee not included.

Guided tours with a live illustration of the most significant exhibited projects in-depth visits dedicated to the interpretation of specific projects and art-works theme-based itineraries focusing on specific topics or patterns, such as:

Light and Darkness

Enlightenment / The Passion of Reason

The Key-Words of Nationality
Interesting itineraries dedicated to Biennale’s venues as historical and architectural treasures:
Giardini (an open air dossier on 20th century history and architecture)
Arsenale (a glimpse of Venice’s Renaissance)
Ca’ Giustinian (Biennale’s headquarters)

CROSSING DISCIPLINES:

Today we would like to talk about a special Pavilion, the Venice’s one.

The regeneration, not only architectonic but also cultural, of the Venice Pavilion will be celebrated this coming 1 June with the inauguration of the exposition called Mari Verticali, by Fabrizio Plessi.

The architecture dates back to 1932; it was a project by Brenno Del Giudice, an architect who also constructed, in Venice, the pavilions of Greece, Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland for the Biennal from 1934 to 1938. Concerning the regenerated Pavilion, Enrico Bressan, president of Fondaco, who organized the restoration project, speaks about a kind of “Restor-action”, in the sense of an activation in order to evaluate Venice’s artistic patrimony.

Indeed, this involves bringing to light an exposition-space of high symbolic value, which more than any other would represent the city, publicizing its name and fame: “A space which was already desired at the beginning of the 1930s, in order to evaluate Venetian arts and to compare them with art forms from other countries.

This project was meant to allow Venice to become, once again, the producer of new proposals”. A place born with the mission of “jealously conserving all the art which is present in Venice“; a place forgotten over the years, but which, today, strives to be reborn as testimony to all the positive factors which still exist in the city.

But beyond the noble vocation of the building, truly noteworthy is the significance which the sponsors of the restoration, Arzanà Navi and Louis Vuitton, have given to their contributions. A project which finds, in Fabrizio Plessi and in Mari Verticali, its maximum expression. Sailing, art, design, style: common ingredients, the key of the fruitful encounter with a maison like Louis Vuitton.

Information:

«Fabrizio Plessi. Mari Verticali»
From 1st June to 27 November

Padiglione Venezia, Giardini della Biennale

The exhibition will display 54 mini-textiles selected from 413 submissions to the 2010 competition, which invited artists to present work inspired by the theme “A Day of Happiness,” based on the short stories of Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer.

The mini textiles—works that do not exceed 20 cm per side—were identified by an international jury composed of Prof. Luciano Caramel, art critic and former professor at the Catholic University of Milan and Brescia, Anic Zanzi, conservator from the Fondation Toms – Pauli, Lausanne (CH) and Keiko Kawashima, President of the KICTAC Kyoto International Contemporary Textile Art Center.
Miniartextiles is exhibited adjacent to 7 large installations including: Gabriella Crisci’s prayer rugs , “Celestial Knights Virgo” by the Lithuanian Jurate Kazakeviciute, “Plains by Night” by the Argentine duo, Toba Toba, as well as suggestive installations by the Italians, Raffaele Pen, “The Flight,” and Resi Girardello, “Danae’s Oracle.” Dario Zeruto and Helene Genvrin have created “Cascada,” a 550-page sculpture-book.

Anna Paola Cibin’s “The Journey,” is a large tapestry inspired by places described by Marco Polo in the “Million.” The exhibition in Venice concludes the 2010 Miniartextil tour, which opened in Como, last Fall and was later displayed in Paris at the Hotel de Ville de Montrouge, February 5 to 25 and in Milan at Super Studio Più Myowngallery within the Milan Fashion Week, March 1-10.

Information:

Until September 04th 2011

Palazzo Mocenigo
Santa Croce 1992,
30135 Venice

info@fmcvenezia.it
call center 848082000 (from Italy)
+3904142730892 (from abroad)

Its features, its position and structure enabled the Biennale to be an “open house” for anyone, a place where the Biennale and the city relate to each other, a gathering point for meetings and events.
On the ground floor is an exhibition space named Portego, for exhibits concerning the valorisation and the display of works and materials from the Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts (ASAC).

On the same floor, on the front façade, the old Sala degli Specchi (overlooking the Bacino) has become L’ombra del Leone, a cafeteria and also an open salon for the city, whose aim is to host cultural events and gatherings with well-known personalities from the arts and cultural environments. In order to complete these spaces, a pontoon known as Campiello d’acqua was built in front of them, thanks to the shareholding of the City of Venice, to promote people’s involvement in such activities.

At the end of August 2010, in conjunction with the opening of the 12th International Architecture Exhibition, the restoration of Ca’ Giustinian will be completed with the recovering of the Sala delle Colonne (550 square meters), dating back to the 30’s, a unique place for both its structural and architectural features, that will be ultimately intended as a flexible space for conferences, meetings, workshops, exhibitions, with particular regard to live performance-related activities.

In the 50’-70’s the Sala delle Colonne was intended as an open space for conferences, concerts, cultural and political events, on an almost daily basis. The last floor hosted the city’s cinema club until the end of the 70’s

Information:

Until December 31st 2011 upon Reservation only.

tel: +39 041 5218711

e-mail: segreteria.asac@labiennale.org