The 57th Edition of the Venice Art Biennale - Viva Arte Viva - opened its door to the public on the 13th May 2017 and it will be on view through to 26th November 2017. Kooness makes a selection of seven relevant installations and exhibitions that are not to be missed during the 57th Venice Art Biennale, curated by Christine Macel.
WERKEN by Bernardo Oyarzùn for the Chilean Pavilion, curated by Ticio Escobar
Bernardo Oyarzun's project will explore the theme of the current representation of the Mapuche community, a group of indigenous inhabitants of southcentral Chile and southwestern Argentina. The exhibition entitled Werken features an impressive installation of over 1,000 Mapuche kollong masks, traditionally used in ceremonies, located in the centre of the room, forming an area which occupies approximately 10 x 11 meters. The wall of the room features red LED scroll signs that display 6,907 Mapuche surnames. Oyarzùn's work often combines anthropological, social and historical elements in order to present a critique of Chilean culture and society.
LIVING DOG AMONG DEAD LIONS by Vajiko Chachkhiani for the Pavilion of Georgia, curated by Julian Heynen
Living Dog Among Dead Lions mainly consists of an abandoned house reassembled by artist Vajiko Chachkhiani from the Georgian contryside, situated in a scattered village close to the mining town of Chiatura but up in the mountains. The installation is made of: wood, glass, concrete, furniture, water circulation system, lamps, electrical installation, ca. 400x860x560 cm. The artist has simulated a never-ending rainstorm inside the house by installing an irrigation system above. Water puddles on the floor and furniture, and trickles through cracks in the wood.
THE HORSE PROBLEM by Claudia Fontes for the Pavilion of Argentina, curated by Andrès Duprat
The Horse Problem, the installation presented by Claudia Fontes brings to the fore the question abount the foundations that underlie the nations, which, by using horse-power, bound nature and its subjects to the winds of history. In the same way that machines replaced animal-drawn equipment, modernity has made the figure of the horse abstract, while the rider not present in the work is the missing figure that, through absence, fuses and gives meaning to the whole. The artist thus creates a radical interpretation of the relationship between man and horse, which is the basis for the nation's founding myth.
1001 MARTIAN HOMES by Tintin Wulia for the Indonesian Pavilion
1001 Martian Homes takes place simultaneously, across continents, in two separate exhibition sites—the Indonesian Pavilion at Biennale Arte 2017, Venezia, and Senayan City in Jakarta, Indonesia. These two sites—each almost identical in design and layout—are interconnected, as are the project’s three pairs of twin works: Not Alone, Under the Sun, and the eponymous A Thousand and One Martian Homes.
LOST AND FOUND by Sislej Xhafa for the Pavilion of Republic of Kosovo, curated by Arta Agani
Lost and Found gives a cornerstone for Kosovar contemporary art. The artistic conceptual practice by Sislej Xhafa focuses on political and social reflections above the universal issues of freedom and human rights.
ESCALADE BEYOND CHROMATIC LANDS by Sheila Hicks for the Arsenale of the Venice Biennale
Since the 1950's, Sheila Hicks has been building up a protean ouvre resulting from a diverse and intense professional activity. Her work is especially inspired by the theory on the perception of colors and by the discovery of Latin American taxtile traditions. In Venice, bales of pure pigmented fiber, placed on the ground, invite the spectator to enjoy the tactile discovery. Hicks' work is a place for sociality and encounters. Volumes of intensely colored textiles fiber lean against the wall, giving a new and luminous environment to the historic building of the Arsenale.
IL MONDO MAGICO by Roberto Cuoghi, Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Adelita Husni-Bey for the Italian Pavilion, curated by Cecilia Alemani
Il Mondo Magico presents the work and research of three Italian artists - Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Roberto Cuoghi and Adelita Husni-Bey - who demonstrate a new faith in the transformative power of the imagination and an interest in magic. Through myriad references to fancy, fantasy, and fable, they turn art into a tool for inhabiting the world in all its richness and multiplicity.
The title of the exhibition is borrowed from the book Il mondo magico by Neapolitan scolar Ernesto de Martino, who conducted seminal research into the anthropological function of magic. De Martino spent years studying a range of rituals, describing them as a means through which individuals try to regain control in times of uncertainty and reassert their presence in the world.
Within the landscape of contemporary Italian art, Andreotta Calò, Cuoghi and Husni-Bey use a magic as a cognitive and expressive device for reconstructing reality, forging complex personal cosmologies. For these three artists, magic is not an escape into the dephts of irrationality so much as a new way of experiencing the world.
