It’s Venice Biennale time again. The 58th edition of Venice Biennial, which has been organizing since 1895, will take place between 11 May-24 November 2019. This year the biennial is expected to bring more than half a million people to Venice. Once again, it will turn Venice into an art city, feature most important names of the artworld, shine its young rising stars and bring 90 countries to Venice. With its main exhibition entitled “May You Live in Interesting Times”, country pavilions, collateral events and art presentations, the 58th Venice Biennial will offer the artlovers a 6-month period filled with history, art, colors and energy. Let’s look at the 58th Venice Biennial’s venues, events and must-haves together. (Cover Photo: artnews.com)
58. Venice Biennale
Often referred as “the Olympics of the art world,” the 58th edition of Venice Biennale will take place in two main locations, Arsenale and Giardini, and will consist of three parts:
1. A central exhibition “May You Live in Interesting Times” curated by Ralph Rugoff. The exhibition will take place in the public gardens known as the Giardini and the former dockyards known as the Arsenale.
2. 90 national pavilions organized by dozens of countries will be presented in Giardini and Arsenale. Each pavilion will offer a show of one or more artists representing their country.
3. Biennial’s collateral events, organized by independent institutions and artists, will take place across Venice. This year will host a total of 21 independently organized exhibitions, events and presentations.
58. Venedik Bienali Ana Sergisi
The 58th edition of the Venice Biennale is curated by Ralph Rugoff, Director of the Hayward Gallery, London. ‘May You Live in Interesting Times’ is taken from an ancient Chinese curse; used in a speech given in the late 1930s by British MP Austen Chamberlain. The exhibition draws attention to the relationship between arts and politics and the times of nationalism and crisis. Taking place across two sites – in the Giardini and the Corderie dell’Arsenale, the show features 83 artists — 50% of whom are women. The youngest of artists is Lithuanian artist Augustus Serapinas, born in 1990, while the oldest is Berlin-based, US artist Jimmie Durham, born in 1940.
National Pavilions
As well as the main show, the 58th Venice Biennial features presentations by 90 nations in their own pavilions across Venice. The new comers of 2019 biennial include Algeria, Ghana, Madagascar, and Pakistan. In addition to these nations, some other participators include Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Egypt, Germany, Endonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Russia, South Africa, USA, England and Switzerland. For the first time, the Russian pavilion is presenting an art institution, Hermitage Museum, instead of an artist.
In Turkey pavilion, we will see an artwork by Inci Eviner. Specially made for the biennial, “We, Elsewhere” is a site-specific installation presented by Istanbul Culture and Arts Foundation. Placed in Arsenale, Sale d’Armi, the artwork brings together many disciplines such as drawings, videos, sound and performance and hence addresses the politics of desire and disaster and the potentials of subjectivity.
Collateral Events of Venice Biennial:
Installation by Todd Williamson
Organized by The MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Todd Williamson’s site-specific installation at Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pietà illustrates ideas of order and tradition, and uncertainty and uncontrollable political, social, and cultural movements of our time. The exhibition features large scale canvases which propose a new layer to the church. The exhibition will be on view from May 9th until November 24th, 2019.
Melissa McGill’s Red Regatta
A large-scale public art installation by artist Melissa McGill in the form of a navy of about 50 traditional Italian ‘Vela al Terzo’ sailboats will be placed on the Venice waterfront. The piece is titled ‘Red Regatta’, will be on display with four full regatta events: two in May, one in June, and one in September. Each sailboat has a hand-painted sail in a slightly different shade of red created by the artist in her studio.The installation is made in collaboration with the Magazzino Italian Art Foundation, and more than 250 Venetian sailors, artisans, and art students.
Georg Baselitz at Gallerie dell’Accademia
During the Venice Biennale, the audience will also have an opportunity to see a major retrospective of works by the renowned German artist Georg Baselitz. The first exhibition by a living artist to be presented at the Accademia, the exhibition will trace the periods in the artist’s extraordinary 60-year career through paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures. The exhibition will be on display between 8 May-8 September.
Glasstress at Fondazione Berengo Art Space
Between May 9–Nov. 24, 2019, Glastress will take place in Fondazione Berengo Art Space in the island of Murano. Opened by Venice native Adriano Berengo in 1989, the gallery is dedicated to bridging glass traditions and contemporary art. This year, visitors are treated to new work and highlights from years past, including pieces by internationally renowned artists like Ai WeiWei, Laure Provoust and Rose Wylie.
“Emerging Polish Artists: Force Field” Exhibition
“The Force Field” is an exhibition of energy and weight of Polish contemporary art, presented in Fondamenta San Biagio in Venice from 8 May to 15 September. The project features thirteen artists, who currently represent the young generation’s new perspectives.The exhibition draws attention to affective experiences, personal relations, intimate emotions. Works by Norbert Delman, Małgorzata Goliszewska, Bartek Górny, Laura Grudniewska, Marta Hryniuk, Kornel Janczy, Tomasz Koszewnik, Dorota Kozieradzka, Magdalena Łazarczyk, Karolina Mełnicka, Maciej Nowacki, Cyryl Polaczek and Stach Szumski present an overview of dynamic contemporary young Polish art which is defined as inquisitive, attentive and critical.
Future Generation Art Prize
Victor Pinchuk Foundation present works by 21 young artists across 17 countries for the 5th edition of the Future Generation Art Prize. As the global art prize for artists aged 35 or younger, the art prize exhibition brings young names together with the Biennale audience in Palazzo Ca’Tron between May 11-August 18. Chosen from amongst 5,800 entries, exhibition’s participants include the winner of the Future Generation Art Prize 2019, the Lithuanian artist Emilija Škarnulytė, and the winners of the Special Prize, Gabrielle Goliath (South Africa) and Cooking Sections (UK).
Applied Arts Pavilion Special Project
Marysia Lewandowska is the artist set to exhibit in the Pavilion of Applied Arts which is organized in collaboration between La Biennale and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Located in the Arsenale, Sale d’Armi between May 11-November 24, now in its 5th year, the project features an installation by Polish-born, London-based artist, whose work explores the public function of archives, museums and exhibitions. For the installation titled “It’s About Time”, Lewandowska set on stage her discovery of these cinematic negatives which consist of a total of 103 specifically selected rolls.
Phi Fondation Presents Renata Morales and Marina Abramovic
Montreal’s Fondation Phi is bringing a Montreal-based artist, Renata Morales and international star, Marina Abramovic to an international audience in Venice during the Biennale. “Invasor” is a sculptural installation show by Renata Morales at the Ca’ Rezzonico Gallery which stretches over two large rooms— one room is more monochromatic, the other, more technicolour. Phi is also presenting “Rising”, an artwork that presents a virtual rather than material, digital rather than analog experience. Abramovic’s VR project touches upon the issues of climate change and the rising sea levels both within and beyond the Biennale.
Luc Tuymans’ First Italy Retrospective “La Pelle”
The Pinault Collection presents Luc Tuymans’ first personal exhibition in Italy. Curated by Caroline Bourgeois, the show is entitled ‘La Pelle’ after Curzio Malaparte’s 1949 novel. Organized between March 24-December 24 in Palazzo Grassi, the exhibition includes over 80 works from the Pinault Collection, international museums and private collections which survey the artist’s works from 1986 to today. Luc Tuymans’ works deal with questions connected to the past and to more recent history through a set of images borrowed from the private and public spheres – the press, television, the Internet.
“Arshile Gorky: 1904-1948”
Ca’ Pesaro- International Gallery of Modern Art presents a major exhibition of the work of Arshile Gorky between May 9-September 22. The first exhibition in Italy of this influential figure of 20th Century American Art examines the stages of Gorky’s career and production. Bringing together 80 emblematic works of art borrowed from significant
international institutions and private collections such as the Tate London, the National Gallery of Art of Washington, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, the Centre Pompidou of Paris, the Israel Museum of Jerusalem, the exhibition pays a rich selection which pays tribute to the artist and his artistic excellence.
Some Tips to Visit Venice Biennale
You can purchase online tickets on https://labiennale.vivaticket.it/ in order to escape from long lines and crowds. We would suggest you to not to visit the biennial on Mondays and at weekends. Mondays are the days when most biennial events and places are closed whereas weekends are the peak times when the crowds and tourists visit the biennial.
On rainy days, you can visit Arselane, which mostly consists of closed areas of a dockyard. On sunny days, on the other hand, you can visit Giardini which composes of outdoors and gardens. You can reach both main venues via Vaporettos, which depart frequently from Venice waterfront and sail the whole city. You can also reach from one venue to another by foot approximately in 10-15 minutes.
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Simge Erdoğan