We are organising another trip to the Venice Biennale for Spin members following on from our successful visits in 2005, 2007 and 2009. The Venice Biennale is the oldest and most prestigious contemporary art festivals in the world and was established in 1895. Held every two years, the Biennale is an excellent opportunity to see works by leading, international and up-and-coming artists. Over 70 countries are taking part including first-time participations from Saudia Arabia, Bangladesh, Republic of Rwanda, as well as Congo and India which last participated respectively in 1968 and 1980.
There are two main strands to the Venice Biennale: the Giardini which houses 30 permanent national pavilions and a curated exhibition by the Biennales appointed director. Bice Curiger has been appointed this year, only the second time that a woman has been at the directorial helm. Curiger is an art historian, critic and curator and has been curator at the Zurich Kunsthaus since 1993. The title for her curated exhibition is ILLUMinations (ILLUMinazioni) and will be presented in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (formerly known as the Italian Pavilion) in the Giardini and the Arsenale – the buildings of the adjacent formal naval dockyard.
Artist Mike Nelson has been chosen to represent Great Britain in the Giardini. Nelson is best known for his atmospheric, installations. He has been shortlisted twice for the Turner Prize and in 2008, the Tate acquired one of his largest pieces, The Coral Reef. France will showing the work of Christian Boltanski known for his haunting, dimly-lit installations; Egypt-born sculptor Hany Amanious represents Australia and Tabaimo known for his vast projects shows work in the Japanese Pavilion.
Collateral exhibitions take place in venues spreading across the city of Venice. Scotland will be presenting the work of Karla Black in the Palazzo Pisani Santa Marina. Glasgow-based artist Black creates sculpural installations using materials like sugar, paper, chalk, powder, paint and make up. We are currently showing one of her works at the Gallery of Modern Art. Ireland are showing work by sculptor Corban Walker who creates large-scale sculptures and installations often involving sheets of glass and flying the flag for Wales is Tim Davies, a multimedia artist whose work addresses political subjects.
We will be devising an itinerary which will select and showcase the very best of this years Biennale. The dates of the tour are 20-24 October 2011 and places are limited.
Our group discussed the following artists: Mike Nelson, Christian Boltanski, Christoph Schlingensief, Tabaimo, Thomas Hirschhorn, Karla Black, TRA, Francisco Tropa, Liina Siib, Anish Kapoor, Roman Ondak, Rebecca Warren, James Turrell, Urs Fischer, Rosemarie Trockel, Christian Marclay and Haroon Mirza among others.
