Roman Ondak Archives

Spin-Off Trip to the Venice Biennale 2011

20-24 October 2011

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.

 

 

Spin-Off Trip to the Berlin Biennale 2010

2-5 July 2010

6th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art

Founded in 1996 by Klaus Biesenbach, founding director of KW Institute for Contemporary Art, the Berlin Biennale has established itself as an open space that experiments, identifies and critically examines the latest trends in the art world. It is shaped by the different concepts of well-known curators appointed to enter into a dialogue with the city, its general public, the people interested in art as well as the artists of this world.

This year’s Biennale, entitled what is waiting out there, has been curated by Kathrin Rhomberg who is attempting to raise urgent questions about our present time.

‘I want it to speak of the cracks in reality, about the gap between the world that is talked about and the world that is actually there. And also to ask why we have these distinctions and self-deceptions, why we have a fictional arsenal of mass media and consumption, and about the rhetorics of distraction and pacification.’

For the 6th Berlin Biennale, a selection of drawings by the great 19th-century German realist painter, Adolph Menzel, is on display at the Alte Nationalgalerie. The contemporary works are juxtaposed with an historical approach intended to contextualize the direction of view taken by the Biennale.

We will be visiting the highlights of the Biennale at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art and at Oranienplatz in Kreuzberg, a former department store which has been re-opened for the festival. The majority of the featured artists are housed in the building at Oranienplatz. We will also visit the Alte Nationalgalerie to view the work by Alfred Menzel.

Featured artists include: Mark Boulos, Mohamed Bourouissa, Petrit Halilaj, Anna Witt, John Smith, Phil Collins, Roman Ondak, Ron Tran, Danh Vo, Marie Voignier, Ferhat Ozgur and Nilbar Gures.

Sammlung Hoffmann Collection

We have organised a special visit on Saturday to the Sammlung Hoffmann Collection, a private collection of modern and contemporary art amassed by Erika and Rolf Hoffmann since the 1960s. Located on two floors of a former factory building, the Hoffmanns renovated and remodelled the space in view of living and working with the artworks they had collected over the past 30 years.

Every summer, Erika Hoffmann changes the entire display, rotating the collection and shifting the works around to reveal new relationships and conflicts between works of different generations which she hopes, will inspire reflection and discussions on aesthetic and philosophical issues as well as social and political conditions.