photo credit: Andrej Vasilenko
The Venice Biennale is the absolute meeting point of artists and art professionals.
The presence of the Director of Contemporary Art in this event serves multiple roles: the continuous cultivation of gaze, instinct and aesthetics, the information about the current artistic tendencies, the acquaintance with the best professionals in the field, the promotion of our mission and the establishment of new partnerships among others.
One of the best moments of the 58th Venice Biennial was the experience of the Lina Lapelyté Lithuanian stand, Vaiva Grainyté, Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, with Lucia Pietroiusti honored with the Golden Leo.
It is an installation that transforms the exhibition space into a beach accompanied by a live opera reminding us the effects of the ecological disaster. The view was made from the balcony on the first floor, reflecting the way we see the world. The installation can be seen from the balcony on the first floor reflecting the way we see the world.Such installation brings to our memory the first lessons of installation art on multiple viewing angles that lead to the emancipation and active participation of the viewer. The space is transformed into an experience asking for the audience’s overall presence and not just its critical look.
Among the many heartbeats we feltduring the opening week, two pavilions stand out exploring gestures and practices of resistance and emancipation. Dance and body are central to them. The Swiss Pavilion under thetitle Moving Backwards presents the artistic duo Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz. It borrows the practice of Kurdish female fighters who wear their shoes the other wayaround to fool the enemy and creates a video with the atmosphere of a queer nightclub. They question the notion of progress in a world where human rights are constantly being violated and wondering whether to go ahead we have to go back.
Barbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca from Brazil refer the popular swing dance to highlightthe violation of LGBTQ community and blacks rights through a sensational video.
Regarding the Greek pavilion, the curator Katerina Tselou explored the subject of masculinity and patriarchy as well as its overthrow through thesensitivity and fragility hidden behind this social construction.Eva Stefani has been filming for years in a sensitive documentary a community of men.
Zafos Xagoraris with whom we collaborated in Eleusis for The H’ Workshop in Synoikismos presented a historical moment for the Greek pavilion and the history of modern art. In 1948 Greece handed over the Greek Pavilion to the great collector Peggy Guggenheim, who presented the greatest artists of the 20th century. changing our gaze forever. Through interventions in the building and archives Xagoraris highlights this unique moment. Panos Charalambous activated his glass installation with a deconstructed zeibekiko.
The artworks and the moments that I experienced once more in the opening of Venice would not be possible to fit in our site or social media. Art should be experienced first hand and our mission should be to bring it closer to everybody.
