... and with that last post...
6.5 & 7.75 hours respectively.
Allora & Calzadilla, Tank (minus the gymnasts who run for 45 minute intervals) at the American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, 2011. It was used in the Korean war and was shipped in from Manchester, England and arrived at the Pavilion on two flatbed boats.
Carol Vogel of the New York Times writes: "Allora & Calzadilla’s presence in Venice will represent a couple of firsts for America: the first artists working in Puerto Rico to show there (Ms. Allora, 37, was born in Philadelphia, and Mr. Calzadilla, 40, was born in Havana and moved to Puerto Rico with his family as a child) and the first time performance artists — and an artist collaborative — have been chosen to represent the United States there."
Lisa Freiman, senior curator at the Indianapolis Museum of Art had the winning proposal. In the video below, she discusses her choice (note the tanning bed that was shipped to Venice from of all tanning meccas, Indianapolis = facetious exclamation of surprise).
Adding to the internationalism: the airline seats were manufactured in Los Angeles; the organ came from Bonn; the bronze statue originated in Berkeley, CA; and the ATM was shipped from Milan.
Here is the floor plan for the six new projects that are incorporated into Gloria, the title of their exhibition:
Also from the above New York Times link: "Every two years museum curators from across the country detail their visions for the American pavilion in proposals that are reviewed by the Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions, a group comprising curators, museum directors and artists who then submit their recommendations to the Fund for United States Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions. While the process is secret — and nobody would talk about it — according to sources close to the State Department, Ms. Freiman’s 95-page application beat out many by curators who were promoting the work of more established artists, including Cindy Sherman, Shirin Neshat, Cathie Opie and Diana Thater...."
"...To perform the pieces they have gathered a cast that includes Dave Durante, a champion in all-around gymnastics; Dan O’Brien, the 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon; the gymnast Chellsie Memmel, a silver medalist at the 2008 Bejing Games; and Ms. Wilhelmi, among others." [The gymnasts will be living in Venice from June - November 27. The project cost more than $1 million which Lisa Freiman raised.]
Also from Vogel's article: "The work also harks back to ancient Greece and Rome, when the notion of the idealized body was evident in athletics and in art. The pavilion is a stately 1930 Palladian-style building, and in its grand entrance rotunda will be a Solaris tanning bed, its lights almost blinding visitors. Nestled in it, as though it were a body lying in state, will be a scaled-down bronze model of Thomas Crawford’s “Statue of Freedom,” also known as “Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace” — a classical female figure, her right hand resting on the hilt of a sword and her left holding a wreath of victory — which has stood atop the United States Capitol since 1863."
"But perhaps that work will be upstaged by the giant custom-designed pipe organ that incorporates the A.T.M. Visitors will be able to check their balance or get cash, and for every transaction different musical sounds will be heard emanating from the organ. 'Nothing will ever be repeated,' Mr. Calzadilla said. 'Sometimes the music will be atonal or cinematic, or like a horror movie or a gospel.'”
More on the ATM from a 3rd June New York Times review: "During the first three days of the Biennale’s V.I.P. preview earlier this week, more than 100,000 euros were withdrawn from the machine. That amount, Lisa Freiman, commissioner of the pavilion said, is three or four times the normal activity of an A.T.M. in Italy, according to BNL, the bank that operates it. When it gets low on cash, gun-toting guards can be seen coming to replenish it."
[All still images are from the NY Times.]
Sigmar Polke, Polizeischwein, 1986 in the ILLUMinations Exhibition at the Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale opened to the general public on 4th June. Several people have asked me why I am not there now and there are several answers: 1) I have to go to California first (hence the title "From Venice Beach to the Venice Biennale") and this date occurs in late June due to a nonnegotiable family reunion, 2) I am not interested in the awards, parties, and general hoopla that goes with an opening - though secretly it would be fun to go once BUT the premise of my project is not based on attending this portion of the event, 3) I need time to make the work I am bringing to Italy after I visit California and unless I took the last month off school, that wasn't going to happen, 4) Many people visit the Venice Biennale after the opening - that is why it is up until November. Sure I will be missing out on seeing artists, curators, and (gasp) celebrities but in July I will have a clear view of the artwork and a good place to stay (even though I know the hotter it gets, the smellier it is in Venice).
In my extensive, watching the press and the Biennale Twitter feed (yes, I downloaded the iBiennale i-phone app too & have investigated buying my tickets online - it's only $32 for the day which seems like a steal considering it's Italy), here are some facts that I've gleaned. The Biennale is the oldest, most established and largest festival celebrating contemporary art. It is located in a park (Giardini) and comprises 30 permanent pavilions. In addition to various countries selecting artists to represent them in each pavilion, the director of the Biennale curates an exhibition in one of the large exhibition halls. Prizes are bestowed (Gold Lions) as well as Life Time Achievement awards. In 2009, Yoko Ono and John Baldessari won the Life Time Achievement awards; Ed Ruscha represented the US in 2005; 89 nations are included in 2011 including three newcomers - Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and Haiti.
This year, Bice Curiger, co-founder of Parkett, curated the ILLUMinations Exhibition: "The work of Venetian Renaissance painter Tintoretto will play a prominent role in ILLUMInations. Many contemporary artists claim to be searching for the same light that animates some of Tintoretto’s later works." There are 82 artists represented in this exhibition including: Christian Marclay, James Turrell, Martin Creed, Trisha Donnelley, Fischli & Weiss, Gelitin, Sigmar Polke, Pipilotti Rist, and Cindy Sherman (i.e. ones I'm interested in seeing).
The art world and art prizes leave something to be desired (check out this link where Richard Bell flipped a coin to determine the winner of Australia's Sir John Sulman Prize) but here are the winners at this year's Biennale:
The German Pavilion received the Gold Lion for National Participation. Christoph Schlingensief died of lung cancer four months before the show opened. The curator, Suzanne Gaensheimer, wanted to "demonumentalize the German Pavilion" with the inclusion of his work. The installation looks fascinating so I'm excited to see it.
Christian Marclay's The Clock (in the ILLUMinations Exhibition on display at the Corderie Arsenale) won the Gold Lion for the Best Artist in this show.
The Silver Lion for the most promising young artist at the ILLUMinations Exhibition went to Haroon Mirza.
Of course there are the unofficial exhibitions like Commercial Break which features Richard Phillips's awful (quoting c-monster) "underwear ad" or Lindsay Lohan video. I love that much of the press Lohan is getting in regards to this video is how she is under house arrest in Venice Beach and won't be able to attend the Venice Biennale. Surely there is artwork to be made about that statement.
Here's a good video clip from the BBC on how art meets politics at this year's Biennale (and it shows Mike Martin's installation as mentioned below).
Here is some great coverage in the New York Times.
What I look most forward to seeing:
• The French Pavilion as represented by one of my favorite artists ever, Christian Boltanski:
• Christian Marclay's The Clock (particularly because I ran out of time to see it while at CAA in NYC in February)
• Gelitin's Installation featuring a glory hole (!) & James Turrell in the ILLUMinations Exhibition
• Mike Martin's transformation of the British Pavilion to an Istanbul house
• Thomas Hirschhorn because I loved his Universal Gym
• Harmony Korine and James Franco's Rebel
Maurizio Cattelan, The Others, 2011
• I will see any Cattelan installation any chance I get especially when he acquires 2000 fake pigeons from a theater supply company and installs them all over the Biennale.
Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 2010
• What on earth is Cindy Sherman up to in her ILLUMinations Exhibition entry?
The US Pavilion will have it's very own posting up next. All still images via.
With this map (i.e. exhibition announcement from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth), sprang forth an idea, a connection, a "this is what I must do to complete the VB project." At last....
Eddie Ruscha & Bill Edler, Hitchhiking Trip, Summer 1954
When he was 14, he and a friend hitchhiked from Oklahoma City to Florida. Ruscha recorded their route on a map that he keeps in his studio.
This is Ruscha’s photographic interpretation to Jack Kerouac’s 1959 novel, On the Road. On 21 August 1966, Ruscha and this two friends were driving a Buick at 90 miles an hour near Las Vegas when someone threw a Royal typewriter out the window. It shattered. Ruscha stopped the car and went back to photograph it.
Robert Irwin on Ed Ruscha’s books: "The general response when you got a Ruscha book was to look through it with interest, then laugh, then look through it with interest. You keep looking for the story."
Detail of Jeff Wall's Gust of Wind
All those papers flying in the wind are beginning to look like my rejection letters. Scanning, reading, writing, purchasing framing material = 5.5 hours in a day of work in which I also received 5.5 hours of sleep. ZZZ.
