The Venice Biennale, as an important exhibition with a history of hundreds of years, has always attracted the attention of the contemporary art community. Due to the impact of the epidemic, the 59th Venice International Art Biennale, which was supposed to be exhibited in 2021, was postponed to April 2022.
The organizers of the Venice Biennale recently announced on their official website the lineup of exhibitors for this year's National Pavilion. Among them, the theme of the exhibition of the China Pavilion is "Yuanjing", and Zhang Zikang, director of the CAFA Art Museum, is the curator.
The Biennale's theme exhibition features 213 artists from 58 countries, as well as 81 countries. It is reported that the number of participating artists in this biennale will be the highest since 2005, double the number of people in the previous edition.
The biennale's theme comes from the Mexican surrealist artist Leonora Carrington's children's book "Milk of Dreams," which chief curator Alemani describes as an "allegory" of the last century. In the book, life is constantly reimagined through the prism of the imagination, and based on this setting, the Biennale will invite people to embark on an imaginative journey.
The 59th Venice Biennale is hosted by Roberto Cicutto, President of the Venice Biennale, with Cecilia Alemani as the chief curator, and the exhibition will be open to the public from April 23 to November 27, 2022 in the Garden Area and the Armory Area.
Roberto Cicutto, President of the Venice Biennale, and Cecilia Alemani, Chief Curator of the 59th Venice International Art Biennale
On February 2, the press conference of the Venice Biennale was held
The Paper has learned that the Venice Biennale is named after the hand-painted children's book "Milk of Dreams" by Mexican surrealist artist Leonora Carrington (1917-2011). The protagonist of the story is a character with two faces, wings and no ears. "Carrington's story depicts a free world full of possibilities," Alemani explains, "but the book is also a fable for a century that imposed unbearable pressures on the individual and forced Carrington to begin a life of exile." She has been in a mental hospital, an object of people's admiration and desire, and a person who combines strength and mystery, always escaping the shackles of fixed and continuous identity. Carrington lived longer than many of her surrealist colleagues, but her artistic achievements have only gained international recognition in recent years, from painting and sculpture to novels, poetry, drama, and costumes. In 2015, Tate Liverpool hosted a major retrospective for Carrington; in 2019, the reopened Museum of Modern Art in New York incorporated Carrington's work into the surreal art gallery.
Leonora Carrington
Painting in Milk of Dreams
Leonora Carrington and the children's book "Milk of Dreams"
The painting in Milk of Dreams was made in the 1950s, and Carrington initially painted a series of images that were posted at her home in Mexico to weave stories for her children. Later, these paintings were published as children's books, and in 2017, an English version of the book was published. Alemani said Carrington depicts a magical world in the book, "where life is constantly reimagined through the prism of imagination, where everyone can change and be changed, where everyone can be someone else, something else." "Based on this setting, the exhibition will invite people to embark on a journey of imagination.
On February 2, 2022, the Organizing Committee of the Venice Biennale announced on its official website the lineup of this year's National Pavilion, including 213 artists from 58 countries participating in the theme exhibition, as well as 81 countries participating.
The 59th National Pavilion of China at Weishuang
Among them, the theme of the exhibition of the China Pavilion is "Yuanjing", with Zhang Zikang, director of the CAFA Art Museum, as the curator, Sun Dongdong as the assistant curator, and 4 (group) artists invited to participate in the exhibition, namely Liu Jiayu, Wang Yuyang, Xu Lei, and the AT group (the joint project of the Institute of Science and Technology art of the CAFA and the Brain and Intelligence Laboratory of Tsinghua University, and the artists of the AT group are: Li Yan, Chen Zhi, Guan Yiming, Chen Houwen, Lu Fei, Peng Jiayuan, Lei Jianhao, Liu Yichen, Yan Liangliang). It is reported that the exhibition site of the China National Pavilion is in the Arsenale exhibition area.
Introduction to the Chinese Pavilion on the official website of the Venice Biennale
Renderings of the Chinese Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale
The theme of the exhibition at the China National Pavilion, "Meta-Scape", echoes the theme of "The Milk of Dreams" in Weishuang, which focuses on three different research areas: the manifestation of the body and its deformation; the relationship between the individual and technology; and the connection between the body and the earth.
"Jing" is a word that evolves with the times and overlaps meanings in the traditional Chinese discourse system, from the earliest meaning of the realm and boundary, and later gradually extended to the spiritual perception, which is considered to be a spiritual realm that can be reached by human spiritual perception. At the same time, the figure of "realm" also appears in the process of modernization in China, in the early 1990s when "virtual reality technology" as an emerging technology spread in China, scientist Qian Xuesen keenly found that the combination of human-machine and spiritual intention contained in it can be docked with the interpretation of "realm" in Chinese cultural traditions, for this reason, he translated "virtual reality" as "spiritual realm", and understood the "virtuality" in it as a Chinese way of perceiving himself.
Xu Lei, Correspondances, 266x350x48.5cm, Acrylic, Metal Material, Electric Rail, 2022
Xu Lei, Correspondances, 266x350x48.5cm, Acrylic, Metal Materials, Electric Rail, 2022
Zhang Zikang said that "Meta-Scape" is inspired by the "jing" in the Chinese literary and artistic tradition represented by "poetry", and from the perspective of the contemporaneity of media theory, the ecological or systematic image presented by "environment" is docked with the current human situation of "human-technology-nature", not only in the long history of the evolution of Chinese civilization, but also from the inherent experience of China's modernization, in response to the theme exhibition "Milk of Dreams" of the Venice International Art Biennale on the "Anthropocene" thoughts, ideas, ideas, and actions related to the discovery of "a free world full of possibilities."
As the exhibition theme of the Chinese Pavilion of this year's Venice International Art Biennale, "Yuanjing" aims to face the current human situation of "man-technology-nature", take the "realm" in traditional Chinese culture as a principle concept, starting from the transcendent attitude of time suggested by "Meta", based on China's experience in seeking modernization process, with artificial intelligence as the representative of new media art practice as the main medium, through the aesthetic form of "creating the environment", through the symbolic images of plants, mountains and stones, in the love and scenery, virtual and real, In the relationship and presentation of mind and matter, the "understanding structure" formed by the Chinese nation in the process of understanding the world and transforming the world is displayed, and the civilized road signs set by human beings for the coexistence of the future world are discussed.
Yuyang Wang, Snowman, 265x190x285cm, brass, copper, concrete, stainless steel, 2021
CAFA Institute of Science and Technology + Tsinghua University Brain and Intelligence Laboratory Collective Project, Jungle, Artificial Intelligence Deep Learning, Mirror Printing, Size Variable, 2021
According to Sun Dongdong, assistant curator of the China Pavilion, the exhibition is divided into two areas: garden and exhibition hall. The garden area is displayed with Wang Yuyang's sculpture "Snowman" (2021), and the exhibition hall area is the joint collective project "Jungle" (2021) jointly by the CAFA Academy of Science and Technology and tsinghua University's Brain and Intelligence Laboratory, Xu Lei's "Xinghui" (2021), Liu Jiayu's "Virtual Pole Quiet Du" (2021) and Wang Yuyang's "Wang Yuyang #: One Quarter (Solar Terms)" (2021). The three artists worked together with a joint collective project to construct the spatial narrative of the "Meta Realm".
In the context of the current era, as the "metaverse" of the exhibition, it creates and presents a cosmic consciousness of symbiosis, and its starting point for thinking is completely different from the popular concept of "metacosm". Proceeding from China's unique cultural context and poetic spirit, the purpose of "creating the realm" is not to establish new divisions, but on the contrary, its purpose is to transcend the boundaries of reality and re-establish a universal way of reflecting on the self, and the common future of mankind constructed therefrom.
Jiayu Liu, Virtual Pole Static Duc, Artificial Intelligence, 3D Printing, 3D Projection, Real-Time Rendering, Size Variable, 2021
The number of participating artists doubled
The 59th Venice Biennale, which was supposed to be held in 2021, was postponed by a year due to the pandemic. In late April, visitors can see the new Biennale exhibits in the Giardini, the Arsenale and the various pavilions in Venice, Italy.
It is also the first time since the 1990 Venice Biennale announced that the 1992 Biennale was postponed to 1993 (so that the 1995 Biennale was held on the occasion of its 100th anniversary). Therefore, this year's Venice Biennale will also be held in the same year as the "Documenta 15th Kassel". Documenta Kassel will be on display from 18 June 2022 to 25 September 2022.
Arsenale at the Venice Biennale
The scene of the 58th Venice Biennale
The theme of the Venice Biennale focuses on three different areas of study: the manifestation of the body and its deformation; the relationship between the individual and technology; and the connection between the body and the earth. Roberto Sicotto, president of the Venice Biennale, said, "Cecilia Alemani focused her 'through the deformation of the body and the definition of human nature' on a series of questions about 'the doubts that pervade science, art and mythology in the present age.'" ”
Chief Curator Cecilia Alemani is the fifth female chief curator in the history of the Venice Biennale, having served as curator of the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale in 2017. As the first Italian female curator at the Venice Biennale, Alemani said, "I understand and appreciate the responsibility and opportunity entrusted to me, and I will give artists a voice to create unique art projects that reflect their vision and our society." ”
The main vision of the 59th Venice International Art Biennale "Milk of Dreams"
It is reported that the theme exhibition of Weishuang has 213 artists from 58 countries participating. That's the largest number of artists exhibiting in any biennale since 2005, more than double the number of artists at the previous biennale's 83. Among them are three Chinese artists, Zheng Bo from Beijing and hong Kong, China, Lu Yang, an artist living in Shanghai, and Li Shuang, who lives in Berlin and Geneva. Of the 213 participating artists, the proportion of female artists and gender dissimilars was unprecedented, with only 21 male artists exhibiting.
Exhibits at the 59th Venice Biennale
Of the 180 artists present, works have never been exhibited at the Venice Biennale. The total number of artists who have died this time is also unprecedented, accounting for 44% of the exhibitors. The furthest away from today is the artist Maria Sibila Merian, born in Frankfurt in 1647, and the oldest living participant is the Parisian artist Vera Molnár, who was born in Budapest in 1924 and turned 98 this January. The number of millennials (circa 1980-1995) is exactly twice as large as the number of artists at the previous biennale, with the youngest artist being Simnikiwe Buhlungu, who was born in Johannesburg in 1995. "It will be an intergenerational exhibition where young artists and deceased artists, well-known artists and forgotten artists will be on the same stage to explore the themes of the Biennale through their works that span time and space," the organizers said. ”
In addition, according to reports, this year's Venice Biennale has 81 countries participating, of which 5 countries are participating in the Venice Biennale for the first time, namely the Republic of Cameroon, Namibia, Nepal, the Sultanate of Oman and Uganda. The Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, on the other hand, exhibited for the first time in their respective national pavilions.
(This article is a synthesis of previous reports from the official website of the Venice Biennale, Phoenix Art, and The Paper.) ）