The
Argentine pavilion
at the 60th Venice Biennale begins to receive the first visitors, in this pre-inauguration, with the installation of
"Hopefully the doors collapse", by Luciana Lamothe
, curated by Sofía Dourron. The authorities of
Malba
,
Fundación Proa
and
international curators
, including the star critic Han Ulrich Obrist, came between yesterday and today to consider Lamothe's proposal, in which nature (battered, burned and chopped) has been hybridized with construction materials, iron and steel, plywood. It is
an aesthetic leap
in the usual language of the artist who has worked for some years with tubular pipes.
The Biennial is the most relevant artistic event worldwide and its pre-inauguration
until April 19
for artists, curators, gallery owners, museum directors, critics and the specialized press and will extend until November for the general public.
First tour
Luciana Lamothe
's installation
offers a wooden tunnel, hybrid sculptural posts and a kind of Auger in light plywood. It consists of four modules and a link between the different parts. In the whole,
conceptual art in the key of arte povera
(Alfredo Burri's burnings) seems to marry. But it is also very pleasantly surprising that
the curatorship recovers and emphasizes the luminosity of the
Argentine pavilion, which in the last two editions of the Biennial offered settings
in darkness or with punctual light
and isolated windows. Now the inside dialogues with the outside...
Auger in clear plywood
In the first case, with
Mariana Tellería
, to give her sculptures and textiles an ecclesiastical halo, and in the case of
Mónica Heller
, in the last Biennial, because otherwise her work could not have been seen on video.
The effect of having opened the windows to the light that filters through the gardens that surround the arsenals and the Argentine pavilion is to
have doubled the width of the space
, which is not minor.
It is an installation that we could think of as pessimistic or critical, and yet hopeful because there is light from the windows and because the space seems to grow larger. Particularly
virtuous
is the encounter she achieves between
burnt branches
, thin and very fragile, and the
iron
and stainless steel staples that imprison them.
The highest bar
Of course, this is a
very first impression
, totally instantaneous, of something that we will explore in more depth. However, it undoubtedly raises the bar, especially in the last edition, whose Monica Heller sample left the majority dissatisfied.
On our first impressionist walk. In the midst of
hurricane-force wind and rain
, which devastated the industrial and very old facilities (several centuries old) of the arsenals, we confirmed that the Argentine presence is not only notable but also reveals great surprises.
For example, the 24 meters that were allocated to
Mauricio “La Chola” Poblete
with his art that combines watercolor, drawing and graffiti. And, above all, for the seven textiles exhibited by
Claudia Alarcón
, who turns the jaguar technique on its head never seen before. In part this is because it has been mounted on colored backgrounds, whereby Alarcón's sometimes whimsical geometry for a technique as stereotypical as the jaguar reveals tones and geometric shapes never before seen in this technique.
See this post on Instagram
A shared post from MACBA (@museomacba)
This is just to talk about contemporaries, because there is a glimpse of beautiful works by great artists who did not have as much fame as they deserved: the case of
Elda Cerrato
, or
Juan Del Prete
, or different works on loan from the
Museum of Modern Art
.
Turbulence
Thus, the field of art is the one that most ruthlessly shows the
political cracks
that cross the planet and that have their center in the
Middle East
conflict .
The incipient
debate
at the Venice Biennale, which has its emergence above all in the figure of
Anish Kapoor
, an Indian artist established throughout the Western world and with important work in England, cannot be understood without reviewing what happened at the triennial documents in
Kassel
, Germany, which was
partially canceled by the German government
due to its own legislation around pro-Palestinian but more than pro-Palestinian anti-Israel speeches.
Kapoor shook up the pre-inauguration yesterday by
criticizing the title and motto
of the 60th Biennale, stating that the exhibition, titled “Foreigners Everywhere” and curated by Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa,
plays into the hands of Italy's right-wing government
.
"I live in Venice and I see signs all over the city that say 'Foreigners everywhere.'" Despite Pedrosa's undoubtedly good intentions to subvert the language of racist fear and hate, these words
echo the language of nationalist neo-fascism
," Kapoor told
The Art Newspaper
.
"In a context in which the right-wing Italian government has taken
control of museums
and all cultural institutions, and in which the new president of the Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, has
proclaimed himself right-wing
, this dangerous slogan fits with his and his government's stance against immigrants and foreigners. The right-wing
disgust
extends throughout the world, from the Middle East to Russia, including India and the United States," Kapoor added.
This was not the only conflict, just on the first day. The
Israeli pavilion
of the 60th Venice Biennale, which was to open today, will remain closed "
until a ceasefire is agreed upon
and the hostages" held by Hamas are released.
This is the advertisement that appeared this morning on a poster displayed in front of the Israeli pavilion at the Art Biennale.
The decision of the curator and artist,
Ruth Patir
, is not to cancel the exhibition, "but it is an option of solidarity with the families of the hostages and with the great community of Israel that calls for change."
See this post on Instagram
A post shared by Ruth Patir (@ruthpatir)
Their decision,
praised as brave by the
biennale's chief curator, was announced on a sign posted in the window of the Israeli national pavilion on the first day of media presentations, just days before the contemporary art fair begins on Saturday. .
“Art can wait, but
women, children and people who are living hell cannot
,” the curators said in a joint statement with the artist. They expressed their dismay at the situation of Palestinians in Gaza and the relatives of those kidnapped in the October attack in Israel.
With information from agencies.