“56th Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition” Report Part 3

The 56th Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition will close on November 22nd after a period of about seven months. Although this year's event started about a month earlier than usual to coincide with the opening of Expo Milano, the number of visitors during the exhibition period reached a record 501,000, which was 24,000 more than the previous international art exhibition held in 2013. did. Over 8,000 interviews and reports were received by domestic and international media (including 2,650 in Italy and 5,450 by international media), and the work was widely reported not only in the world's major art magazines but also in daily newspapers. It has also been reported that the number of people registered on SNS was 450,000 on the final day, an increase of 79% from the previous year, and Instagram was introduced one month before the opening and currently has 28,000 registered users. .

On the other hand, the official announcement on the final day included not only these numbers, but also the implementation of various events that served as forums for discussion, the achievements of exchanges with students and educators who will be responsible for creating the future, and new developments of the biennale. As you can see, there was also mention of the ``Venice Biennale Online,'' a collaboration with Google that makes full use of the latest IT technology, and ``Collateral Events'' (simultaneous exhibitions), which are increasing in number and attracting attention every year. . In this final MAGCUL.NET report, we will introduce these "continuations of the Biennale." Among the collateral events, we will also look back on a special exhibition by M+ (Museum Plus), a large public art museum currently under construction in Hong Kong, and a joint exhibition of Indian and Pakistani artists that was made possible through a call from a private foundation. Finally, we would like to inform you about the future movements of the two representatives of the Japan Pavilion who were interviewed in the first report.

Venue scene on the final day of the 56th Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition
Photo by Andrea Avezzù Courtesy: la Biennale di Venezia

Paolo Baratta, director of the Venice Biennale, evaluates this international art exhibition by focusing on the number of journalists, critics, and young people who participated during the exhibition, especially since 1999, when about 200,000 people visited. I would like to evaluate the further deepening and richness of the knowledge and creative possibilities brought about by the exchange. Even in the breakdown of visitors, after the number of media mentioned above, it is clearly mentioned that the target audience is "young people and students" who account for 30% of the visitors this time, and the staff at the venue also caters to student groups. were often seen. This is also the result of a project called ``Biennale Sessions'' that encourages universities and art academies around the world to appreciate the Venice Biennale.This year, not only universities and art academies in Italy but also overseas We gathered many participants from universities across the world (3,518 people from 78 universities in total, 24 from Italy and 54 from abroad).

In addition, Venice has produced important movements and artists in the history of art, and this year's Biennale will feature 60 students from the Venice Academy of Fine Arts, founded in 1750, who are among the world-famous conceptual artists among the exhibiting artists. We have participated in productions by artist Hans Haacke and performances by Golden Lion winner Adrian Piper. Furthermore, in addition to the various events that were held every day at the Giardini venue's "Red Theater" that I reported on last time, an international conference called "Creative Time Summit 2015" was held at the Teatro alle Thesese in the Arsenale venue. More than 100 speakers, including activists, teachers, theorists, and politicians, discussed issues such as art education.

Viewers of the 56th Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition (Giardini venue)
Photo: Alessandra Chemollo Courtesy: la Biennale di Venezia

○ Biennale Sessions on the occasion of the 56th International Art Exhibition (List of participating schools and videos included)
http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/archive/56th-exhibition/biennale-sessions/
○ Biennale Educational 2015 (Venice Biennale Educational Promotion Activities Guidelines)
http://web.labiennale.org/doc_files/educational-en2015b.pdf
○ The 2015 (7th) Creative Time Summit: the Curriculum at the Biennale Arte 2015 (includes event overview, list of speakers, and video)
http://creativetime.org/summit/venice-2015/

Whether you weren't able to go to Venice this time or you were overwhelmed by the sheer number of exhibitions on display, you should definitely try "Venice Biennale Online," which was developed by Venice Biennale in collaboration with Google Cultural Institute. please. ``Cultural Institute'' is an Internet service provided free of charge by Google that digitally archives exhibitions and collections from museums and art galleries around the world and allows them to be freely searched and viewed. The Venice Biennale version has now been developed. In addition to each exhibition venue (Arcenale and Giardini), the names of national pavilions from 70 countries are listed, and the "Start" button (which appears in Japanese) displayed on the first page of each is listed. With just a click, you can enjoy photo slides that follow the exhibition route or set theme. In addition to operations that allow you to enjoy a 360-degree view of the venue, you can also watch performances at each venue that you couldn't see due to fixed dates and times, as well as video explanations by curators. In Venice, a booth where you can enjoy this online biennale will be open until January 23, 2016 at Palazzo Justinian, where the secretariat of the Biennale Management Foundation is located.

○ “56th Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition Online”
The 56th International Art Exhibition online by Google Cultural Institute
https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/u/0/project/la-biennale-di-venezia
(Click here for the "Japan Pavilion" page)
https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/u/0/exhibit/the-key-in-the-hand/2wJSFJ9xCfj3Jw?projectId=la-biennale-di-venezia

In various spaces on the main island of Venice, there is an increasing number of "collateral events," such as temporary exhibitions held at the same time as the Venice Biennale and named after countries or administrative regions, such as the country pavilions at the Giardini venue. Masu. Hong Kong is one of the administrative regions that has been participating in this collateral event type since 2001. This year, we held a solo exhibition by Tseng Qinhua (born 1976 in Shantou, China, based in Hong Kong) at the Hong Kong Pavilion, which is located across from the main entrance of the Arsenale. This exhibition is co-sponsored by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (ADC) and M+ (Museum Plus), which is attracting attention as a new large-scale public art museum. M+ is an art museum specializing in visual culture scheduled to open in 2018 in the West Kowloon Cultural District, a 2-kilometer stretch of Hong Kong's Victoria Bay lined with skyscrapers.The exhibition space will be located in the main building of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. The museum's curatorial team selected Tseng to represent Hong Kong in Venice.
Zeng is an artist who primarily creates wallpaper and video installation works using text as material. In Japan, he exhibited at the Aichi Triennale in 2010 and the Mori Art Museum MAM Project in 2011. His new work for Venice expands on his recent research into Nietzsche's atheism and faith, and creates a video installation called THE INFINITE NOTHING, which dynamically utilizes the space of each of the four exhibition rooms. ``Nothing'') was announced. Zeng, a Christian, came into contact with Nietzsche, and the work expresses a journey in which he searches for "uncertain ultimateness," drawing inspiration from themes from Buddhism and Western philosophy, as well as from contemporary films, and the viewer is struck by the idea of "uncertain ultimateness" as a metaphor for faith. Crossing the ``river'', we confront the ``light'' and ``words'' that fall down on us, and the ``door'' that appears in front of us. Will viewers be able to use their "free will" to find the "eternal return" that is suggested to lie beyond that? A special exhibition that stylishly expresses the modernity in which an individual's journey to find the "Self" in the name of faith and religion is confused in a civilized society that is evolving day by day, and is also linked to the aquatic city of Venice. So, I'm curious about the trends in expression in Hong Kong, including M+.

○ “Zeng Jianhua THE INFINITE NOTHING”
Date: May 9th - November 22nd, 2015
Venue: Campo della Tana, Castello 2126-30122, Venice, Italy
Co-host: The Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC), West Kowloon Cultural District M+
www.venicebiennale.hk

Another concurrent exhibition worth mentioning is ``My East is Your West,'' a joint exhibition of Indian and Pakistani artists that was made possible by a private foundation. A defensive wall, said to be the longest in the world, is currently being built on the border between the two countries, which have been involved in frequent wars and religious conflicts since independence from the British colony. Shilpa Gupta (born 1976 in Bombay, India, and based in the city that changed its name to Mumbai in 1995) creates works that visualize the various negative effects and sterility of globalizing society and politics. We have been doing so. This time, he will present a performance in which he silently draws the border line with carbon paper on a 3,394 meter long piece of white cloth, which is 1/1000th the length of the border between these two countries. On the other hand, Rashid Rana (born 1968 in Lahore, Pakistan, based in Lahore) uses digitally processed photographs and videos to measure the temporality of existence and the concept of place. The exhibition used large monitors and livestream capabilities to bring viewers in the exhibition rooms in Lahore and Venice face-to-face in real time. Feroz, the female director of the Gujral Foundation, called for collaboration between writers from both countries, who are each increasing their opportunities for international activities, in addition to presenting doubts about the state of their homelands and ways to overcome them.・There were also media reports praising Mr. Gujral for uniting India and Pakistan and displaying the future vision of South Asia at Venice, the world's largest contemporary art festival.

My East is Your West(2015) at the 56th Venice Biennale by Rashid Rana.
Photo by Mark Blower

○ “My East is Your West”
Venue: Palazzo Benzon, San Marco 3927, Venice, Italy
Date: May 6th - October 1st, 2015
Sponsored by: The Gujral Foundation
http://gujralfoundation.org/my-east-is-your-west/

Lastly, I would like to talk about the continuation of the Japan Pavilion "Key in the Palm" exhibition, which was inspired by the exhibition in Kanagawa, according to an interview with MAGCUL.NET.
Although the pavilion did not even win an award, it was well-received, with a photo of the exhibition featured on the front page of a local Italian newspaper, and a major European and American art newspaper called it a must-see exhibit.
Each report will be updated on the Japan Pavilion's special website and can be viewed even after the show has closed.
Curator Hitoshi Nakano, who represented Japan, is currently preparing a cutting-edge exhibition at the KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theater , where he currently works, to introduce Japanese contemporary artists who are active both domestically and internationally from Kanagawa.
At the same time, he has been asked to present reports on the Venice Biennale from all over the country, and is contributing to the development of both the writers and curators who will represent the Japan Pavilion in the future.
For more information on artist Chiharu Shiota's subsequent activities, please refer to the artist's official website and the latest exhibition information at Galerie Daniel Tempron , a major French gallery to which she belongs.
In particular, taking advantage of his participation in Venice, he has decided to exhibit at the Sydney Biennale (from March 18, 2016). MAGCUL.NET will continue to pay attention to and support Shioda-san to see what kind of work he will present at this international art exhibition, which began in 1973 as the first biennale in the Asia-Pacific region!

Venue scene on the final day Photo by Andrea Avezzù Courtesy: la Biennale di Venezia

Report writer: Mami Iida (art historian)

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