during the60th Venice Biennale, the Wilmotte Foundation
will be presenting an exhibition by the famous
Korean artist Lee Bae entitled “La Maison de laLune Brûlée”.
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Born in 1956,Cheongdo, Korea
Lives and works between Paris, France and Seoul, Korea
This exhibition is a captivating, participatory experience that seamlessly blends folk knowledge and heritage with contemporary art. At the heart of the exhibition is the deep connection between man and the natural world, exploring themes of renewal, circularity and the harmonious rhythms of nature. Lee Bae collects messages from all over the world, which are then transcribed onto hanji paper, a traditional Korean paper. These messages, which embody wishes for the New Year, become an integral part of the ritual of setting the House of the Moon ablaze, which takes place on 24 February in the town of Cheong-do.
This recorded ceremony will be projected onto the walls above the exhibition hall in April 2024.
We met Lee Bae in 1999. A beautifulcomplicity was born. Together we puton a highly acclaimed exhibition at theFernet Branca Foundation. Lee Bae isfirst and foremost a poet. He expresseshis poetry through different media, butalways with sensitivity, finesse andsubtlety.
JEAN-MICHEL WILMOTTE
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The exhibition “La Maison de La Lune Brûlée” explores Lee Bae’s deep connection with Daljip Teugi, a century-old ritual synchronized with cyclical cosmology, intertwining folklore with contemporary art. It delves into humanity’s intrinsic connection with nature, advocating for a return to renewal and circularity.
This two-part exhibition engages folk, local, and global communities, unfolding before and during the Biennale.
Preceding the Biennale, we collected messages worldwide, transcribing them onto hanji paper, a traditional Korean medium. These messages, embodying wishes for the new year, became integral to the Moonhouse Burning ritual held on February 24th in Cheong-do during the inaugural full moon.
Throughout the 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, the exhibition hosted at the Wilmotte Foundation allows visitors to immerse themselves in the essence of Daljip Teugi and its primary material, charcoal, Lee Bae’s signature medium.
Through video, audio, sculpture, site-specific installations, and contemplative structures, the foundation’s space becomes an experiential moment, where visitors can “sense” not only the moonhouse burning but also delve into Korean philosophy and its derivative aesthetic.
In an era defined by complexity and estrangement from nature, “La Maison de la Lune Brûlée” delivers a compelling narrative of reconnecting with nature’s rhythms, celebrating lunar cosmologies and folklore traditions. The exhibition poses vital inquiries about the enduring significance of ancient traditions in contemporary contexts. By fusing art and ritual, Lee Bae’s exhibition invites visitors on a profound journey to explore our collective humanity and the potential for rediscovery and hope.
Lee Bae
Based in Seoul and Paris, Lee Bae focuses on the expressive potential of charcoal as a medium. Over the course of nearly three decades, Lee has dedicated himself to creating a diverse range of iterations of Korean painting through his use of charcoal and abstract forms that are self-sufficient and rich in spiritual and energetic qualities. By exploring immanent notions such as yielding, respiring, and circulation, which are embodied by charcoal as a material, Lee’s work resonates with themes of life and death, absence and presence, light and shadow, form, and emptiness. Lee’s oeuvre spans a wide range of mediums and forms, from drawings to canvas-based works, as well as installations, with each new work serving to expand upon his unique vision and approach. With an international reputation, Lee’s works have been featured at museums and institutions world- wide including Phi Foundation, Montreal; Wilmotte Foundation, Venice; Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence; and Musée Guimet, Paris. Lee’s work is in the permanent collections of many museums including the National Museum of Contemporary Art (MMCA), Gwacheon; Seoul Museum of Art (SEMA), Seoul; Leeum-Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul; Horim Museum, Seoul; Paradise Art Space, Incheon; Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence; Musée Guimet, Paris; Musée Cernuschi, Paris; Baruj Foundation, Barcelona; Privada Allegro Foundation, Madrid; Medianoche Foundation, Granada; and Phi Foundation, Montreal.
The Victor Pinchuk Foundation and the PinchukArtCentre present an official collateral event of the 60th International Art Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia. Entitled From Ukraine: Dare to Dream, when the world is in constant fear, the exhibition is held at the Palazzo Contarini Polignac in Venice from April 20th until August 1st, 2024. The exhibition is a continuation of PinchukArtCentre’s proactive engagement with Ukrainian art on a global and national stage since the outbreak of war in 2022.
The exhibition asks: ‘Can we imagine tomorrow? Do we have the courage to dream?’ The world has reached an inflection point: storms and climate change ravage lands far and wide, political extremes are seizing momentum. Russia’s war in Ukraine unveiled an ongoing global power struggle that has brought war back to Europe. We are at a crucial moment where the future is hidden while fundamental changes are on the horizon.
From Ukraine: Dare to Dream weaves a tapestry of stories and hopes grown within the shadows of global conflicts, including 22 artists and collectives:
Departing from Ukrainian lands and its history of forced migration, the exhibition provides a platform for subdued voices worldwide, offering songs of resistance and resilience. It addresses Earth’s ecological disasters while imagining a new utopia, where mythology merges into an alternative garden of Eden. Exhausted landscapes bear witness to human violence—from extractive economies to the harsh realities of war—while carrying seeds of a new beginning. Amidst these overwhelming circumstances, the fragility of the individual is blossoming yet at risk. Its shadow is cast by touches, movement of nuanced lines as a part of unspoken verse, scenes of normality that question reality. They all converge into a possibility of acceptance.
Can many struggles become the joint creation of a better future? After liberation, can former victims co-exist with former aggressors? Can empathy offer ways of common being in a space of conflicting memories?
Björn Geldhof, artistic director of the PinchukArtCentre and curator of From Ukraine: Dare to Dream, comments: “From Ukraine: Dare to Dream, provokes a challenge: dare to dream today, even as the world has reached an inflection point. Political extremes are seizing their growing momentum. Russia’s war in Ukraine unveiled an ongoing global power struggle that has brought war back to Europe. With this exhibition we not only share a Ukrainian platform with artists from the African, South American and Asian continent. We actively try to imagine a better future well aware and always conscious of the violent reality we live in today.”
As the first centre for contemporary art in Ukraine, the PinchukArtCentre is a leading voice in developing the Ukrainian art scene; since the outbreak of war in 2022, it has played a vital role in protecting and promoting Ukrainian art and culture. At the 59th Venice Biennale, The PinchukArtCentre organized the collateral event This is Ukraine: Defending Freedom which brought new and historical works by Ukrainian artists to Venice, and saw President Zelensky give his first public speech on art at the opening of the exhibition.
Lesia Khomenko, Max in the Army (series), This is Ukraine: Defending Freedom, Venice 2022,
Courtesy PinchukArtCentre
About Björn Geldhof (curator)
Björn Geldhof, Artistic Director of the PinchukArtCentre (Kyiv). Geldhof has curated numerous projects internationally, including Ukrainian National Pavilion at the 56th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2015), Future Generation Art Prize exhibitions in Venice (2011, 2013, 2017, 2019) and This is Ukraine: Defending Freedom, an official collateral event of the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2022).
He has curated many solo exhibitions and thematic exhibitions, such as China China, Fear and Hope, Loss: in Memory of Babyn Yar, Suns and Neons above Kazakhstan, Democracy Anew, Fragile State, and The Forbidden Image and has worked with among others: Damián Ortega, Olafur Eliasson, Anish Kapoor, Ai Weiwei, Jenny Holzer, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Tony Oursler, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Shilpa Gupta, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Marina Abramović, Santiago Sierra, and Carlos Motta.
About Ksenia Malykh (curator)
Malykh is an art historian, curator, researcher and Head of the Research Platform at PinchukArtCentre, (Kyiv). She is co-founder of the OK Projects NGO and Closer Art Center, Kyiv and was general manager of the Ukrainian National Pavilion at the 58th Biennale in Venice.
Malykh’s research is focused on young artists and decolonisation of the knowledge of Ukrainian art. She has curated several notable exhibitions, including ‘I Feel You’ (2024), together with Bjorn Geldhof and Oleksandra Pogrebnyak; ‘The Artist as Prophet’ (2023) at Galerie Weisser Elefant (Berlin, Germany), together with Valeria Schiller; ‘When Faith Moves Mountains’. PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Koeln (2023), together with Bjorn Geldhof and Bart de Bare; ‘United’, a group exhibition of artists nominated for the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2022, together with Oleksandra Pogrebnyak.
About Oleksandra Pogrebnyak (curator)
Oleksandra Pogrebnyak is a junior curator at PinchukArtCentre (Kyiv, Ukraine). She graduated from the Institute of International Relations at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Oleksandra has curated several notable exhibitions, including ‘United’, a group exhibition of artists nominated for the
PinchukArtCentre Prize 2022, together with Ksenia Malykh; ‘The Sky is Getting Closer’ (2022), a film program presented during Art Basel at Liste Art Fair Basel (Switzerland) and at Le Festival d’Automne à Paris (France), together with Martha Kirszenbaum and Daria Shevtsova; Piotr Armianovski’s solo exhibition ‘History of Relations’ (2023) at PinchukArtCentre; ‘How River Roars’ (2023) at Krupa Art Foundation (Poland), together with Antoni Burzyński; and ‘Four Slag Heaps’, an exhibition within I AM U ARE, Ukrainian Creators Fair in LA (the USA), together with Daria Shevtsova.
Oleksandra is a co-author of the book on curatorial practices in Ukraine entitled Curatorial Handbook (2020), together with Dmytro Chepurnyi and Kateryna Iakovlenko.
FONDATION LOUIS VUITTON ESPACE LOUIS VUITTON / VENEZIA ERNEST PIGNON-ERNEST JE EST UN AUTRE 60th International art exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia Collateral Event
Pasolini 2015 PASOLINI. 40 ans après son assassinat. Collage à Rome, Ostia, Naples, Matera, Mai/Juin 2015
ERNEST PIGNON-ERNEST
JE EST UN AUTRE
20.04. – 24.11.2024
Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
For the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Fondation Louis Vuitton has invited French artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest to present Je Est Un Autre, a unique exhibition conceived especially for the Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia. The exhibition is produced as part of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s “Hors-les-murs” programme, which unfolds at the Espaces Louis Vuitton in Tokyo, Munich, Venice, Beijing, Seoul and Osaka, delivering on the Fondation’s commitment to bring international artistic projects to a broad audience.
The notion of “the foreigner” has been an inherent element in Ernest Pignon-Ernest’s work since he began his career in the 1960s. For this exhibition, his repertoire of migrants, itinerants, and poets has been enriched by the creation of two new faces, those of major poets, the Russian Anna Akhmatova and the Iranian Forough Farrokhzad, who together with Pier Paolo Pasolini, Arthur Rimbaud, Antonin Artaud, Jean Genet, among others form the heart of the exhibition.
PASOLINI. 40 ans après son assassinat. Collage à Rome, Ostia, Naples, Matera, Mai/Juin 2015
Since the 1960s, and several decades before the emergence of the artforms now termed “street art”, Pignon-Ernest was already paving a singularly adventurous path, combining technical mastery, existential probity, and the ability to “poetically inhabit the world” – and doing so with exceptional openness. Throughout his career, he has accomplished the rare miracle of reconciling uncompromising ethical commitment with exacting, innovative artistic expression to the point that some of his works – such as the representation of those shot dead in La Commune and his vagabond Rimbaud – have been reproduced in hundreds of thousands of copies and have become icons of modern times. His image of the French 19th-century poet Arthur Rimbaud has, for example, in many cases, replaced the standard photograph that was previously used on covers of the poet’s works.
Everywhere and on every continent, including on the beach of Ostia where Pasolini was assassinated, Pignon-Ernest explores the destinies of individuals who break with convention or who are as myths to be revived. In doing so, the artist takes an unprece- dented risk each time; the very risk that haunted Rimbaud when he persisted in “finding the place and the formula”.
The artist creates his life size images in selected sites and projects in everyday environments in a meaningful way, a living human presence through a strategic combination of image and site. His work is always conceived based on the potential of its interaction with a place, whose historical, mythical, or political resonances he strives to explore. He allows traces of time to meld with his work to the point of dissolving it.
PASOLINI. 40 ans après son assassinat. Collage à Rome, Ostia, Naples, Matera, Mai/Juin 2015
To this day, Pignon-Ernest’s Parisian studio is in La Ruche, the artists’ residency founded in the early 20th century to welcome foreign artists from around the world, including Akhmatova in 1910-1911. His oeuvre has attracted the interest of artists ranging from Francis Bacon – who began compiling a file on the artist’s work in 1976, to Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Barthélémy Toguo who has introduced his oeuvre throughout Africa through exhibitions organised by his foundation. JR, French photographer and street artist, considers Pignon-Ernest as “[his] inspiration.”
The exhibition, curated by Suzanne Pagé and Hans Ulrich Obrist, in dialogue with Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, is accompa- nied by a publication bringing together numerous reproductions, comments by the artist, “Notes for Ernest” by Dominique Gonza- lez-Foerster and a conversation between the artist, Suzanne Pagé and Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Portrait_de_Ernest_Pignon_Ernest-600×395
About the artist ERNEST PIGNON-ERNEST
Ernest Pignon-Ernest (b. 1942, Nice) lives and works in Paris.
Since his first personal exhibition in 1979 at the ARC – Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Pignon-Ernest’s works have been displayed in museums and institutions including the Palais des Papes, Avignon; La Biennale di Venezia, Italy; the National Art Museum of China (Beijing); Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille; MAMAC, Nice; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany; and the Fonds H & E Leclerc, Landerneau, France. Among Pignon-Ernest’s best known urban interventions are: La Commune, Paris,1971; Maïakovski, Avignon, 1972; Rimbaud, de Paris in Charleville-Mézières, 1978; Pablo Neruda, Chili, 1980-1981; Naples, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995; Derrière la vitre, Lyon-Paris, 1996; Antonin Artaud, Hôpital Charles Foix, Ivry-sur-Seine, 1997; Robert Desnos / Louise Lame / Gérard de Nerval, Paris, 2001-2002; Durban, Soweto, South Africa, 2001-2002; Maurice Audin, Alger, 2003; Jean Genet, Brest, 2006; Les Mystiques, Avignon, 2007; Prison Saint-Paul, Lyon, 2012; Pasolini, Rome, Matera, Ostia, 2015; Victor Segalen, Fonds H & E Leclerc pour la culture, Landerneau, 2022.
Pignon-Ernest has also created significant stage designs for theatre and ballet productions. He was officially admitted to France’s Académie des Beaux-Arts in 2021.
pignon-ernest.com
Pagé, pictured inside the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Courtesy Luc Castel
About the curators Suzanne Pagé
Suzanne Pagé was Director of the ARC, the contemporary department of the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris from 1973 to 1988, before becoming the Museum Director, a position she held from 1988 to 2006. She first exhibited Ernest Pignon-Ernest in 1979. Since 2006, Suzanne Pagé has been Artistic Director of Fondation Louis Vuitton. Suzanne Pagé curated the French Pavilion at the 42nd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, in 1986 (with the artist Daniel Buren), and at the 51st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, in 2005 (with the artist Annette Messager); the French Pavilion was awarded the Golden Lion for the Best National Participation both times. She has curated numerous historical, modern, and contemporary art exhibitions at the institutions she has led and has written a significant number of books and catalogues.
Hans Ulrich Obrist lives and works in London, United Kingdom. Artistic Director of the Serpentine Gallery in London since 2006 and Senior Advisor to Luma Arles, France, since 2010, he was also a contemporary art curator at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris from 1991 to 2006. He has organized numerous exhibitions on every continent. His recent book Une vie in Progress, published by Editions Le Seuil, lists his many publications.
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About the Fondation Louis Vuitton
The Fondation Louis Vuitton serves the public interest and is exclusively dedicated to contemporary art and artists, as well as 20th-century works to which their inspirations can be traced. The Collection and the exhibitions it organises seek to engage a broad public. The magnificent building created by the Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and already recognized as an emblematic example of the 21st-century architecture, constitutes the Fondation’s seminal artistic statement. Since its opening in October 2014, the Fondation has welcomed more than 10 million visitors from France and around the world.
The Fondation Louis Vuitton commits to engage in international initiatives, both at the Fondation and in partnership with public and private institutions, including other foundations and museums such as the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg (Icons of Modern Art: The Shchukin Collection in 2016 and The Morozov Collection in 2021), the MoMA in New York (Being Modern: MoMA in Paris), and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London (The Courtauld Collection. A Vision for Impressionism) among others. The artistic direction also developed a specific “Hors-les-murs” programme taking place within the Espaces Louis Vuitton in Tokyo, Munich, Venice, Beijing, Seoul and Osaka, which are exclusively devoted to exhibitions of works from the Collection. These exhibitions are open to the public free of charge and promoted through specific cultural communication.
Curated by Udo Kittelmann, the exhibition Lion of God will be on view at Ateneo Veneto in Venice April 17 – September 22, 2024
This year in Venice, Walton Ford will unveil a major site-specific exhibition featuring a new body of work conceived in response to the collection of the city’s historical institution Ateneo Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. Lion of God will beFord’s first solo exhibition in Italy, consisting of a series of monumental watercolor paintings that explore the historical, biological, and environmental resonance of the subjects of the library’s collection, particularly the figure of the lion in Tintoretto’s Apparizione della Vergine a San Girolamo (The Apparition of the Virgin to St. Jerome) (c. 1580). The presentation will span two rooms in the Ateneo—the Aula Magna on the ground floor, and the Sala Tommaseo hall where Tintoretto’s work will be moved into public view for the exhibition’s duration. Curated by Udo Kittelmann, who worked with Ford on the artist’s 2010-11 traveling European retrospective Bestiarium, Lion of God will open during La Biennale di Venezia’s preview week and remain on view through September 2024.
Ford has described Tintoretto’s Apparizione della Vergine a San Girolamo as “A poignant entry point into a visual discussion of our relationship with the natural world.” Depicting Saint Jerome in ecstasy, in the midst of a vision in which the Virgin Mary descends from heaven, the historic painting features the lion that the legend describes as befriending St Jerome after he pulls a thorn from its paw. The unlikely bond between the two characters is detailed in the The Golden Legend, a text that was widely circulated in Europe during the late Middle Ages and which has acted as a reference for Ford. Demonstrating a mastery of narrative that Ford himself shares, Tintoretto has rendered his lion in shadow. One of Ford’s new paintings—spanning almost ten feet in length—will invert the Venetian painter’s framing to powerfully foreground the animal’s experience.
Ford’s ongoing philosophical inquiry into the ways in which we interact with and estrange ourselves from the animal species on this planet invokes one of the most urgent questions of our time. Curator Udo Kittelmann says of the project: “In search of finding analogies between the past and the present, Walton Ford’s paintings superimpose intricate natural history depictions with current perceptions and critical commentaries, as well as adding quotes from literary sources from past centuries, rendered in the style of the old masters. In his artworks, which can be seen as satires on political oppression and the exploitation of the environment, he casts doubt on the ‘ever new’ and the ‘ever better’. At the same time Ford has always been raising questions on a diverse range of expectations and established rules in contemporary aesthetics. To be precise, his paintings are a plot about the arrogance of human nature. Yesterday, today and tomorrow.”
Walton Ford, Vollmond, 2016 watercolor, gouache and ink on paper 84 x 60 inches, 213.4 x 152.4 cm Framed: 91 3/4 x 67 3/4 x 3 inches Framed: 233 x 172.1 x 7.6 cm
Ford’s work subverts conventions relating to humanity’s attempts to categorize and interpret the natural world by drawing on naturalist sketches and dioramas, zoological records, mythology, fables, and art history. While alluding to the form of naturalist field studies from the 19th century, Ford’s coded poetics are wide-ranging in their references, calling upon the viewer to use these fragmented clues as a guide by which to untangle the folkloric, historical, or imaginary event depicted in the work. Anatomically precise as a result of close observation of taxidermized specimens in museum collections, these works by Ford vividly project the lives, experiences, observations, and hidden histories of their human and animal subjects.
The exhibition in Venice will run concurrently with Walton Ford: Birds and Beasts of the Studio, a major solo exhibition at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City celebrating the artist’s drawings. On view from April 12 through October 20, 2024, the exhibition is organized by Isabelle Dervaux, Acquavella Curator and Department Head of Modern and Contemporary Drawings.
Lion of God is organized by Kasmin, New York. Kasmin has presented 11 solo exhibitions of Ford’s work since 1997, including Barbary in 2018—a body of work exploring the fate of the North African Barbary lion. The exhibition has been designed by Studio MDA.
“No one else, to my knowledge, has ever done watercolors of this size and ambition… and no contemporary artist has employed natural history to tell the kind of stories that Ford tells.” —Calvin Tomkins, The New Yorker
Photo by Charlie Rubin
About the Artist
Walton Ford’s monumental watercolor paintings and editioned prints expand upon the visual language and narrative scope of traditional natural history painting, mediating on the often violent and bizarre moments that lie at the intersection of human culture and the natural world. Drawing from an extensive research practice that references scientific illustrations, field studies, fables, and myths, he develops stories about animals as they exist in the human imagination. Although human figures rarely appear in his paintings, their presence and effect is always implied.
ord graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1982. Though he initially intended to be a filmmaker, he quickly returned to painting as his focal point. On a formative trip to India in the early 1990s, he began painting indigenous birds while thinking about the effects of colonialism on the natural world. The resulting project fused wildlife and allegory, which would become the touchstone of his work.
Ford’s mid-career survey, Tigers of Wrath, opened at the Brooklyn Museum in New York in 2006, and traveled to the Norton Museum of Art in Florida and the San Antonio Museum of Art in Texas through 2008. The exhibition included over fifty watercolors drawing from a wide range of sources, including writings by the painter and naturalist John James Audubon. Ford’s first institutional exhibition in Europe opened at Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof–Museum für Gegenwart in 2010, and traveled to the Albertina in Vienna and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, Denmark, through 2011. In 2015-16, the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris staged an exhibition of works by Ford, highlighting a series inspired by the Beast of Gévaudan—a wolflike creature who, according to legend, attacked rural villagers in eighteenth-century France. The exhibition was integrated into the museum’s collection of artwork and historic objects related to hunting, nature, and taxidermy.
Walton Ford, Un Homme qui Rêve, 2018 Un Homme qui Rêve, 2018 watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper 60 1/8 x 119 1/4 inches, 152.7 x 302.9 cm Copyright The Artist
Born in Westchester County, New York, 1960 Lives & Works in Manhattan, New York
Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of Mongolia, artist OCHIRBOLD Ayurzana will represent Mongolia at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The Mongolian Pavilion’s contribution is curated by OYUNTUYA Oyunjargal, the Cultural Envoy of Mongolia to Germany, and co-curated by Dr. Gregor JANSEN, director of the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in Germany. The commissioner is Minister of Culture NOMIN Chinbat.
The exhibition “Discovering the Present from the Future” by Ochirbold Ayurzana in the Mongolian Pavilion explores the profound levels of consciousness through interactive sculpture installations. Inspired by the Buddhist deity Citipati, these sculptures, including the three-eyed skull, serve as reminders of the impermanence of life, fostering spiritual transformation and symbolizing the search for higher consciousness and enlightenment in Buddhism.
In the digital era, Citipati can embody the transition to the digital age as a guardian of technology. Another interpretation sees Citipati as a guardian of the environment, pointing to challenges such as climate change. Their movements illustrate the fragile balance between nature and humanity. In collective dances, they symbolize bridge-builders between cultures, embodying the idea of global interconnectedness in the North and South, and collaboration in an increasingly intercultural world.
Its artistic contribution delves into the exploration of profound levels of consciousness by analyzing societal and human behavioral shifts in our globalized world from various artistic perspectives. This exploration is facilitated through the new sculpture installation titled “Discovering the Present from the Future,” complemented by a depiction of the historic Citipati at the exhibition, and an ongoing series of sculpture installations titled “Discovering Consciousness.”
Mongolian artist OCHIRBOLD Ayurzana, born in 1976 in eastern Province of Mongolia, has been exploring societal and behavioral changes in the globalized world through his artistic concept of “Consciousness” since 2014. Questioning how consciousness evolves amid the deluge of information, he creates socially, and critically reflective works exhibited internationally, allowing individual interpretations by viewers. The artist emphasizes the importance of interactivity in his work. His sculptures provide viewers with the opportunity to discover hidden beauty despite critical ideas. The larger-than-life, gender-neutral figures representing “Consciousness” are in a meditative posture facing the spiraled center, metaphorically symbolizing the mental realm and the intermediate world. Crafted from delicate, oxidized steel wire mesh, the artwork conveys transcendence through its permeable construction. In particular, his concept of “Consciousness” reflects the desire for expanded awareness and a connection to the spiritual dimension.
His works have been featured in numerous exhibitions across Germany, Korea, China, Russia, the USA, and Mongolia. Additionally, his large-scale sculptures are prominently displayed in public spaces internationally, including the sculpture park at the UN headquarters in New York. Ochirbold received the Public Prize at NordArt 2015 and the NordArt Prize in 2019. This year, he has two more exhibitions in Germany. Starting from June 1st, 2024, he will exhibit at the 25th NordArt.
Curator
OYUNTUYA Oyunjargal, a Mongolian native residing in Germany, holds degrees in European Media Studies and Arts and Media Administration from various German institutions. In 2016, she was appointed Cultural Envoy of Mongolia to Germany by the Mongolian Foreign Ministry, in order to promote bilateral relations between the two countries in the fields of arts and culture, history, education and science, sports and society. Her career began in 2009, coordinating cultural projects at the IKM FU Berlin between China and Germany. In 2013, she founded the AMPMC NGO to foster civil society participation in Mongolia’s cultural sector and to further develop artistic excellence, cultural exchange and sustainable international institutional cooperation.
Since 2015, she has organized and curated four Mongolian pavilions in collaboration with the NordArt International Art Exhibition and AMPMC NGO, showcasing 350 artworks by 120 Mongolian artists. She curates the fifth Mongolian Pavilion at the 25th NordArt from June 1st to October 6th, 2024, featuring 20 Mongolian contemporary artists. Oyuntuya collaborates on almost 60 projects, working with national and international entities to execute international projects.
Guest co-curator
Gregor Jansen is the Director of Kunsthalle Düsseldorf since January 2010. Previously, he served as director of ZKM | Museum für Neue Kunst in Karlsruhe from 2005 to 2009. Gregor has curated numerous exhibitions globally, including recent ones in Brazil, Leipzig, Shanghai, and South Korea. He is also an author of lectures, essays on contemporary art, artist monographs, interviews, and exhibition catalogues.
He studied art history, architectural history, and philosophy at RWTH Aachen University and earned his doctorate in 1998 with a thesis on the topic “Eugen Schönebeck: A German Legend.” Since 1991 he had worked as a project manager, curator, art critic, and author, and taught visual studies and media theory at several universities in Germany and the Netherlands.
As director of Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, he envisions the institution as an open space addressing relevant aesthetic and sociopolitical issues through exhibitions, discursive and performative programs, and innovative formats.
The exhibition staging at Arsenale Castello 2127A, Campa de la Tana opposite the main entrance to the Biennale Arte at Arsenale, creates a captivating space of transformation. Through the interactive installation, visitors are actively engaged in exploring the theme of “Stranger within Myself” and could interact and shape their own journeys of consciousness. By merging Buddhist wisdom with modern approaches, the artist aims to bridge the gap between the present and the future, providing thought-provoking insights and inspiring individuals to explore the present through the lens of the future.
Wie bei allen Projekten der Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G und ECC Italy sind der Katalog und der Eintritt frei.
ARENA FOR A TREE Eine Kunstintervention von Klaus Littmann
ARENA FOR A TREE VENICE AN ART INTERVENTION BY KLAUS LITTMANN
Klaus Littmann – Arena for a Tree Venice
die Installation Arena for a Tree von Klaus Littmann zum ersten Mal in Venedig präsentiert wird. Parallel zur Eröffnung der 60. Internationalen Kunstausstellung, soll Arena for a Tree eine wichtige Botschaft über den Klimawandel und Nachhaltigkeit vermitteln. Eingebettet vor dem Hintergrund des historischen Arsenale Nord, erhebt sich die temporäre Installation wie eine Arche mit einem einzigen Protagonisten in ihrer Mitte: dem Baum. Aus der Ferne sieht die Arena for a Tree wie eine keimende Samenkapsel aus. Aus der Nähe betrachtet, ist sie gleichzeitig Skulptur, Architektur und Podium: Die Tribüne bietet drei Reihen von Sitzplätzen und kann 50 Personen gleichzeitig aufnehmen, was ein intimes Erlebnis und eine ideale Aussicht auf die lebenden Bäume ermöglicht, deren Wurzeln in einem Wasserbecken eingetaucht sind.
Inspiriert von der Hauptausstellung der Biennale mit dem Titel “Stranieri Ovunque – Ausländer Überall” erforscht Arena for a Tree Themen der Migration und Identität. Über lange geologische Epochen hinweg war der “Bald Cypress” (Taxodium distichum), der in der Installation eine prominente Rolle spielt, in verschiedenen Regionen der Welt heimisch. Während ihr aktuelles Habitat hauptsächlich große Teile von Zentral- und Südamerika umfasst, deutet das drohende Gespenst der globalen Erwärmung darauf hin, dass sie auch in Europa Fuß fassen könnte. Robust und widerstandsfähig passt sich dieser Baum einer Vielzahl von Bodentypen an, ob nass, salzig, trocken oder sumpfig. Er ist bekannt für die rötlich-braune Herbstfärbung seiner zarten Nadeln.
“Der Bald Cypress hat eine außergewöhnliche Fähigkeit, bis zu 800 Liter Hochwasser pro Tag zu pumpen, die umgebende Atmosphäre zu kühlen, Stürme zu überstehen und extremen Temperaturen zu trotzen, was ihn besonders widerstandsfähig gegen die Herausforderungen des Klimawandels und einige der Herausforderungen macht, denen insbesondere Venedig gegenübersteht.” sagt Landschaftsarchitekt Enzo Enea, der mit Littmann zusammenarbeitet.
Die Arena for a Tree ist ein ewiges Bild und eine Weiterentwicklung von FOR FOREST: The Unending Attraction of Nature, der größten öffentlichen Kunstinstallation Österreichs, bei der 2019 299 Bäume von bis zu 14 Metern Höhe auf dem Fußballfeld des Wörthersee-Stadions in Klagenfurt gepflanzt wurden. Dieses langfristige Tournee-Projekt der Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger wurde erstmals 2021 auf dem Münsterplatz in Basel mit der begleitenden Ausstellung Tree Connections und im Frühjahr 2022 im Innenhof des Schweizerischen Nationalmuseums in Zürich präsentiert. Venedig ist sein drittes und letztes Ziel – und das erste, das Wasser als weiteres wichtiges Umweltelement einbezieht.
Entworfen von Littmann und realisiert von Schnetzer Puskas Engineers
Entworfen von Littmann und realisiert von Schnetzer Puskas Engineers, besteht die Arena aus einer korb-ähnlichen, 7 Meter hohen transparenten Struktur aus Holzrahmen und -latten. Ihre gebogenen und gebeugten laminierten Balken sind oben durch einen Spannring und unten durch eine Stahl Spanngurt verbunden. Im Grundriss betrachtet repräsentiert die Gestaltung der Struktur und die innere Tribüne den Stamm eines Baumes im Profil mit seinem konzentrischen Muster der Jahresringe.
Was Klaus Littmann geschickt isoliert, kann momentan unsere Sichtweise auf die Welt neu ordnen. Der Künstler und Kurator hat Erfahrung darin, ein breites Publikum zu einer umfassenden Erfahrung einzuladen. Als Schattenspender oder als Gastgeber für Vögel und Insekten präsentiert sich sein kleines, temporäres Naturschutzgebiet als Sensation des Friedens.
„In seiner Blüte sehen wir einen Hoffnungsträger in ihm. Lässt er sein Laub fallen, denken wir über Vergänglichkeit nach. Der Baum ist Zeichen des Lebens, Stellvertreter für die Vielfalt der Arten und Zeuge für die Verletzlichkeit des globalen Ökosystems.“ sagt Klaus Littmann.
Die Arena for a Tree wurde dank der großzügigen Unterstützung der Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G und der Zusammenarbeit mit ECC Italy (European Cultural Centre) sowie der großzügigen Unterstützung des Gemeinderats von Venedig und der Hafenbehörden möglich gemacht.
16. April – 31. Juli 2024 ARSENALE NORD, VENICE
Wie bei allen Projekten der Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G und ECC Italy sind der Katalog und der Eintritt frei.
Klaus Littmann,
Über Klaus Littmann | Littmann Kulturprojekte
Klaus Littmann (geb. 1951) lebt und arbeitet als Künstler, Kurator und Produzent in Basel (Schweiz). Er studierte Kunst an der Düsseldorfer Kunstakademie, wo Joseph Beuys zu seinen Lehrern gehörte. Später machte er sich als Gestalter und freier Vermittler zeitgenössischer Kunst einen Namen, wie auch als Initiator und Organisator von Einzel- und Gruppenausstellungen und konzentrierte sich schliesslich auf die Planung und Realisierung von themenspezifischen Kunstausstellungen und Interventionen im öffentlichen Raum. Dabei standen sowohl die Beschäftigung mit Alltagskultur als auch die Konfrontation von Gegenwartskunst mit historisch gewachsenen Stadträumen im Zentrum. Jedes seiner komplexen und einzigartigen Projekte spiegelt die dichotische Spannung wider, die sich aus der Auseinandersetzung des Künstlers mit der Alltagskultur und der Interaktion der zeitgenössischen Kunst mit dem urbanen Raum ergibt. Klaus Littmann wurde 2002 mit dem Kulturpreis der Stadt Basel ausgezeichnet. Die von Klaus Littmann realisierten Kunstprojekte im In- und Ausland sind in Katalog- und Buchform dokumentiert.
Europäische Kulturzentrum Italien (ECC) Das Europäische Kulturzentrum Italien (ECC) ist eine fest etablierte Zweigstelle des grösseren Europäischen Kulturzentrums mit Sitz in Venedig (Italien).
Das ECC Italien konzentriert sich auf verschiedene Themen in den Bereichen Kunst, Architektur und Design und schafft dynamische Ausstellungsräume, die einen Austausch von Ideen aus unterschiedlichen Kulturen ermöglichen. Die Architekturausstellung Time Space Existence der Organisation wechselt sich jedes Jahr mit der Kunstausstellung Personal Structures ab. Diese Ausstellungen ziehen ein breites Publikum an, von professionellen Architekten und Künstlern bis hin zu lokalen und internationalen Besuchern. Weitere Informationen über ECC Italien und seine Aktivitäten unter:
Über Enea Landschaftsarchitektur Enea ist ein internationales Unternehmen für Landschaftsarchitektur mit Büros in Zürich, New York, Miami und Mailand, das 1993 gegründet wurde. Das von Enzo Enea geführte, preisgekrönte Unternehmen ist für den Erhalt von und die Gestaltung mit alten Bäumen bekannt und setzt sich für eine nachhaltige Landschaftsgestaltung ein, die das lokale Mikroklima ergänzt und den Auswirkungen des Klimawandels entgegenwirkt. Das Unternehmen entwirft Landschaften in verschiedenen Massstäben – für Privathäuser bis hin zu Hotels, Immobilienprojekten, Parks und Masterplänen. Seit 2010 veranschaulicht Eneas einzigartiges Baummuseum auf dem Gelände des Geschäftssitzes ausserhalb von Zürich in Rapperswil-Jona das Ethos von Enea, Landschaft, Architektur, Kunst und Design auf nachhaltige Weise miteinander zu verbinden. Das Ausbildungsprogramm und die Baumschule des Unternehmens fördern mit diesen Werten die Landschaftsgärtner der Zukunft. enea.ch
Über Schnetzer Puskas Ingenieure Schnetzer Puskas Ingenieure ist ein Ingenieursbüro für den Bereich Hoch- und Tiefbau, das in der Schweiz und im Ausland tätig ist. Mit rund 120 Mitarbeitenden an vier Standorten entwickelt es Ideen und Lösungen für innovative, zukunftsfähige Gebäude und Brücken. Seine Leistungen umfassen den gesamten Planungsprozess von Tragwerken. Interdisziplinäres und lösungsorientiertes Denken stehen im Mittelpunkt des Arbeitsprozesses. In einem partnerschaftlichen Dialog mit Bauherren, Architekten und Fachleuten nutzt es sein Wissen und seine Erfahrung, um die besten Optionen in Bezug auf Technologie, Ressourcen und Kosteneffizienz zu finden. Zu den Referenzprojekten des Büros zählen unter anderem SQUARE an der HSG St. Gallen mit Sou Fujimoto, das Bürogebäude aus Holz Grosspeter Clime in Basel mit Diener & Diener, der Umbau des Transitlagers in Basel mit Bjarke Ingels Group oder die Elbphilharmonie Hamburg mit Herzog & de Meuron. https://www.schnetzerpuskas.com/de/projekte/3861-arena-fuer-einen-baum
schnetzerpuskas.com | Instagram | LinkedIn
Über die Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger | KBH.G Gegründet wurde die Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger|KBH.G 2019 von der Künstlerin und Philanthropin Sibylle Piermattei-Geiger (1930–2020), welche die Stiftung nach ihrem Grossvater, dem Schweizer Pharmazeuten und Unternehmer Hermann Geiger (1870–1962), benannte. Die Gründung der Stiftung ist verbunden mit dem Ziel der Stadt Basel ein neuartiges und einzigartiges Forum für Kunst und Kultur zur Verfügung zu stellen. Sämtliche Aktivitäten der Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger verbindet, dass sie dem reichen Kulturangebot der Stadt Basel ein zusätzliches, neues Thema hinzufügen möchten. Die Stiftung plant jährlich die Durchführung von zwei bis drei künstlerisch eigenständigen Ausstellungsprojekten; Eintritt und Begleitkatalog sind jeweils kostenlos. kbhg.ch | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
Willem de Kooning, Pirate (Untitled II), 1981 Collection MoMA NY oil on canvas 88 x 77 inches
LARGEST EXHIBITION OF WILLEM DE KOONING’S WORK EVER PRESENTED IN ITALY OPENS AT GALLERIE DELL’ACCADEMIA IN VENICE TO COINCIDE WITH 60TH INTERNATIONAL VENICE BIENNALE
Willem de Kooning, one of the most revolutionary and influential artists of the 20th century, will be the subject of a major exhibition in the Temporary Exhibitions Halls at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice.
The exhibition will be the first to explore the time de Kooning spent in Italy in 1959 and 1969 and the profound impact those visits had on his work. It brings together around 75 works, making it the largest presentation of the artist ever organised in Italy.
The curators of the exhibition, Gary Garrels and Mario Codognato, will establish the influence of Italy on de Kooning’s subsequent paintings, drawings and sculpture in America, which has never before been thoroughly researched. The lasting effect of these two creative periods will be revealed in an outstanding selection of works, ranging from the late 1950s through to the 1980s.
Giulio Manieri Elia, Director, Gallerie dell’Accademia, said: “We Are convinced that proposing de Kooning was the right choice for several reasons: first of all for the importance of the artist. Secondly, because of its subject and special connections with Italy, which is dear and close to us. It should be added that following de Kooning’s death, his works have rarely been seen in Italy, with the last exhibition dedicated to his work dating back eighteen years ago. Finally, what convinced us was the quality of the curators’ selection, featuring around 75 works that represent the breadth of de Kooning’s most expressive periods.”
“ The exhibition will include a selection of the large and striking “Black and White Rome” drawings de Kooning made during his first extended visit to Rome in 1959. They will be shown with works from the late 1950s, made in the years leading up to de Kooning’s first visit to Italy.
For the first time, three of de Kooning’s best-known pastoral landscapes Door to the River, A Tree in Naples and Villa Borghese will be exhibited together. Painted in New York in 1960, the lingering memory of his trip to Italy is clear. This section of the exhibition also includes large figurative paintings from the mid-1960s that paved the way for his interest in sculpture.
A gallery focusing on sculpture will showcase thirteen small bronzes that de Kooning made in Rome. Created after a chance encounter while in Rome with a sculptor friend, these were the result of the artist’s first experiments with clay, leading him to produce a substantial body of sculpture back in New York from 1972 to 1974.
The exhibition will also place painting and sculpture in dialogue with drawings from the 1960s and 1970s. Highlights include four ink drawings that de Kooning made while in Spoleto in 1969, presented alongside a complementary selection of intimate, gestural drawings that are conceptually related to the sculptures. In these drawings de Kooning fragmented the figure, often leaving empty spaces balanced against his vigorous lines.
The exhibition, designed in collaboration with the UNA/FWR Associati studio directed by architect Giulia Foscari ends with a selection of de Kooning’s late paintings from the 1980s, in which the language of three-dimensional form is transfigured into a new, abstract poetry. These paintings contain the faintest figurative references and are characterised by subtly tinted whites balanced by brilliant bands and areas of color. They are among de Kooning’s most sublime works, in which a sense of Baroque composition resides.
Willem de Kooning, Untitled (Rome), 1959 ink on paper 40 x 30 inches The Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation
Gary Garrels and Mario Codognato, Curators, said: “Willem de Kooning collected from the cacophony of visual excitement, light and movement in daily life to create his own lexicon. The impact of any visual encounter could render or generate an idea for moving into a new drawing or painting. Observing how his New York and East Hampton environments worked into his paintings and drawings, the same occurred in Rome – a gestalt of “glimpses”. During these formative periods of time in Rome, de Kooning synthesised from all around him a new way of looking and activating his medium, experiencing both classical Italian paintings and sculpture as well as the work of his new Italian artist friends.”
The exhibition is presented in collaboration with The Willem de Kooning Foundation, an artist-endowed, private operating foundation fostering the study and appreciation of Willem de Kooning’s life and work through research, exhibitions and educational programmes.
Amy Schichtel, Executive Director, The Willem de Kooning Foundation, said: “The Foundation is delighted to be collaborating with the Gallerie dell’Accademia to present this important exhibition, as it allows us to share Willem de Kooning and the curators’ exceptional vision with a wide-ranging, diverse international community. The exhibition offers an extraordinary opportunity to present new research and insights to enrich the experience of the Accademia’s thousands of visitors, both local and from afar. De Kooning is one of America’s great innovators; we find that his risk-taking story continues to be of vital inspiration to many contemporary artists as well as to students and our young people.”
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Marsilio.
Willem de Kooning in his East Hampton studio_1971_Dan Budnik
Willem de Kooning Biography Willem de Kooning (1904, Rotterdam, the Netherlands – 1997, East Hampton, USA) was one of the great artists of the twentieth century. He received critical acclaim in 1948 with a one- person exhibition of non-representational, densely worked, oil and enamel paintings, including his now revered black-and-white paintings. Shortly thereafter, in 1950, de Kooning completed Excavation, a related grand-scaled abstraction. Arguably one of the most important paintings of the twentieth century, Excavation was chosen as one of the works to represent the United States at the XXV Venice Biennale, June 3 – October 15, 1950. This would be de Kooning’s first of six Biennales (1950, 1954, 1956, 1978, 1986 and 1988).
A maverick painter, who rejected the accepted stylistic norms by dissolving the relationship between foreground and background and by using paint to create emotive, abstract gestures, de Kooning, with his peers of the late forties and early fifties, was variously labelled as an “Action Painter,” “Abstract Expressionist” or simply of the “New York School.” De Kooning was one of the handful of non-conforming artists responsible for the historic shift of the center of avant-garde art from Paris to New York in the years following World War II.
De Kooning was awarded many honours in his lifetime, including The Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, USA. His artwork has been included in thousands of exhibitions and is in the permanent collections of many of the world’s eminent art institutions, including the Peggy
Sergey Maslov, Anvar Musrepov, The2vvo Lena Pozdnyakova and Eldar Tagi
Exhibition: 17.04. – 24.10.2024
Riva S. Biasio, Castello 2148, 30122 Venezia VE, Italien Museo
Kamil Mullashev (b.1944) ‘Over the White Desert’ 1978 Cardboard, tempera 86 x 177cm Kasteev State Museum of Arts, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Pavilion of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the Historical Building of the Museo Storico Navale, Riva S. Biasio Castello, 2148, 30122, Venezia VE, Italy (The space is being provided for the first time for the exhibition of the national pavilion).
The Republic of Kazakhstan proudly presents its second pavilion with the “Jerūiyq: Journey Beyond the Horizon” exhibition at the Biennale Arte 2024. This exhibition, located at the historic building of the Museo Storico Navale, offers a modern interpretation of the ancient legend ofJerūiyq, inspired by Kazakh legends and the visionary journey of XV-century philosopher Asan Kaigy.
Commissioned by Aida Balayeva, the Minister of Culture and Information,
Commissioned by Aida Balayeva, the Minister of Culture and Information,
Aida Balayeva’s career trajectory is marked by a strong academic background and extensive experience in various government roles:
In 2000, she graduated from Almaty Abay State University with a degree in Law, followed by a Master’s degree in Law from Kazakh National Agrarian University in 2007.
Beginning in 1999, she held positions of increasing responsibility within the Almaty Regional Department of Information and Public Accord, eventually serving as the head of the department between 2002 to 2004.
Between 2010 and 2014, she served as the Deputy Akim (Mayor) of Astana, contributing to the city’s governance and development.
From 2014 to 2019, she held the position of Head of the Internal Policy Department at the Administration of the President of Kazakhstan, focusing on domestic policy matters.
In 2019, she assumed the role of Assistant to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, overseeing the Department for control over consideration of appeals.
From 2020 to 2022, she served as the Minister of Information and Public Development of Kazakhstan, shaping national communication and development strategies.
Following that, she took on the role of Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan from 2022 to 2023.
On September 2, 2023, she was appointed as the Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan
curator by Danagul Tolepbay
Curated by Danagul Tolepbay with co-curator Anvar Musrepov,
Danagul Tolepbay comes from a lineage of distinguished artists in Kazakhstan’s fine art scene, Tolepbay has been immersed in the world of art since childhood. Memories of museums, exhibitions, and interactions with artists both domestically and abroad have shaped her formative years, with her father and his siblings being influential figures in Kazakhstani fine art. She holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from City University London in 2004. Additionally, she has pursued art management courses at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art. She was born in 1982 in Almaty and now lives and worksin Astana
In 2018, Tolepbay founded the Pygmalion Gallery in Astana, dedicating herself to the advancement and global recognition of Kazakhstani art. Central to her mission is the promotion of art education, aiming to cultivate appreciation and understanding of artistic expression among the public. Pygmalion Gallery was selected to participate in the Volte Art Fair in Basel during Art Basel in 2021and Asia Now fair in Paris in 2022 and 2023.
As a curator, Tolepbay has orchestrated blockbuster exhibitions of engravings at esteemed institutions such as the National Museum of Kazakhstan in Astana and the Museum of Fine Art named after Kasteyev in Almaty. She actively fosters interdisciplinary dialogue within the creative community by organizing meetings between representatives from various industries, including businesses, diplomatic missions, and the art community. Through these initiatives, Tolepbay endeavors to stimulate discourse on contemporary culture and forge connections that transcend traditional boundaries
Jerūiyq – Official Pavilion of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La biennale di Venezia 2024
National pavilion of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the 60th international art exhibition La biennale di Venezia 2024
the exhibition reflects Kazakhstan’s commitment to cultural heritage and artistic innovation.
“Jerūiyq: Journey Beyond the Horizon” aligns with the Biennale Arte 2024 main theme “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere”, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, focusing on the concept of the “Other” and diverse cultural narratives.
Featured artists include:
Kamil Mullashev (b.1944) ‘Youth’ 1978 Cardboard, tempera 86 x 177cm Kasteev State Museum of Arts, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Kamil Mullashev, born in 1944 in Urumqi, China, a versatile artist with a global presence. After studying in Urumqi and the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow, he now lives and works in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Kamil Mullashev’s artistic journey began in Western China, where he was born in the city of Urumqi. Raised in a family deeply rooted in the arts, with his father being a calligrapher and painter, and his mother a teacher, Mullashev exhibited exceptional drawing talents from a young age. In 1961, he enrolled at the Institute of Fine Arts in Urumqi, where he honed his skills for two years before his family returned to Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he completed his studies. In 1976, Mullashev graduated from the prestigious Moscow State Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov, marking the culmination of his formal education. From his student years, Mullashev garnered recognition and acclaim for his artworkds, showcasing his works at both national and international exhibitions.
‘New Child. Rebirth’ 3 х 6.60m 2023-2024 (captured in the process, unfinished) Yerbolat Tolepbay has been commissioned to create a new painting specifically for the National Pavilion of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Yerbolat Tolepbay, born in 1955, a key figure in Kazakh fine arts, living and working in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Internationally celebrated, his masterful works deeply connect to Kazakh heritage and have earned him France’s Chevalier Order in arts and literature.
Throughout Yerbolat Tolepbay’s artistic journey, one prevailing theme has remained steadfast: the metaphor of the open door as a portal to multiple spaces, dimensions, and epochs. This motif has remained from classical figuration in the early 1980s to surrealist compositions in the 1990s, and an approach towards symbolism in the 2000s. Tolepbay’s earlier works served as reflections of the myriad viewpoints, ideologies, and contradictions that defined the 20th century. He endeavors not only to convey his personal experiences, but also to encapsulate the zeitgeist, filled with both disillusionment and hope. The latest large-scale painting by Tolepbay draws inspiration from his series of artworks titled “New Child” in the 1980s. This continuity underscores his unwavering commitment to his beliefs over nearly four decades, serving as a personal manifesto of the artist’s humanism.
Saken Narynov ‘Six Lives of One Soul’ 1990s Metal, ‘The End of the Beginning or the Beginning of the End’ 2001. Metal
Saken Narynov (1946-2023) lived and worked in Almaty, Kazakhstan, combining architectural and sculptural skills with his passion for science and philosophy. His innovative works continue to inspire.
Saken Narynov’s (1946 – 2023) fascination revolved around non-Euclidean geometry, the topology of space, alongside a keen interest in quantum physics and Turkic philosophy. Renowned as an architect, sculptor, and educator, Narynov contributed significantly as a faculty member at the Kazakh State Architect Academy. His legacy spans numerous accomplishments, including five author’s certificates for invention, over a hundred realized architectural projects, and many accolades. Narynov’s artistic endeavors defy convention, prompting viewers to ponder mathematical and philosophical paradoxes. Through his creations, he symbolizes the quest for intellectual freedom, urging humanity to pursue new frontiers and delve into the enigmas of the universe. His sculptures encapsulate binary oppositions: the dichotomy between external and internal space, the vastness of the cosmos juxtaposed with the infinitesimal, and the interplay between scientific certainty and the cosmic uncertainty.
Sergey Maslov “Baikonur 2”, 2001. Wood, felt, ropes, tv set
Sergey Maslov (1952 – 2002) proudly declared himself as “the last avant-garde” artist, a statement deeply rooted in his connection to the Soviet past. His paintings, drawings and writings were laden with symbols of heroic defiance against the pervasive inferiority complexes experienced by ordinary individuals. Throughout his life, Maslov grappled with the oppressive influence of authority, constantly resisting its constraints on his creative spirit. His rebellion against the confines of intellect often manifested in provocative gestures, driven by an impetuous imagination. The fantasies originated from his love to fiction, a beloved genre in Soviet times that seamlessly transitioned into a fascination with mysticism in the post-Soviet era. Maslov’s erotica, while otherworldly, sought to transcend earthly boundaries as he yearned to connect with beings beyond our planet.
Sergey Maslov (1952-2002), a pivotal figure in Kazakhstan’s contemporary art scene, based in Almaty. His unconventional methods and myth-infused art have left a profound mark.
The2vvo
The2vvo, featuring Eldar Tagi (b. 1987) and Lena Pozdnyakova (b. 1985), originally from Almaty, now a nomadic art duo based in Berlin. Their work, integrating sound, visual arts and performance practice.
The2vvo is a transdisciplinary artistic duo comprising young musician Lena Pozdnyakova and sound artist Eldar Tagi. Their practice seamlessly blends elements of visual arts, sculpture and conceptual exploration. Since its inception, the collective has embraced a nomadic ethos, actively engaging with cultural landscapes in cities such as Los Angeles, Almaty, and Berlin. Exploring the intricate interplay between spaces, materials, and individual perceptual processes, the2vvo employs sound, improvisation, sculpture, and composition to delve into the multifaceted dynamics of interaction. Their diverse body of work has garnered international recognition, with presentations at prestigious festivals such as Ars Electronica, Unsound, CTM, Bauhausfest and Soundpedro. The duo has participated in residencies at esteemed institutions like Kuona Trust in Nairobi, Kenya, and CEC Artslink in Los Angeles, California. Additionally, their sculptural works have been showcased at prominent venues including the Los Angeles Municipal Gallery and the CICA Czong Institute for Contemporary Art.
Anvar Musrepov Alastau, 2024 Video Essay, 25 min
Anvar Musrepov, born in 1994, an artist and curator based in Astana, delves into new media, focusing on the future and identity. His contributions have significantly shaped new media art in the local contemporary art environment.
Anvar Musrepov is an artist who graduated from the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and New Media and is currently pursuing a diploma program (Master’s degree) at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. He employs various roles to delve into the theme of decolonizing narratives of the future, utilizing new media as his primary tool of exploration. In addition to his artistic endeavors, Musrepov is actively involved in curatorial work, particularly focusing on educational projects aimed at nurturing the emerging scene of contemporary art and integrating new media approaches into the local art environment. As an artist, Musrepov’s exploration of identity within the realms of the internet, digital and new media has been a central theme since the outset of his career. He uses a diverse range of mediums, including digital art, performance, installations and video essays, to delve into the complexities of contemporary existence and the evolving landscape of digital culture.
Jerūiyq Journey Beyond the Horizon Jerūiyq is a promised land from Kazakh legend of XV century passed down to the present through generations of oral tradition, serving as a metaphor for searching, exploration, improvement, and invisible knowledge. Ancient tales about the philosopher Asan Kaigy tell of his efforts to lead the nomadic people to lands free from disease and hunger, where time grants eternal life.
The word “kaigy” translates from Kazakh as “sorrow.” Common expressions such as “fall into asan kaigy” use this name as a synonym for sorrow. Sorrow, like a thin veil, hangs over the memory of the many utopias that have failed to be realized in the endless steppe, through traumatic encounters with the dark side of modernity: the tragic famine of the 1930s, craters carved out by nuclear test sites in Semey, the desiccation of the Aral Sea, and other scars on the body of the Kazakh land. The exhibition is based on a chronology of key artworks of the utopian imagination of Kazakh artists since the 1970s (“Above the White Desert” – K. Mulashov), through the works of the period of the emergence of contemporary art in Kazakhstan (“Baikonur-2” by S. Maslov) to the present day – including works based on artificial intelligence (“Presence” – Lena Pozdanykova and Eldar Tagi).
With independence, Kazakh art received a new impetus to reimagine and decolonize the future without deferring to Soviet censorship and the approval of the metropolis. This exhibition presents a collection of works by artists projecting their vision of ideal worlds, where spirits and mystical rituals meet (“Alastau” – A. Musrepov), where nomadism is transformed into space stations (“Mobile Unit” – S. Narynov), and visionary monumental
painting that reveals portals to look beyond the horizon of events (“New Child. Rebirth” – Y. Tolepbay). In our time, with its permanent turbulent state, Jerūiyq becomes a guiding star on the path to overcoming the crisis of imagination.
“New Child. Rebirth” 2024
The large scale canvas by Yerbolat Tolepbay for the Kazakhstan pavilion uncovers the image of a new child, emerging like a vision in hyperspace, born beyond the event horizon. Tolepbay, a pivotal figure in his generation for local art history, with this epic piece, the artist references the narrative started in the 1980s, embracing the concept of a new generation untouched by ideological battles. The year 1986 was a turning point for Kazakhstan, marked by protests and confrontations with the Soviet union, during which Tolepbay actively engaged in the push for Kazakhstan’s independence. The aspiration for a new dawn and the disenchanted view of Soviet ideology became prominent themes in the Kazakh art scene of that era. Tolepbay advances these themes, crafting artworks that evoke the remnants of collapsed civilizations, aiming to encapsulate the zeitgeist. Navigating between two realms, the tangible and the spiritual, constitutes a core motif in Tolepbay’s work. This dual perspective is rooted in his upbringing in a household where his mother was a celebrated non traditional healer. Tolepbay reminisces about the daily queues of people beset with troubles at their door, seeking for relief. These encounters have deeply influenced Tolepbay’s art and convictions, solidifying his belief in art’s capacity to mend spirits.
Presence, 2024
This project delves into the interplay between nature and culture in the Anthropocene, emphasizing the reevaluation of traditions in light of an ecological crisis. It highlights the throat singing traditions of Inner Asia’s indigenous peoples, showcasing the evolution of this ancient vocal form in a modern, globalized context. Throat singing, a method linked with local rituals and communication with the natural and supernatural, serves as a “sonic holography” that reflects human-environment interdependence, challenging anthropocentric views. This technique, embodying a connection with nature and cosmology. By integrating these vocal practices with digital and synthetic components, the project creates a multisensory experience that blurs the lines between past and present, natural and artificial, enhancing the audience’s connection to the environment. Presence examines throat singing’s role in local rituals and its capacity to mediate human-environment interactions, challenging anthropocentric perspectives.
Alastau, 2024 video essay, 25 min
The word “Alastau” translates from Kazakh as “purification” and is associated with one of the most ancient pagan rituals, linked to Tengrism—a spiritual tradition that flourished across the Kazakh steppes before Islam’s advent. This speculative video essay transports its audience to a distant future, a time when the Sun no longer exists. In the apocalyptic world, the last surviving tribes have returned to nomadism and ritual practices, tracking and hiding from beings whose approach spells doom for all living things. Images and references deeply rooted in Kazakh culture and mythology open up a perspective for the decolonization of future narratives, creating a mystical parable about escape from death.
Six Lives of One Soul, The End of the Beginning and the Beginning of the End, Mobile Unit
The works of Saken Narynov transcend everyday reality, addressing fundamental questions about the origin of the universe and reinterpreting objects like the “Möbius Strip” or the “Klein Bottle.” Narynov discovered new facets by inventing his own versions of paradoxical topological objects. “External space – internal space, infinitely large – infinitely small, the infinity of the world – the finiteness of the knowable” – this is how Narynov described some of his works, as if seeking to find a new dimension. His significant artworks “Six Lives of One Soul” and “The End of the Beginning and the Beginning of the End,” as well as the experimental architectural project “Mobile Unit,” representing a transformer building, a modular system for human life on other planets, are included in the exposition of the Kazakhstan pavilion. Narynov was inspired by the shape of yurts – the traditional dwelling of Kazakh nomads. Each module serves as a separate station for field research, and upon returning to base, the capsules are installed on the main shaft using a crane. The modules can also be interconnected, expanding the space. The concept was devised in 1979, Narynov received an architectural patent in 1981, and throughout his life, he never abandoned the dream of realizing this project.
Earth and Time. Kazakhstan
The diploma project became one of the key works in the career of the artist Kamil Mulashev, who managed to accurately convey the atmosphere of the era engulfed by the first human spaceflight. The artist’s student years coincided with a short period in Soviet Kazakhstan history when the younger generation dreamed of conquering other planets and a fantastic future, yet unaware of the impending perestroika.
The triptych “Earth and Time. Kazakhstan” in its title suggests that Mulashev is not depicting an imaginary alien landscape but a contextual image of the Kazakh steppe of the future. As one of the first futuristic images in the history of Kazakh art, the triptych emerged in the same period as the term “Russian cosmism” came into use. Today, “Earth and Time. Kazakhstan” is an integral part of the anthology of key images of the movement of cosmism, adding diversity and blurring its mono-ethnic character.
Baikonur-2
Sergey Maslov is one of the pioneers of contemporary art in Kazakhstan. He was a passionate enthusiast of mysticism and science fiction. His daring works and provocative actions gave rise to a significant number of absurdist myths, inflaming society with rumors of a secret affair with the American star Whitney Houston, vampirism, an obsession with black magic, and the fake tragic suicide of the artist. Considered a deviant artist by the standards of the conservative art community of the perestroika era, he did not fit into the official narrative of late Soviet art but was one of the key protagonists of the underground scene. After surviving a bullying incident following his radical blood-painting action at Kazakhstan’s A. Kasteev Central Art Museum ( “The East is a Delicate Matter, 1998), Maslov was dismissed from his teaching position at the art college and moved to work as a security guard at the gallery “Voyager,” where he died suddenly on one of his night shifts from a heart attack. Shortly before his death, Maslov became one of the first to adopt Photoshop. He created a series of digital collages combining archival photographs of 19th-century Kazakh nomads with lunar landscapes, images of aliens, and rocket stations. The logic of the fictional biography smoothly transitioned to the mockumentary genre, creating a fictional history based on essays about space nomads traveling in ships resembling yurts, the traditional homes of nomadic peoples of Central Asia. The installation, which includes text, a slideshow, and a modified yurt, was one of the first works of science fiction in the newest culture of independent Kazakhstan, opening a new perspective for decolonial futurism and replacing the common ideal of Soviet cosmonauts with images of traditional Kazakh nomads, thereby removing the opposition enforced by Soviet ideology between “archaic” and futuristic aesthetics.
Museo Storico Navale di Venizia (Naval Historical Museum of Venice) Riva S. Biasio Castello, 2148, 30122
Museo Storico Navale di Venizia
The National Kazakhstan Pavilion is conveniently situated in a central location, just a short stroll away from the two primary venues, Arsenale and Giardini, of La Biennale di Venezia.
ELIAS SIME THE EARTH (ምድር) IV, 2023-4 Braided electrical wires and electronic components on panel 54 1/2 x 79 x 6 in, 138.4 x 200.7 x 15.2 cm
Addressing the impact of globalization and technology on the human psyche, Elias Sime: Dichotomy ፊት አና ጀርባ jerba debuts this April with 11 new artworks by the Addis Ababa-based artist, including nine new wall works, a stone sculpture, and a site-specific installation. On view April 17 – November 24, 2024 at Spazio Tana, Castello, the exhibition is an official Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Using materials that form the backbone of all digital communication, Sime crafts dimensional meditations that encourage sustained contemplation. Co-curated by the artist’s longtime collaborator Meskerem Assegued and Felicity Korn, curator at the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Dichotomy ፊት አና ጀርባ jerba illuminates the tenuousness in humanity’s private and public dualities. Selected works will later be included in a comprehensive retrospective of Elias Sime’s at the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, the exhibition’s organizing institution, from March to June 2025.
In his material-driven and multidisciplinary practice, Sime weaves, layers, and braids repurposed technological equipment into lyrical and intricate sculptural assemblages. Sime’s use of color, pattern, and grids often reference natural landscapes, evoking both the environment and humankind’s imprint on the earth. This presentation elaborates on Sime’s Tightrope series, which the artist first began developing in 2009. In particular, the new Tightrope works meditate on the centrality of the smartphone in everyday life. Sime looks at this device as a status symbol, as well as a metaphor for the fraught systems powering global communication today; the ubiquitous devices are powered by precious metals which are mined under punishing conditions, raising serious ethical and ecological concerns due to their geological scarcity and associated geopolitics. In the entryway from the canal to the interior exhibition space in Venice, a site-specific installation will place panels of electronic components and electrical wires in direct dialogue with the ancient infrastructure of the city.
Working with Assegued, Sime co-founded, designed, and built the award-winning Zoma Museum in Addis Ababa, an environmentally conscious international art center. Zoma Museum includes a gallery space, library, children’s center, edible garden, elementary school, art and vernacular school, amphitheater, cafe, and museum shop. As an extension of this architectural practice, Sime has recently begun to develop a series of freestanding carved stone sculptures whose sinuous forms echo the vernacular architecture of the museum. Dichotomy ፊት አና ጀርባ jerba will feature the latest work from this ongoing series.
Biography
Elias Sime (b.1968 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) deftly weaves, layers and assembles carefully selected everyday materials, transforming commonplace items into lyrical abstract compositions that suggest topography, figuration, and color fields. He often creates intricate works from electronic components—including circuit boards, computer keys, and telecommunications wires. For Sime, the history of these materials hold meaning and their significance emerges after thorough consideration. They suggest the tenuousness of our interconnected world, alluding to the frictions between tradition and progress, human contact and social networks, nature and the man-made, and physical presence and the virtual.
Sime’s work achieves effects from dense narrative to austere modernist abstraction. He is as interested in a stripped motherboard from a mobile phone as he is an animal skull or worn-out button: the artist looks past the emotional weighting of new versus old, instead finding renewal everywhere, and taking greatest interest in the way that objects and ideas can connect in new ways.
ELIAS SIME, Debal (Roommate), 2003-2004
Sime has a masterful handling of material, with fluency and pure formal instincts a hallmark of his practice. In the past decade he has sought to better understand the cultural and historic underpinnings of those instincts, traveling with the anthropologist Meskerem Assegued through rural villages in Ethiopia to research ancient rituals still in practice. Sime collects histories and vernacular techniques as much as objects.
Holland Cotter of The New York Times writes, “Sime’s work, while culturally specific, has always been universalist. And although never without critical thrust — no one knows better the horrors visited on Africa by shipments of toxic Western e-waste — it is utopian.”
The exhibition presents a series of pastel drawings and ceramic works by Israeli artist and filmmaker Amos Gitai. The works on view were publicly exhibited for the first time in 2023 as part of an installation at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and have since been on view at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
As a young man, Gitai experienced the Yom Kippur War of 1973 as part of an airborne rescue team, evacuating wounded soldiers from the Golan battlefields. On the sixth day of the war – Gitai’s 23rd birthday – a missile hit their helicopter during a rescue flight into Syrian territory, killing their co-pilot and wounding Gitai. ‘I was born and almost killed on the same day, and roughly at the same hour,’ the
Amos Gitai, War Requiem 9, 1973. Graphite and pastel on paper. 70 x 51 cm (27.56 x 20.08 in)
artist has stated. This defining and violently traumatic event changed the course of his life, leading him to filmmaking after ‘recording what I saw from the helicopter: faces, the texture of the earth, bits of rescue missions’ with his Super-8 camera. Since then, the experience of this violent rupture continually recurs in Gitai’s internationally acclaimed films, documentaries and artworks, always striving for a future marked by peace and reconciliation.
The works on view in this exhibition capture the artist’s reflection on the elusiveness of memory, the chaos of war, and its impact on those who participate in it. Titled after Benjamin Britten’s 1962 eponymous musical composition memorialising war casualties, the pastel drawings on view in Salzburg show expressive portraits in varying hues of bold colours. Drawn either on blank drawing paper or on newspapers from 1973 that include death notices, they show Gitai’s first intuitive expressions in the aftermath of the war. The artist found himself drawing faces obsessively, in an effort to document and process his trauma and the losses he suffered.
Amos Gitai, War Requiem 2, 1973. Pastel on paper. 70 x 49 cm (27.56 x 19.29 in)
His recent series of ceramic works were created exactly 50 years later and echo the haunting portraits on paper. They represent a continuation of the graphic work, featuring meticulously crafted faces rendered in colourful glazes, from bold primary hues to subtle gradients. Together with the drawings on view in the exhibition, the War Requiem series stands as a poignant reminder of the human cost of war.
The exhibition in Salzburg will coincide with the opening of Gitai’s film retrospective at the Austrian Film Museum in the Albertina on 2 May 2024 with Shikun (2024) https://www.filmmuseum.at/
and the presentation of Yitzhak Rabin: Chronicle of an Assassination at the
Burgtheater
Chronik eines Mordes – Jitzchak Rabin Amos Gitai – Jitzchak Rabin Wiener Premiere 4 and 5 May 2024. Inszenierung Amos Gitai Licht Jean Kalman Musikalische Leitung Michael Grohotolsky
Der renommierte israelische Film- und Theaterregisseur Amos Gitai bringt die Pariser Inszenierung seines Dokumentarstücks über einen der wichtigsten Wendepunkte der Geschichte des Staates Israel mit eminenten Folgen bis zum Krieg unserer Tage nach Wien und studiert sie mit Bibiana Beglau und Dörte Lyssewski für zwei Vorstellungen neu ein.
artist has stated. This defining and violently traumatic event changed the course of his life, leading him to filmmaking after ‘recording what I saw from the helicopter: faces, the texture of the earth, bits of rescue missions’ with his Super-8 camera. Since then, the experience of this violent rupture continually recurs in Gitai’s internationally acclaimed films, documentaries and artworks, always striving for a future marked by peace and reconciliation.
The works on view in this exhibition capture the artist’s reflection on the elusiveness of memory, the chaos of war, and its impact on those who participate in it. Titled after Benjamin Britten’s 1962 eponymous musical composition memorialising war casualties, the pastel drawings on view in Salzburg show expressive portraits in varying hues of bold colours. Drawn either on blank drawing paper or on newspapers from 1973 that include death notices, they show Gitai’s first intuitive expressions in the aftermath of
Amos Gitai
About the artist
Amos Gitai is an Israeli filmmaker internationally known for his documentaries and feature films about the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and personal and collective memory. Born in Haifa, Israel, in 1950, he is the son of the Bauhaus-trained Polish architect Munio Weinraub Gitai, who fled the Nazi regime in Germany, where he was working in 1933, and the Israeli intellectual and activist, Efratia Margalit, a non-religious expert on biblical texts. He has drawn on biographical, familial and generational themes throughout his practice, as well as the trauma of war and the celebration of life in the face of adversity.
Gitai’s first feature-length documentaries House (1980) and Field Diary (1982) were rejected by the Israeli television commissioner. At odds with the authorities in his country, he settled in Paris, where he shot several fictional and documentary films, including Esther (1985), Berlin-Jerusalem (1989) and Golem, the Spirit of Exile (1991). A passionate advocate for peace between Israel and Palestine, Gitai further explores the role of memory in his stage productions, which combine film, music and acting. His performance Yitzhak Rabin: Chronicle of an Assassination Foretold (Festival d’Avignon, 2016) notably investigates the death of Yitzhak Rabin, a key figure in the Oslo Accords who was assassinated in 1995. His photographic works, which capture the emotional intensity of a single moment, represent an improvised autobiography that, with hindsight, bears testimony to a shared reality.
Gitai has received numerous awards for his work, including a Leopard of Honour at the Locarno International Film Festival (2008), the Roberto Rossellini Prize at the Cannes Film Festival (2005) and the Robert Bresson Prize at the Venice International Film Festival (2013). Since 1999, several of his films have been entered in the Cannes Film Festival for the Palme d’Or, as well as at the Venice International Film Festival. Exhibitions and performances have been presented at numerous institutions worldwide, including most recently, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (until February 2024); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2023); The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2020); and the Philharmonie de Paris (2018).
Artist talk with Amos Gitai
at Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg
on the 7th of May 2024!
Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron Leopoldskronstraße 56-58 5020 Salzburg
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