Monthly Archives: April 2024

DasKinodes_AmosGitai

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Österreichisches Filmmuseum 2024
Das Kino des Amos Gitai
Aufforderung zum Dialog

2. Mai – 1. Juli 2024

https://www.filmmuseum.at/jart/prj3/filmmuseum/main.jart?rel=de&content-id=1216720898687&schienen_id=1712627434655
Kippur_AmosGitai

Amos Gitai gilt als einer der angesehensten israelischen Filmschaffenden. Sein Werk, das seit Beginn
der 1970er Jahre entsteht, stellt sowohl eine große Erzählung als auch eine kritische Analyse seines
Heimatlandes dar. Krieg, Konflikt, Vertreibung, Geschichte, Erinnerung und das menschliche Dasein
im Allgemeinen sind zentrale Themen in Gitais Werk.
Bei näherer Betrachtung zeigt sich darüber hinaus ein Filmemacher, dessen Œuvre weitaus komplexer und reichhaltiger ist, als diese einfache Kategorisierung vermuten lässt. Gitais Kunst lässt sich
vielleicht am besten als ständiger Aufruf zum Dialog verstehen, als ein radikal ergebnisoffenes Projekt,
das sich in einer faszinierenden Vielfalt von Ansätzen und Geschichten manifestiert. Wie die meisten Dialoge im wirklichen Leben wandeln auch die Filme von Amos Gitai auf verschlungenen Wegen und
enden oft, ohne einen Moment der Katharsis oder Auflösung zu erreichen. Und scheitern mitunter auch,
getreu dem Beckett’schen Motto: »Gescheitert. Egal. Wieder versuchen. Wieder scheitern. Besser
scheitern.«

Gitai kam 1950 in Haifa als Sohn von Efratia Margalit und Munio Gitai Weinraub zur Welt. Die
Mutter war eine 1909 in Palästina geborene Intellektuelle und Lehrerin, deren Eltern der ersten Welle
sozialistischer säkularer jüdischer Einwanderer angehörten, der Vater war ein aus Galizien stammender,
am Bauhaus ausgebildeter Architekt, der seinen Sohn dazu inspirierte, denselben Beruf zu ergreifen. Nach seinem Architekturstudium ging Gitai nach Berkeley, Kalifornien, um dort zu promovieren. Seine zweite Heimat wurde das Pacific Film Archive, wo Kurator Tom Luddy ihn mit einer Reihe internationaler
Filmklassiker bekannt machte, insbesondere von Jean-Luc Godard, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Erich von
Stroheim und Glauber Rocha. Diese Beschäftigung mit der Filmgeschichte machte ihn mit dem Konzept
der Avantgarde und der Idee des Kinos als Instrument der Subversion vertraut. Gitais erste berufliche
Leidenschaft blieb, wie er selbst immer wieder sagt, die Architektur: Seine Hauptaufgabe als Künstler
bestehe darin, »Brücken zu bauen«.

Eine weitere Erfahrung, die den jungen Amos Gitai tief prägte, war seine Teilnahme am Jom-KippurKrieg 1973. Er war Teil einer Rettungsmannschaft, sein Hubschrauber wurde von einer Rakete abgeschossen
– ein Erlebnis, das in mehrere seiner Werke einfloss und in seinem Film Kippur (2000) eine entscheidende Rolle spielt.

Gitai begann seine Karriere als Dokumentarist. Von Anfang an setzte er sich mit Themen auseinander,
die von anderen Künstler*innen seiner Generation ignoriert wurden. Selbst als Gitai sich allmählich dem
Spielfilm zuwandte, gab er seine Wurzeln im dokumentarischen Bereich und seine Vorliebe für Experimente nie auf. Der Dokumentarfilmemacher ist laut Gitai ein Archäologe, dessen Aufgabe es ist, die verborgene Wirklichkeit freizulegen; der Spielfilmemacher ein Architekt, der ein Haus baut.

Die Metapher des Dokumentarfilms als archäologische Erkundung ist bereits in Gitais erstem längeren
Werk House (1980) perfekt umgesetzt. Der Film handelt von einem Mietshaus in Westjerusalem, das bis
1948 einem palästinensischen Arzt gehörte und nach der Beschlagnahmung durch die Regierung in den
Besitz eines israelischen Professors überging, der es zur Villa umbauen will. Für Gitai dient das Haus als
Metapher sowohl für die Stadt Jerusalem als auch für Israel als Ganzes: Israelis würden die Vorstellung,
dass Palästinenser eine gleich starke Bindung an einen Ort oder ein Stück Land haben wie sie, als
bedrohlich empfinden. Es sei ein Widerspruch zum israelischen Selbstverständnis.

Dass House vom israelischen Fernsehen zensiert wurde, war nur der Anfang von Gitais Schwierigkeiten
mit der Politik. Die direkte Auseinandersetzung mit der Gewalt im Nahen Osten und der Geschichte
des Landes Israel steht im Mittelpunkt seines ersten Spielfilms Esther (1986), einer Nacherzählung der alttestamentarischen Geschichte von Ester als Parabel vom Kampf um die Bewahrung jüdischer Identität
in einer feindlichen Umgebung. Doch während sich Gitai mit House als vom Direct Cinema inspirierter,
empathischer und neugieriger Beobachter etablierte, ging er mit Esther in eine ganz andere Richtung.
Gitais dramatischer Einstand ist eine ambitionierte historische Rekonstruktion, die in ihrem Aufeinandertreffen von formaler Strenge, Theatralik und politischer Leidenschaft an das Kino von Jean-Marie Straub und Danièle Huillet oder von Peter Watkins erinnert.
Die heftigen, oft feindseligen Reaktionen auf seine Filme in der Heimat führten schließlich zu einer
Dekade des Exils in Frankreich. In dieser Pariser Zeit schuf er eine Reihe phantasmagorischer Filme zum
Thema Vertreibung, in denen er den jüdischen Mythos des Golems als Symbol sowohl für endlose
Verzweiflung als auch für Hoffnung bemühte. Die schwere Symbolik der »Golem-Trilogie« – Birth of
a Golem (1990), Golem: The Spirit of Exile (1992) und Golem: The Petrified Garden (1994) – deutet auf einen weiteren wichtigen Aspekt von Gitais Filmen hin: Sie sind zugleich forensische Beschreibungen konkreter Orte und Menschen wie auch Metaphern für die Frage nach der Möglichkeit einer friedlichen Koexistenz verschiedener Kulturen.

Die Dynamik, mit der sich die Geschichte Israels und der Region entfaltet, erfordert Aufmerksamkeit,
Kraft und Engagement. Das erklärt Gitais enorme Produktivität. Viele der Mikrogeschichten, die er erzählt, gehen ineinander über und entwickeln sich zu Serien.

Field Diary (1982) beschließt eine Trilogie mit House (1980) und Wadi (1981), die wiederum beide zum Ausgangspunkt anderer Trilogien werden – House (1980), A House in Jerusalem (1998), News from House / News from Home (2006); Wadi (1981), Wadi, Ten Years After (1991), Wadi Grand Canyon 2001 (2001). Jede dieser Reihen ist laut Gitai ein Vorschlag, »wie der Konflikt zwischen Israelis und Palästinensern im Kleinen, quasi durch ein Mikroskop gesehen werden kann.«

Gitais Kino schreckt nicht davor zurück, die Gewalttätigkeit zu thematisieren, durch die Geschichte
und Gegenwart seines Heimatlandes geprägt sind. Er ist ein scharfer Kritiker sowohl der israelischen
Staatspolitik als auch der Rechtfertigung terroristischer Gewalt gegen Jüdinnen und Juden als »Befreiungskampf«. Dennoch weigert er sich, an der Eskalation der sektiererischen Gewalt, des Hasses
und der Spaltung teilzunehmen. Vielmehr ist ihm daran gelegen, Differenzen zwischen sozialen Schichten sowie unterschiedlichen und manchmal gegensätzlichen Glaubenssystemen durch Interaktion zu überbrücken. Israel, betont Gitai, wurde größtenteils durch die kollektive Erfahrung einer Reihe von Kriegen geformt, die ein Bild geschaffen hat, das gleichzeitig ein Fundament der israelischen Identität und ein andauerndes Trauma ist. Seine Arbeiten, ob sie nun die »kleinen Leute« am Rande der Gesellschaft oder große historische Persönlichkeiten und Ereignisse wie in Rabin, the Last Day (2015) porträtieren, zeigen einen Weg auf, sich mit der Komplexität Israels als einem utopischen, von Gewalt geplagten Projekt auseinanderzusetzen. Und sie fordern uns auf, uns eine bessere und friedlichere Zukunft vorzustellen.

Neben seinem Filmschaffen ist Amos Gitai auch in anderen künstlerischen Feldern tätig. Wir freuen uns,
dass unsere Retrospektive zeitgleich mit der Wiener Premiere von Chronik eines Mordes – Jitzchak Rabin am Wiener Burgtheater stattfindet, einer Bühnenproduktion, die auf unserem Eröffnungsfilm Rabin, the Last Day basiert. In Zeiten eines eskalierenden Kriegs, von Spaltungen, antisemitischer Gewalt und einer unerbittlichen Flut von »alternativen Fakten« im Internet bieten Gitais Filme einen Raum zum Zuhören und zum Nachdenken. Sie bieten vielleicht keine einfachen Antworten, aber sie werfen Fragen auf, die uns alle angehen. (Michael Loebenstein, Jurij Meden)

Rabin, the Last Day

Amos Gitai, IL/FR 2015

Do 2.5. 2024 | 20 FM

In Anwesenheit von Amos Gitai

Mo 3.6.2024 | 20.30

B: Amos Gitai, Marie-José Sanselme K: Éric Gautier

S: Yuval Orr, Tahel Sofer, Isabelle Ingold M: Amit Poznansky

D: Tomer Sisley, Yaël Abecassis, Yitzhak Hiskiya,

Pini Mittelman, Einat Weizman. DCP, Farbe, 155 min.

Hebräisch mit engl. UT ★

Bait (House)

Amos Gitai, IL 1980

Fr 3.5.2024 | 18 Uhr

In Anwesenheit von Amos Gitai

Fr 31.5.2024 | 18 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai K: Emanuel Aldema S: Rina Ben Melech.

DCP (von 16mm), sw, 51 min.

Arabisch/Hebräisch mit engl. UT ★

Letter to a Friend in Gaza (nur am 31.5.)

Amos Gitai, IL 2018

B: Amos Gitai, Makram Khoury K: Oded Kirma

S: Yuval Orr M: Alex Claude MIT: Amos Gitai, Clara Khoury,

Makram Khoury, Hilla Vidor. DCP, Farbe, 35 min.

Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

Shikun

Amos Gitai, IL/FR/CH/BR/GB 2024

Fr 3.5.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

In Anwesenheit von Amos Gitai

Di 4.6.2024 | 18 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai nach dem Theaterstück Rhinocéros von

Eugène Ionesco K: Éric Gautier S: Yuval Orr, Simon Birman

M: Alexey Kochetkov, Louis Sclavis D: Irène Jacob,

Hana Laslo, Yaël Abecassis, Bahira Ablassi, Menashe Noy.

DCP, Farbe, 85 min. Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

Yoman Sade’ (Field Diary)

Amos Gitai, IL/FR 1982

Sa 4.5.2024 | 18 Uhr

Do 6.6.2024 | 18 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai K: Nurit Aviv S: Schéhérazade Saadi.

DCP (von 16mm), Farbe, 83 min.

Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

Esther

Amos Gitai, FR/IL/GB/AT/NL 1986

Sa 4.5.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

Mo 17.6. 2024 | 18 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai, Stephan Levine nach dem biblischen Text

K: Henri Alekan, Nurith Aviv S: Schéhérazade Saadi

D: Simona Benyamini, Mohammed Bakri, Juliano Merr,

Zare Vartinyan, Shmuel Wolf, David Cohen.

35mm, Farbe, 97 min. Hebräisch mit engl. UT ★

Carmel

Amos Gitai, FR/IL/IT 2009

Mo 6.5.2024 | 18 Uhr

In Anwesenheit von Amos Gitai

Di 18.6.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai K: Stefano Falivene S: Isabelle Ingold

MIT: Keren Mor, Makram Khoury, Ben Gitai, Keren Gitai,

Assi Dayan, Amos Lavie, Rivka Gitai, Hillel Luski, Amos Gitai

STIMMEN: Jeanne Moreau, Jerome Koenig, Samuel Fuller,

Enrico Lo Verso, Macha Itkina. DCP (von 35mm),

Farbe, 93 min. Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

Brand New Day

Amos Gitai, FR/GB 1988

Fr 10.5.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

Sa 22.6.2024 | 18 Uhr

K: Nurith Aviv S: Anna Ruiz M: Eurythmics MIT: Annie

Lennox, David A. Stewart, Jimmy »Z« Zavala, Clem Burke,

Chucho Mercham, Joniece Jamison, Ryuichi Sakamoto.

DCP (von 35mm), Farbe, 93 min. Englisch ★

Lullaby to My Father

Amos Gitai, IL/FR/CH 2012

Lullaby to My Father

Mo 6.5.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

In Anwesenheit von Amos Gitai

Mi 19.6.2024 | 18 Uhr

Screenshot

B: Amos Gitai K: Renato Berta, Giora Bejach, Gabriele

Basilico, Richard Copans, Amos Gitai S: Isabelle Ingold

M: Zoe Keating, Abel Ehrlich D: Yaël Abecassis,

Theo Ballmer, Keren Gitai STIMMEN: Jeanne Moreau,

Hanna Schygulla. DCP (von 35mm), Farbe, 82 min.

Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

The story of Munio Weinraub Gitai, a young student of Bauhaus who takes refuge in Switzerland after being chased by the Nazis because of his Jewish faith. It is there that he is welcomed and protected by what was then the largest modern architectural firm in Switzerland.

https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/movie/lullaby-to-my-father/99FC993AEDB3422A92251AB0ADE612AD

Berlin–Jerusalem

Amos Gitai, GB/FR/NL/IT 1989

Fr 10.5.2024 | 18 Uhr

Do 20.6.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai, Gudie Lawaetz K: Henri Alekan, Nurith Aviv

S: Luc Barnier M: Markus Stockhausen D: Liza Kreuzer,

Rivka Neuman, Markus Stockhausen, Juliano Merr,

Ohad Shahar, Keren Mor, Mitglieder der Kompanie

Pina Bausch. DCP (von 35mm), Farbe, 89 min.

Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

Golem: The Spirit of Exile

Amos Gitai, FR/IT/DE/NL/GB 1992

Sa 11.5. 2024 | 18 Uhr

Mo 24.6.2024 | 18 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai, Stephan Levine nach biblischen Texten

K: Henri Alekan, Agnès Godard S: Anna Ruiz M: Simon

Stockhausen, Markus Stockhausen D: Hanna Schygulla,

Ophrah Shemesh, Samuel Fuller, Mireille Perrier, Philippe

Garrel, Sotigui Kouyaté, Mitglieder der Kompanie

Pina Bausch. DCP (von 35mm), Farbe, 105 min.

Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

Golem: The Petrified Garden

Amos Gitai, FR/DE/RU/IL 1994

Sa 11.5.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

Mo 24.6.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai, Tonino Guerra K: Henri Alekan, Luc Drion,

Eduard Timlin S: Anna Ruiz M: Markus Stockhausen,

Simon Stockhausen D: Hanna Schygulla, Jérôme Koenig,

Samuel Fuller, Masha Itkina. DCP (von 35mm), Farbe,

87 min. Englisch ★

Bangkok–Bahrain: Labour for Sale

Amos Gitai, FR/IL/GB/NL 1984

So 12.5.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

K: Roni Katzenelson, Richard Copans S: Juliana Sanchez.

DCP (von 16mm), Farbe, 78 min.

Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

In the Valley of the Wupper

Amos Gitai, FR/GB/IT 1994

Mo 13.5.2024 | 18 Uhr

Di 25.6.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai K: Nurith Aviv, Max Rheinlander S: Dominik

Moll, Éric Carlier, Nelly Quettier M: Simon Stockhausen.

DCP (von 16mm), Farbe, 90 min. Deutsch

The Arena of Murder

Amos Gitai, IL 1996

Mo 13.5.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

Mo 3.6.2024 | 18 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai K: Jorge Gurevitch, Ariel Semmel,

Jean-Paul Toraille S: Oren Medics M: Simon Stockhausen

MIT: Aviv Geffen, Efratia Gitai, Dalit Kahan, David Cohen,

Avner Hacohen, Samuel Calderon, Léa Rabin.

DCP, Farbe, 90 min. Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

War and Peace in Vesoul

Amos Gitai, Elia Suleiman, FR 1997

Di 14.5.2024 | 18 Uhr

Do 27.6.2024 | 20.30

K: Laurent Truchot S: Roy Shmueli MIT: Elia Suleiman,

Amos Gitai. DCP (von 35mm), Farbe, 70 min.

Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

Kadosh

Amos Gitai, IL/FR 1999

So 19.5.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

Mi 26.6.2024 | 18 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai, Eliette Abecassis, Jacky Cukier K: Renato

Berta M: Philippe Eidel S: Monica Coleman, Kobi Netanel

D: Yaël Abecassis, Yoram Hattab, Meital Barda, Uri Klauzner.

35mm, Farbe, 110 min. Hebräisch mit dt./franz. UT

Wadi Grand Canyon 2001

Amos Gitai, IL/FR/IT 2001

Mo 20.5.2024 | 18 Uhr

Fr 28.6.2024 | 18 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai K: Yakov Saporta, Yosi Wein, Nurith Aviv

S: Solveig Nordlund, Anna Ruiz, Ifat Feinberg M: The Natural

Gathering. DCP, Farbe, 90 min. Div. Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

Kippur

Amos Gitai, IL/FR/IT 2000

Di 21.5.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

Sa 29.6.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai, Marie-José Sanselme K: Renato Berta

S: Kobi Netanel, Monica Coleman M: Jan Garbarek

D: Liron Levo, Tomer Ruso, Uri Klauzner, Yoram Hattab,

Guy Amir. 35mm, Farbe, 117 min.

Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

News from Home/News from House

Amos Gitai, BE/FR/IL 2006

Mi 22.5.2024 | 18 Uhr

Mo 1.7.2024 | 18 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai K: Haim Asias, Nurith Aviv S: Isabelle Ingold.

35mm, Farbe, 97 min. Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

Free Zone

Amos Gitai, IL/BE/FR/ES 2005

Do 23.5.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

So 30.6.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai, Marie-José Sanselme K: Laurent Brunet

S: Isabelle Ingold, Yann Dedet D: Natalie Portman,

Hanna Laslo, Hiam Abbass, Carmen Maura, Makram Khoury,

Aki Avni, Uri Klauzner, Liron Levo, Tomer Russo.

35mm, Farbe, 90 min. Diverse Sprachen mit dt./franz. UT

Disengagement

Amos Gitai, DE/IT/IL/FR 2007

Mo 27.5.2024 | 20.30

B: Amos Gitai, Marie-José Sanselme K: Christian Berger

M: Simon Stockhausen S: Isabelle Ingold D: Juliette

Binoche, Liron Levo, Jeanne Moreau, Barbara Hendricks,

Dana Ivgy, Hiam Abbass, Tomer Russo. 35mm, Farbe,

115 min. Diverse Sprachen mit engl. UT ★

The War of the Sons of Light

Against the Sons of Darkness

Amos Gitai, FR 2009

Di 28.5.2024 | 18 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai nach seinem Theaterstück, basierend auf

Die Geschichte des jüdischen Krieges von Flavius Josephus

K: Robert Alazraki, Ben Gitai S: Isabelle Ingold D: Jeanne

Moreau, Jerome Koenig, Eric Elmosnino, Mireille Perrier,

Gérard Benhamou, Shredy Jabarin, Menachem Lang.

DCP, Farbe, 101 min. Französisch mit engl. UT ★

Ana Arabia

Amos Gitai, FR/IL 2013

Mi 29.5.2024 | 18 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai, Marie-José Sanselme K: Giora Bejach

S: Isabelle Ingold D: Yuval Scharf, Yussuf Abu Warda,

Sarah Adler, Assi Levy, Uri Gavriel, Norman Issa, Shady Srur.

DCP, Farbe, 85 min. Diverse Sprachen mit dt. UT

Laila in Haifa

Amos Gitai, IL/FR 2020

Mi 5.6.2024 | 20.30 Uhr

B: Amos Gitai, Marie-José Sanselme K: Éric Gautier S: Yuval

Orr M: Alexey Kochetkov D: Maria Zreik, Khawla Ibraheem,

Bahira Ablassi, Naama Preis, Clara Khoury, Tsahi Halevi.

DCP, Farbe, 99 min. Diverse Sprachen mit dt. UT

Augustinerstraße 1, 1010 Wien

https://www.filmmuseum.at/kinoprogramm/mai_juni_2024

#amosgitai

ODEON_das-grosse-heft

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Das große Heft ist ein AntikriegsStück.

Es zeigt die Absurdität des Krieges. Überdies ist es ein Stück über die Liebe. Ein absolutes MeisterwerK!

Odeon Theater, Wien, Austria

DAS GROSSE HEFT

von Agóta Kristóf

Eine Koproduktion des Odeon und wenn es soweit ist

Premiere, 18. April 2024 | 19:30 Uhr

weitere Vorstellungen: 26., 27. April 2024

9., 10., 11., 15. Mai 2024

Taborstrasse 10, Wien 1020

https://www.wennessoweitist.com/das-grosse-heft

Mercedes M. Vargas, Miriam M. Vargas

DAS GROSSE HEFT 
von ÁGOTA KRISTÓF
aus dem ungarischen übersetzt von Eva Moldenhauer

eine neue Inszenierung von Jacqueline Kornmüller

Musik:
Martin Eberle I Trompete, Peter Rom I E-Gitarre,
András Dés I Percussion

es spielen Mercedes M. Vargas, Miriam M. Vargas, Tony Rey Garcia, 
Katrin Grumeth, Yoshie Maruoka, David Oberkogler,
Laura Schlittke, Manaho Shimokawa, Tristan Witzel
und Peter Wolf

DAS GROSSE HEFT IST EIN ANTIKRIEGSSTÜCK.
ES ZEIGT DIE ABSURDITÄT DES KRIEGES.
ÜBERDIES IST ES EIN STÜCK ÜBER DIE LIEBE.
EIN ABSOLUTES MEISTERWERK!

Das große Heft erzählt die Geschichte von neunjährigen Zwillingen, die während des Krieges von ihrer Mutter aufs Land zur Großmutter gebracht werden. Dort sind sie ohne jeden Schutz auf sich allein gestellt. Sie betteln, hungern, schlachten, stehlen, töten, stellen sich taub, blind und bewegungslos, die Kinder haben gelernt, was sie zum Überleben brauchen. So werden sie unverwundbar. Ihre Selbsterziehung dokumentieren sie in einem großen Heft.

Die ungarische Schriftstellerin Ágota Kristóf flieht 1956 vor der Oktoberrevolution in die Schweiz. Das große Heft schreibt sie 1986. Jacqueline Kornmüller adaptiert das Buch für die Bühne des Odeon Theaters und inszeniert es mit den Zwillingen Mercedes M. Vargas und Miriam M. Vargas. Im Ensemble spielen Katrin Grumeth, Yoshie Maruoka, David Oberkogler, Laura Schlittke, Manaho Shimokawa, Tristan Witzel, und Peter Wolf als Großmutter.

Das große Heft wird im Odeon zu einem Stück Musiktheater mit dem Trompeter Martin Eberle, dessen unverwechselbarer Klang immer wieder für Furore sorgt, mit Peter Rom, dem vielleicht originellsten und fantasievollsten E Gitarristen dieses Landes. Und mit András Dés, einem der erfindungsreichsten Percussionisten, der mit seinen Händen tatsächlich alles in ein Instrument verwandeln kann.

Gerade eben noch konnte man die wunderbaren Zwillinge Mercedes und Miriam Vargas bei unserer Produktion Ganymed Bridge im Kunsthistorischen und Naturhistorischen Museum erleben, wo sie vor den Riesenspinnen von ihrer Kindheit auf Kuba und ihrem Zwillingsdasein berichteten, ab 18. April stehen die phantastischen Zwei auf der Bühne des Odeon Theaters mit dem berührenden Stück Das Große Heft von der Weltklasse Autorin Ágota Kristóf.

Die Zwillinge Mercedes Miriam und Miriam Mercedes Vargas sind in Guantanamo geboren, ihre Kindheit auf Kuba bezeichnen sie als Paradies. Von Beginn an teilen sie ihre Träume, beide wollen Tanz studieren, eine wird an der Akademie aufgenommen, die andere nicht, heimlich wechseln sie sich ab. Beide schließen ihre Ausbildung an der Kunstakademie in Havanna ab.

Mitte der 90er Jahre reist Mercedes mit einer kubanischen Tanzkompanie durch Europa, Miriam und Mercedes sind erstmals jahrelang voneinander getrennt und leiden unter der Zeit ihrer Kontaktlosigkeit. In dieser Zeit begegnet ihnen erstmals das Buch von Ágota Kristóf, dass sofort Spiegel ihres eigenen Lebens wird. 

Den Plan DAS GROSSE HEFT zu inszenieren, trägt Jacqueline Kornmüller seit dem Erscheinungsjahr 1986 im Herzen, mit den leidenschaftlichen Zwillingen Mercedes und Miriam Vargas wird er Realität.

©wenn es soweit ist
Jacqueline Kornmüller und Peter Wolf

Die Illustration kommt von Kat Menschik, die Grafik von Larissa Cerny. 

@wennessoweitist.com

https://www.wennessoweitist.com

https://www.wennessoweitist.com/das-grosse-heft/

EwaJuszkiewicz_LockswithLeaves24

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The Venice Biennale – Palazzo Cavanis

Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso

Ewa Juszkiewicz

Locks with Leaves and Swelling Buds

Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia


Ewa Juszkiewicz, “Untitled (after François Gérard)”, oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm, 2023. Courtesy of the Artist and Almine Rech.

press preview: 17 April 2024 | 3 – 5pm

Preview: April 18 -19, 2024

curated by Guillermo Solana.

Preview Days:

Wednesday, April 17, | 10 – 17 pm

Thursday, April 18, | 10 – 17 pm

Friday, April 19, | 10- 18 pm

Exhibition: 20 April – 1 September 2024

Tuesday — Sunday, 10 – 18

Dorsoduro 920 30123 Venice, Italy

https://www.fabarte.org/en/news/
https://www.alminerech.com/exhibitions/9299-ewa-juszkiewicz-locks-with-leaves-and-swelling-buds


Ewa Juszkiewicz, “Untitled (after Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun)”, oil on canvas, 130 x 100 cm, 2020. Courtesy of the Artist and Almine Rech.

For more than a decade, Juszkiewicz has created paintings based on portraits of women by European artists, especially those from the 18th and 19th centuries, while examining “where the boundaries of the portrait were and what effects she could achieve by means of deformation and distortion”. 1

In 2010, Juszkiewicz painted a series of masked characters in which the markedly feminine clothing contrasted with the violence suggested by the mask. The pro-faciality mask hid one face while proposing another, symbolic or fantastic, animal or supernatural. The anti-faciality mask, meanwhile, hides the first face and prevents the appearance of a second one, blocking the reproduction of faciality.


Ewa Juszkiewicz, “Bird of paradise”, oil on canvas, 200 x 160 cm, 2023. Courtesy of the Artist and Almine Rech.
Photo: Serge Hasenböhler Fotografie

By 2013-2014, the dominance of the anti-faciality mask was consolidated in Juszkiewicz’s work. Any object capable of replacing a head or any material capable of enveloping it would be used: hypertrophied mushrooms, a bouquet of flowers, a tangle of branches and leaves, a combed or braided head of hair, a bandage made of luxurious fabrics…. When these objects and materials appear in the place of the face, the viewer looks for signs of an eye, nose, mouth, for signs of a facial outline; sometimes, but for an instant, they may think they have found them, but their reading is immediately frustrated. The anti-faciality mask actively resists our desire to decipher a face in it.

In her versions of old portraits, Juszkiewicz cultivates a traditional pictorial craft, painting in layers, with many glazes, following the brushstrokes of the original work. But her technical virtuosity would be useless were it not at the service of a transgressive project. By covering the face of historical portraits, Juszkiewicz challenges the very essence of this genre: she destroys the portrait as such. Her paintings are no longer portraits of anyone in particular, but representations of the condition of women under patriarchy. And, as she points out, at the heart of the intervened portrait she drives the stake of another genre: the still life, to which belong the fabrics, flowers, fruits, and other objects the artist uses as masks, subverting the traditional hierarchy of genres and the culture/nature dichotomy.

— Guillermo Solana, Artistic Director at Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

This exhibition is organized by FABA (Fundación Almine y Bernard Ruiz-Picasso) and supported by Almine Rech. 


Portrait of Ewa Juszkiewicz, 2020 Courtesy of the Artist and Almine Rech Photo: Ewa Juszkiewicz Studio

Through her painting, Ewa Juszkiewicz (b. 1984, Gdansk, Poland) challenges visual conventions and confronts stereotypical perceptions of women’s beauty in classical European painting. By deconstructing and reinterpreting the female subject in historical artworks, Juszkiewicz undermines their constant, indisputable character. One of the most celebrated contemporary Polish painters of today, Juszkiewicz challenges the viewer’s perception by experimenting with the form of the female figure and her face, balancing human and inhuman elements within the artist’s work to reveal a style that is at once classical in technique, yet subversive and rebellious in content.

Selected as one of 100 Painters of Tomorrow in the eponymous 2014 Thames & Hudson book and included in the new edition of Vitamin P – Vitamin P3. New Perspectives in Painting published by Phaidon, and a Grand Prix laureate of the 41st Painting Biennale (Bielska Jesień) in 2013, Juszkiewicz has also been featured in exhibitions at museums and public institutions including: the Centre Pompidou-Metz; the Museo Picasso Málaga; the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw; MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Cracow; Kunsthalle Bratislava; National Museum of China, Beijing; among others. Juszkiewicz’s work resides in esteemed museum collections notably the ALBERTINA Museum in Vienna; FAMM – Femme Artistes du Musée de Mougins; National Museum in Gdańsk, Institute of Contemporary Art Miami; Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris; Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai; Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

Juszkiewicz currently lives and works in Warsaw, Poland.

http://www.ewajuszkiewicz.com/

@ewa_juszkiewicz

IrelandPavilion_LaBiennale24

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Pavilion of Ireland

Culture Ireland and The Arts Council Ireland

at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

ROMANTIC IRELAND Eimear Walshe

Eimear Walshe on Representing Ireland

Curated bv Sara Greavu and Proiect Arts Centre

Artist Tours: Wednesday 17 April 2024 | 3pm

Curator Tours: Wednesday 17 April 2024 | 11 am

Official Opening: Thursday 18 April 2024 | 11.30 am

Artist Tours: Thursday 18 April 2024 | 3pm

Curator Tours: Thursday 18 April 2024 | 1pm

Pavilion of Ireland, Arsenale

https://artreview.com/eimear-walshe-on-representing-ireland-at-the-60th-venice-biennale

https://irelandatvenice2024.ie

Eimear Walshe and Sara Greavu, representing Ireland at Venice 2024. Photo © Cáit Fahey. Courtesy Ireland at Venice

ROMANTIC IRELAND

Eimear Walshe

Amanda Feery – composer

Eimear Walshe – Librettist

Dr. Lisa Godson – researcher and historical fact checker

Ergodos: Caterina Schembri and Edu Prado – recording

Opera performed by 4 in a Bar:

Paul McGough – Shane Barriscale -Ciarán Kelly

Tristan Caldwell – Eoin Conway

‘ROMANTIC IRELAND’ comprises a multi-channel video installation and an operatic soundtrack housed in an immersive sculpture. Set on the site of an unfinished earth build, the video stages soapy, dramatic encounters between character archetypes from the 19th–21st centuries. These figures occupy an abstracted ruin, a site under simultaneous construction and demolition. The pavilion soundtrack is a five-voice opera describing the scene of an eviction, composed by Amanda Feery with a libretto by Walshe.

Eimear Walshe, The Land Question: Where the fuck am I supposed to have sex?, 2020. Single-channel video, 38 min. Courtesy of the artist and Arts Council Collection: Bailiúchán an Chomhairle Ealaíon

The Land Question: Where the fuck am I supposed to have sex? is an artist talk in video format by Eimear Walshe. It presents a brief history of land contestation in Ireland, and questions how the history of land relations persistently impacts our most intimate thoughts, aspirations, and interactions. The research presented in this video serves as a primer for video works to be presented by the artist in phase 2 and 3 of the biennial programme. The Land Question: Where the fuck am I supposed to have sex? includes a soundtrack by The Department of Energy featuring Ian Lynch.

ROMANTIC IRELAND’ presented at the Pavilion of Ireland.

Culture Ireland in partnership with the Arts Council is delighted to present ROMANTIC IRELAND, an exhibition by Eimear Walshe curated by Sara Greavu and Project Arts Centre for the Irish Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

Through a practice that spans video, sculpture, publishing, sound, and performance, Eimear Walshe’s work traces the legacies of late 19th century land contestation in Ireland and its relation to private property, sexual conservatism, and the built environment. 

ROMANTIC IRELAND comprises a multi-channel video installation and an operatic soundtrack housed in an immersive sculpture. Set on the site of an unfinished earth build, the video stages soapy, dramatic encounters between character archetypes from the 19th–21st centuries. These figures occupy an abstracted ruin, a site under simultaneous construction and demolition. The pavilion soundtrack is a five-voice opera describing the scene of an eviction, composed by Amanda Feery with a libretto by Walshe. 

Eimear Walshe, ROMANTIC IRELAND, photographed 2023.

Walshe’s project explores the complex politics of collective building through the Irish tradition of the meitheal: a gang of workers, neighbours, kith and kin who come together to build, harvest and cooperate in mutual aid. It depicts a frenzied and fraught engagement with the ancient labour-intensive practice of earth building, a form of construction with an 11,000 year history and local iterations across the world. The video work was shot on location at the sustainable skills centre, Common Knowledge, on Ireland’s west coast. Led by choreographer Mufutau Yusuf, a group of seven performers, including the artist, enact characters in constantly rupturing historical dyads. This was filmed on four mobile phones passed between each actor, blurring the traditional distinction between director, performer, and camera person. 

Made in the shadow of the ongoing housing crisis in Ireland, the installation becomes, variously, a building site of possibility, a wrestling ring for Ireland’s generational and class antagonisms, a space of tender care, and a structure made into a cold ruin by the social death of eviction. The exhibition forces encounters between historic moments, and draws out their parallel power dynamics and affective registers; their forms of labour, conflict and pleasure; the entangled histories of sexuality, property, and the state. 

“There are a lot of insights from Irish history that we owe it to the wider world to share,” Walshe states. “Life on the island — its history of colonisation, revolution, and partition — provides so many opportunities to re-enact historical traumas, so many invitations to betrayal of our past, our neighbours, and ourselves. We are a colonised nation, and yet we aid in the colonisation of others. Some of us were dispossessed, and went on to do the same ourselves. History doesn’t split the difference. This is where the work for Venice emerges from.”

ROMANTIC IRELAND is representative of what curator Sara Greavu describes as: “a swelling Irish cultural revival, increasingly visible across artforms, that has received national and international interest. Walshe’s work is not nostalgic or relying on imagined mythologies, and it is not nativist, but is opening out and reconfiguring, sensitively displacing and embracing these elements as it prefigures alternative social relationships.” 

Photo © Cáit Fahay. Courtesy Ireland at Venice

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, comments: “I wish Eimear Walshe, Sara Greavu, and Project Arts Centre the very best of luck as they represent Ireland at the 2024 Venice Biennale. This is an enormous achievement and opportunity for both artist and country. Participation at the Venice Biennale increases awareness of Ireland’s strong visual arts sector and provides the artist with an international platform for their work. My Department through Culture Ireland commissions Ireland at Venice in partnership with the Arts Council, and it is an important date in our cultural calendar. I’m wishing everyone involved the very best of luck at the Biennale this year.”

Curator: Sara Greavu and Project Arts Centre

Commissioner: Culture Ireland and The Arts Council Ireland / An Chomhairle Ealaíon With principal sponsorship from Dublin City Council for Ireland at Venice 2024.

Australia_pavilion_Venice_Biennale24

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Australia pavilion at the Venice Biennale

archie moore kith and kin

commissioned by creative australia

curated by ellie buttrose

1 – Archie Moore / Fredrick Noel Clevens in kith and kin 2024 / Digitally altered found photograph / Australia Pavilion,

press event: Wednesday 17 april 2024 | 4 -4:450m

With: artist archie moore, curator ellie buttrose

commissioner adrian collette am, creative australia,

commissioned by creative Australia

Exhibition: 20 April – 24 November 2024

australia pavilion, giardini di castello 30122

https://www.kithandkin.me

https://creative.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/events/australia-at-the-venice-biennale/
https://creative.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/events/australia-at-the-venice-biennale/venice-biennale-2024/

Archie Moore: ‘Fredrick Noel Clevens and Valerie Jean Moore’ in ‘kith and kin,’ 2024, found photograph, Australia Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2024, graphic design work Žiga Testen and Stuart Geddes // Courtesy the Artist and The Commercial, © the artist

archie moore creates thought-provoking portrayals of self and national histories. in kith and kin, archie reflects on the nature and strength of first nations australian kinship ties that span 65,000+ years and incorporate the land, water and all living things.

his practice is rooted in experiences around identity and heritage, and speaks to wider themes of the universality of the human family and the enduring impact of colonisation.

the phrase kith and kin; simply means friends and family but an earlier old english definition for kith dates from the 1300s and originally meant ‘countrymen’ (kith also meant ‘one’s native land’) and kin: ‘family members’. these words gradually took on the present looser sense: friends and family. many indigenous australians, especially those who grew up on country, see the land and other living things as part of their kinship system–the land itself can be a mentor, teacher, parent to a child. the sense of belonging involves everyone and everything and first nations peoples of australia, which, like most indigenous cultures, is deeply rooted in our sacred landscape from birth until death. i was interested in the phrase as it aptly describes the artwork in the pavilion, but i was also interested in the old english meaning of the words as it feels more like a first nations understanding of attachment to place, people and time.

archie moore

Ellie Buttrose and Archie Moore by Rhett Hammerton, Brisbane 2024.

For three decades, Moore (b. 1970, l. Redlands, Queensland) has created thought-provoking art that bridges the personal and the political. His work is rooted in experiences around identity and heritage, and speaks to wider themes of memory, racism, and the universality of the human family. In kith and kin, Moore will reflect on the nature and strength of Indigenous kinship, issues of surveillance and incarceration, the enduring impact of colonisation and First Nations language revival.

The guiding principle in kith and kin is that relationality is the root of identity. The exhibition draws upon Moore’s extensive research and unravels how his family history is entwined with the chronicles of the continent and more recently the nation of Australia. By tracing his Kamilaroi and Bigambul family back 65,000+ years, Moore asserts Indigenous sovereignty. Although First Nations peoples have been threatened by invasion, massacre, disease, and dispossession, Moore celebrates their continuing vitality. While the stories in kith and kin are often specific to the artist’s family, they mirror the narratives of indigenous and colonised people throughout the world.

Language is a recurring theme in the artist’s practice. Moore is attentive to the elimination of First Nations Australian languages, acknowledging the pernicious policies and social circumstances that have given rise to this loss. Due to colonial dispossession Moore’s mother knew little of her ancestral languages to pass on to her son. Moore has researched Gamilaraay (the language of the Kamilaroi Nation) and Bigambul terms and incorporated them into his artwork. He does this to signpost First Nations language revival movements taking place throughout the world.

“The phrase ‘kith and kin’ simply means friends and family but an earlier Old English definition for Kith dates from the 1300s and originally meant ‘countrymen’ (kith also meant ‘one’s native land’) and Kin: ‘family members’. These words gradually took on the present looser sense: friends and family. Many Indigenous Australians, especially those who grew up on Country, see the land and other living things as part of their kinship system—the land itself can be a mentor, teacher, parent to a child. The sense of belonging involves everyone and everything and First Nations peoples of Australia, which, like most indigenous cultures, is deeply rooted in our sacred landscape from birth until death. I was interested in the phrase as it aptly describes the artwork in the pavilion, but I was also interested in the Old English meaning of the words as it feels more like a First Nations understanding of attachment to place, people and time.” — Archie Moore

Australia’s history is inextricably linked with the carceral system. British colonisation was established with penal colonies from 1788, and today First Nations peoples in Australia are statistically some of the most incarcerated people globally. kith and kin examines this history via specific examples from Moore’s genealogy: his British and Scottish great-great-grandfather arrived as a convict in 1820; while his Kamilaroi and Bigambul great uncle was imprisoned in the notorious Boggo Road Gaol. With respect and solemnity, kith and kin will make visible the impact that the incarceration of Indigenous Australians has on familial connections.

“kith and kin physically immerses the audiences in the world of Archie Moore and lays bare how we are all entangled within his web of connections.” — Ellie Buttrose, curator.

#BiennaleArte2024

@kith_and_kin_2024

LebanesePavilion_LaBiennale24

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Pavilion of Lebanon |
60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale Di Venezia

A DANCE WITH HER MYTH

ARTIST MOUNIRA AL SOLH A multimedia installation

CURATOR NADA GHANDOUR General Curator of Heritage

Commissioner and curator of the Pavilion of Lebanon

DINA BIZRI Assistant curator

Preview: Wednesday, April 17, 2024 | 5 p.m.

Pre-opening: 17, 18 and 19 April 2024

The Lebanese Visual Art Association

THE SCENOGRAPHY OF THE PAVILION OF LEBANON

Karim Bekdache, Architect

Exhibition: April 20 – November 24 2024

Arsenale, Artiglierie building

Campo della Tana 2169/F, Castello 30122 – Venice Italy

@LebanesePavilionVenice2024

#LebanesePavilionVenice2024

https://www.lebanesepavilionvenice.com

Screenshot

For the second consecutive time, Lebanon is present at La Biennale di Venezia, the most important art exhibition in the world.

The Lebanese Pavilion is a strong commitment to encourage Lebanese artists and to promote and preserve Lebanon’s vibrant artistic scene on the global stage.

Mounira Al Solh

The Selection Committee, composed of renowned international experts chose Mounira Al Solh for “her ability to tackle poignant themes, focusing on migration and the ongoing witnessing of war and trauma with humor and a poetic approach, using a diverse range of artistic mediums: painting, drawing, embroidery, video, music, performance, and new technologies. The juxtaposition of these elements creates immersive and multisensory worlds, conveying a deep social engagement.

Her art is narrative, powerful and expressive, and brings together a diversity of materials, oral stories, forms and gestures. The questions raised by her work will significantly resonate with the issues of our time.”

The Pavilion’s scenography has been entrusted to the architect Karim Bekdache.

The Lebanese Pavilion is located in La Sala di Artillery, inside the Arsenale, one of the two main venues of La Biennale di Venezia

Mounira Al Solh. Still from the video portrait Mounira Al Solh: Lovers, Nahawand and Saba, 2022. Courtesy Zeno X Gallery

Artist Mounira Al Solh

will represent Lebanon at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

Al Solh, is a multi-disciplinary visual artist born in 1978 in Beirut. She lives and works between Beirut and Amsterdam.

Al Solh, is a multi-disciplinary visual artist born in 1978 in Beirut. She lives and works between Beirut and Amsterdam.

She learned the double bass at the National Conservatory of Music in Lebanon, then graduated in Painting at the Lebanese University in Beirut (1997-2001) and Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (2003-2006). She was also a research resident at Rijksakademie, Amsterdam (2007-2008). Self-reflectivity is a central strategy of her work, which explores feminist issues, tracks patterns of micro-history, bears witness to the impact of conflict, migration and displacement. Her art is socially engaged, focusing on antipatriarchal matters, the ongoing witnessing of war and trauma, language and music, historical and geographical connections and can be political and poetically escapist all at once. Al Solh strives to craft a sensory language that defies nationality and creed. In 2008, Al Solh collaboratively initiated a magazine titled NOA (Not Only Arabic), and in 2013, she co-founded NOA Language School in Amsterdam. Currently Al Solh co-initiates Modka Beiroet, where she organizes friendly and community based exhibitions and workshops in the Netherlands and in Lebanon.

Nada Ghandour

PHD in History and expert in modern and contemporary art,

Nada Ghandour is a heritage curator.

She holds four specialties:

Masters in Museology (École du Louvre)

Masters in History of Art (Sorbonne Paris IV)

Masters in Preventive Conservation of Heritage (Paris 1)

Masters in Digital Humanities (Sciences Po Paris)

She is an independent curator specializing in cultural management and digital technology.

She has worked in some of the largest European and North American museums, notably the Museum of Fine Art (Montréal), the Musée National Picasso-Paris (France) and the Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris).

Thus, she has participated in large-scale exhibitions, such as:

Cuba: Art and History from 1868 to the present day (2008)

Picasso! The Anniversary Exhibition (2015-2016)

Icons of Modern Art. The Shtouchkine Collection (2016-2017)

She was the commissioner and curator of the Lebanese Pavilion 

“The World in the Image of Man” at la Biennale Arte 2022.

Left_to_Right_Nada_Ghandour_Dina_Biziri_and_Mounira_Al-Solh

Dina Bizri 

Dina Bizri is an independent curator and art advisor.

She has curated solo and group exhibitions in various galleries and institutions in Beirut, Paris and New York, as well as charity auctions of contemporary art.

She graduated from the Institut d’Études Supérieures des Arts – IESA Arts & Culture, Paris, and has worked at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, as well as in various contemporary art galleries, including Perrotin (Paris), CRG (New York) and Lehmann Maupin Gallery (New York)

Ethiopiapavilion_LaBiennale2024

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La Biennale di Venezia_Pre-opening 60th International Art Exhibition

EtiopUrgessaUntitled20234

PALAZZO BOLLANI

ETHIOPIA NATIONAL PAVILION

at the 60th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia

 TESFAYE URGESSA

PREJUDICE AND BELONGING

CURATED BY LEMN SISSAY

Biennale Press days: 15 and 16 April 2024

 WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL 2024 | 10AM

OFFICIAL OPENING SPEECH BY H.. AMBASSADOR NASSISE,

ETHIOPIA MINISTER OF TOURISM FOLLOWED BY A TRADITIONAL

EthiopIan coffee Ceremony hosted BY SAMBA ORIGINS

THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2024 | 10AM

LIYA KEBEDE IN CONVERSATION WITH TESFAYE URGESSA

AND LEMN SISSAY ALONGSIDE A TRADITIONAL ETHIOPIAN COFFEE

CEREMONY HOSTED BY SAMBA ORIGINS

FRIDAY 19 APRIL 2024 | 10AM

TRADITIONAL ETHIOPIAN COFFEE CEREMONY

HOSTED BY SAMRA ORIGINS

SUNDAY 21 APRIL 2024 | 2PM

HANS ULRICH OBRIST IN CONVERSATION WITH

TESFAYE URGESSA AND LEMN SISSAY

Exhibition: 20 April – 24 November 2024

Castello 3647, 30122 Venezia

https://www.ethiopiapavilion.org

Urgessa_Lineage Frost 2_2023

Ethiopia Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia 2024

Contemporary artist Tesfaye Urgessa will represent Ethiopia at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2024, marking the country’s inaugural participation. Award-winning author and broadcaster Lemn Sissay OBE FRSL has been appointed as the curator for this historical moment.

Born in 1983 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Urgessa’s artistic journey began at the Ale School of Art and Design at Addis Ababa University under the guidance of modern master Tadesse Mesfin. He later continued his studies at the Staatlichen Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart where he encountered the heritage of German Neo- Expressionism and the London School of Painters, which he would incorporate in his imagery. His distinctive artistic language connects Ethiopian iconography with a profound fascination for traditional figurative painting, exploring themes of race and identity politics within domestic settings.

The exhibition Prejudice and Belonging for the first Ethiopia Pavilion encompassed the experience of the thirteen years spent in Germany studying and painting. “People tend to think I am painting victims in my canvases but it’s completely different. The figures hold all kinds of emotions, fragility as well as confidence. It is the figure presented without any judgement. It is saying this is who

I am, this is what I am,” Tesfaye Urgessa.

Tesfaye Urgessa. Photo: Kameron Cooper, courtesy of Tesfaye Urgessa and Saatchi Yates.

Underscored by his personal experience of migration, Urgessa’s artistic practice became a powerful means of expressing the complexities inherent in displacement and cultural identity. Addressing racialised European surveillance culture in a solo presentation during Miami Art Week 2022 at the Rubell Museum, Urgessa brought a nuanced perspective to the immigrant experience. Further notable exhibitions include Urgessa’s presentation of new works at Saatchi Yates Gallery in London, Mayfair in 2021. Further presentations include ‘Oltre/Beyond’ at The Uffizi Gallerie in Florence in 2018, and ‘Von Denen Die Auszogen’ at Städtische Galerie Villa Streccius in Landau, Germany, in 2019. In 2022, Urgessa returned to his home of Addis Ababa where he continues to work.

On accepting the Ministry of Tourism’s commission, Tesfaye Urgessa said: “I am immensely grateful and honoured to be the first artist to show at the Ethiopia Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, one of the most renowned and influential art events in the world. This is a historic achievement for Ethiopia, as it is the first time that it has its own Pavilion at the Biennale. This would not have been possible without the support and trust of Saatchi Yates Gallery London, the Ministry of Tourism in Ethiopia, the Embassy of Ethiopia in Rome, and their hardworking teams. I sincerely thank them all for making this dream come true. This is not only a personal milestone, but also a proud moment for Ethiopian art and culture. I am honoured to represent my country and to showcase my work to the global audience. I hope that my exhibition at the Palazzo Bolani will inspire and empower other Ethiopian artists to pursue their creative aspirations and to share their stories with the world. I believe that this is the start of a new era for Ethiopian art, and I am excited to be part of it.”

Lemn Sissay OBE FRSL, the first Chancellor of Ethiopian Heritage in the United Kingdom and Chancellor at the University of Manchester until July 2022, brings a wealth of experience to the curatorial role. His notable achievements include initiating The Equity and Merit scholarship between the University of Manchester and Ethiopia, becoming a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature, and receiving Honorary Fellowships from Mansfield College Oxford and Jesus College Cambridge.

EtiopUrgessaUntitled20234

Lemn Sissay said: “It is a great day for Ethiopia and Venice that this is the first Ethiopia Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia 2024. Art is deeply rooted in Ethiopian culture from the coffee ceremony to the ancient Christian iconography. Contemporary Ethiopian art is rising in prominence and stature throughout the world. It is evident in music, in literature, in photography and in art. Tesfaye Urgessa is the artist on the crest of this wave. Come to Palazzo Bollani, take a closer look and enrich your world.”

The Ethiopia Pavilion is commissioned by the Ministry of Tourism of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The commissioner of the pavilion is Demitu Hambisa Bonsa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ethiopian Embassy and Permanent Representative to FAO, WFP and IFAD in Italy, Rome.

Portrait of Tesfaye Urgessa. Courtesy of Tesfaye Urgessa and Saatchi Yates.

Photographer: Kameron Cooper

Ethiopia Pavilion

Prejudice and Belonging

20 April – 24 November 2024
Tuesday to Sunday, 10AM-6PM
Palazzo Bollani, Castello 3647, 30122, Venice

https://www.ethiopiapavilion.org

ILLY_ART_COLLECTION_La Biennale24

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illycaffè is main sponsor of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere

pre-opening April 17, 18 and 19 2024

20 April – 24 November 2024

https://www.labiennale.org/it/arte/2024

ILLY ART COLLECTION

ILLYCAFFE
THE LAUNCH OF THE NEW ILLY ART COLLECTION
ON THE OCCASION OF THE BIENNALE ARTE 2024

https://www.illy.com/de-at/kunst/illy-art-collection


illycaffè is main sponsor of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
The company dedicates an illy Art Collection to the Biennale Arte 2024 where visitors will be able to taste the unique illy blend
at the Home of Human Safety Net – Procuratie Vecchie
PIAZZA SAN MARCO 128 – VENICE

illycaffè is pleased to announce its continued support as main sponsor of the Biennale Arte 2024 “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere”, scheduled to open its doors to the public on April 20th in Venice. This collaboration, initiated in 2003, stems from the shared commitment to exploring and promoting beauty through the medium of contemporary art in conjunction with one of the world’s most esteemed art events.


In this edition, the partnership takes on enriched dimensions with the introduction of a new illy Art Collection featuring works by emerging Latin American artists. These artists, handpicked by the curator of Biennale Arte 2024, Adriano Pedrosa, have been selected from the pool of exhibitors, providing them with a tangible opportunity for increased visibility and artistic growth. The iconic illy cups have once again been transformed into blank canvases, allowing the chosen artists to showcase their creativity and reinforcing the fusion of beauty and excellence that characterizes the illy brand.

Cristina Scocchia

Cristina Scocchia, CEO of illycaffè, expresses delight in reaffirming the collaboration with the 60th International Art Exhibition, stating, “This year’s event celebrates those who are foreign or distant, using the language of contemporary art, which has always been a catalyst for dialogue and inclusion. These are values that illycaffè upholds throughout its entire supply chain, consistently placing individuals at the core of its operations.”

The ethical and aesthetic essence of illycaffè is encapsulated in the sustainable quality of its product. Attendees, including artists, collectors, curators, and visitors at the 60th International Art Exhibition, will have the opportunity to savor the unique illy blend at the Biennale Arte’s refreshment points and, during the inauguration days, at the gazebo situated at the entrance to the Giardini della Biennale venue.

illycaffè is an Italian family-owned company, founded in Trieste in 1933 which has always set itself the mission of offering the best coffee to the world. It produces a unique 100% Arabica blend composed of 9 different ingredients. The company selects only 1% of the best Arabica beans in the world. Every day 8 million cups of illy coffee are served in over 140 countries around the globe, in the cafés, restaurants and hotels, in single-brand cafés and shops, at home and in the office, in which the company is present through subsidiaries and distributors.

ILLY ART COLLECTION VON LEE UFAN


Since its foundation, illycaffè has oriented its strategies towards a sustainable business model, commitment that it strengthened in 2019 by adopting the status of Benefit Company and in 2021 becoming the first Italian coffee company to obtain the international B Corp certification. Since 2013 the company is also one of the World Most Ethical Companies. Everything that is “made in illy” is about beauty and art, the founding principles of the brand, starting from its logo, designed by artist James Rosenquist, up to illy Art Collection cups, decorated by over 125 international artists, or coffee machines designed by internationally renowned designers. With the aim of spreading the culture of quality to growers, baristas and coffee lovers, the company has developed its Università del Caffè which today holds courses in 25 countries around the world. In 2021, Rhône Capital became a minority shareholder of illycaffè with the aim of contributing to the company’s international growth plans.
Per ulteriori informazioniIn 2022, the company had 1230 employees and a turnover of €567,7 million. The illy single-brand network has 190 points of sale in 34 countries.illycaffè is an Italian family-owned company, founded in Trieste in 1933 which has always set itself the mission of offering the best coffee to the world. It produces a unique 100% Arabica blend composed of 9 different ingredients. The company selects only 1% of the best Arabica beans in the world. Every day 8 million cups of illy coffee are served in over 140 countries around the globe, in the cafés, restaurants and hotels, in single-brand cafés and shops, at home and in the office, in which the company is present through subsidiaries and distributors.
Since its foundation, illycaffè has oriented its strategies towards a sustainable business model, commitment that it strengthened in 2019 by adopting the status of Benefit Company and in 2021 becoming the first Italian coffee company to obtain the international B Corp certification. Since 2013 the company is also one of the World Most Ethical Companies. Everything that is “made in illy” is about beauty and art, the founding principles of the brand, starting from its logo, designed by artist James Rosenquist, up to illy Art Collection cups, decorated by over 125 international artists, or coffee machines designed by internationally renowned designers. With the aim of spreading the culture of quality to growers, baristas and coffee lovers, the company has developed its Università del Caffè which today holds courses in 25 countries around the world. In 2021, Rhône Capital became a minority shareholder of illycaffè with the aim of contributing to the company’s international growth plans.
Per ulteriori informazioni

illycaffè erhält als erste Kaffeemarke die regenagri®-Zertifizierung

https://www.illy.com/en