Dopo due visite prelimari a Venezia nel 2002 e 2003 me sono trisferita nella’Aprile 2003. Da alora ho lavorato nella Scuola di S. Pasquale. Ho organizzato alcuni incontri con scrittori, attori, musicisti, scienziatti, architetti, del posto. Tra le altre cose ho pianificato alcuni performance prima e dopo l’apertura della Biennale. Qaesti eventi sono stati documentati e sono presentati all’interno dello spazio. Per favore mettetevi comodi; bevete un sorso d’acqua, un’ombra, mangiate qualcosa e prendete una copia di ogni numero dei PAPERS. Sentitevi liberi di dare un’occhiata al primo piano da dove ho coordinato il Laboratorio e dove si sono svolti gli eventi. Alla TV potete vedere alcuni brevi filmati dei vari incontri e performance. 

Contributors to PAPERS (the publications):

John D. Barrow, Scientist, Cambridge
Götz Bramesfeld, Aerospace Engineer, Penn State University
Ciaran Carson, Writer
Paul Chidester, Artist
Fred Cummins, Consultant, MIT Media Lab and Dept. of Computer Science, UCD
Billy Curran, Photographer
Cecilia Dougherty, Artist
Michael Freemantle, Writer
Sean Gallagher, Artist
Sunya Ganbold, Curator
James Gleick, Writer
Frances Goodman, Artist
Robert Kaplan, Dept. of Mathematics, Harvard University
Ellen Kaplan, Mathematician
João Magueijo, Scientist, Cambridge
Francis McKee, Writer
Sam Mugford, Dept. of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Poet
Raymund Ryan, Curator and architectural critic, Carnegie Museum
Warren Sack, Software designer and media theorist, University of Berkeley
Chris Somerville, Director; Carnegie Institution. Prof. Biological Sciences, Stanford
Paul Sheehan, Writer

 

CONTRIBUTORS to events and discussions;

Bruno dal Gallo, D.J.
Jane Da Mosto, CORILA
DI(A)DA, Artists Group
Luca Fois, Centro Morion
Paolo Franciosi, Actor
Ulrike Gamper, Dip. di Scienze Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Venezia
Marco Mancassola, Writer
Tobia Molinari, D.J.
Cristina Nasci, Biologist, Ist.Biologia del Mare, Venezia
Chiara Paneghetti, CORILA
Alberto Pratelli, Architect, Univ. di Udine
Paolo Rosa Salva, Architect
Stefania Rossi, Photographer
Silvana Schiavo, Editor
Marco Segato, Documentary film-maker
Prof. Toricelli, Dip. di Scienze Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Venezia
Werner Zanardi, Dip. di Agronomy, University of Padova

Marco Mancassola, Io e Devil performance.
This was one of the various events took place in Laboratorio della Vigna.

Monitors showed videos of Katie's meetings with various locals (list above).

Detail; work space. This is where Katie worked for the months prior to the Biennale.
Meetings were arranged, video edited, texts researched, booklets edited, etc.

Detail; all events took place upstairs in Laboratorio della Vigna. These events
included video screenings, talks, performances, theatre, etc.

Detail: Nothing
Nothing is from a series of 14 booklets printed during Katie Holten's residency in Venice. Each booklet was loosely themed and contained texts, photos, drawings and other material related to Katie's Laboratorio della Vigna. Some of this material was directly concerning issues concerning local residents/workers in Venice and other material tangently dealt with broader issues of interest locally/nationally/internationally. Bringing Venice outside to the world while bringing the outside to Venice. The booklets were availble free of chare to take away, or visitors could linger in the downstairs reading room (above) and help themselves to refreshments.

VENICE BIENNALE

catalogue essay by Valerie Connor, Irish Commissioner

Ireland is one of the increasing number of countries who commission artists to show work in Venice at venues throughout the city as part of the Biennale of Art. The original national pavilions are situated in the Giardini. Additionally, the appointment of a Biennale Director each year allows that person to curate an exhibition of works by many more artists in the large Arsenale buildings.

The building being used temporarily by Ireland this year (as in 2001), is the Scuola di San Pasquale beside the Chiesa San Francesco della Vigna, which is close to the Arsenale. Previously, the Nuova Icona gallery hosted the participating Irish artists. At this time a working relationship was established with the Director of the Nuova Icona, Vittorio Urbani, who continues to work on the Cultural Relations Committee’s behalf in Venice.

Ireland has participated at each Venice Biennale of Art since 1993 after a hiatus of several decades. The Venice Biennale of Art was first established in the 19th Century and it is considered to be the model on which other biennales of international art have been based subsequently. Alternatives to the ‘great exhibition’ model one which remains in evident throughout the layout of the permanent national pavilions at the Giardini have included the mobile internal event, Manifesta and this year’s Biennale Director, Francesco Bonami, is a founding member of the Manifesta board.

This year, Katie Holten represents Ireland at the Biennale. She uses low-key technologies and high-street services to make her work on site, whether for gallery or non-gallery spaces. She uses organic and manufactured materials that are locally available. She has included drawing, sound, textiles, crochet and small assemble objects in her previous projects. She has worked collaboratively with other artists and many correspondents who have joined Holten in events and publications produced by her.

Holten’s methodologies are especially appropriate for this Biennale. Artists and organisers working on their own initiative have increasingly been engaging with the Biennale in a different ways as the occasion becomes a focus for a variety of short-term projects that take place both as part of the official programme and more and more outside of it. Holten undertook an independent project herself in 2001. Understanding both the cultural politics of the Biennale and representing a collaborative, communicative and highly mobile art practice, Katie Holten has chosen to move to Venice in April to spend an unusually substantial period of time living in the city while she produces her work, well in advance of the opening of the Biennale in June.

Small scale: This June, the Biennale begins at the same time as the local annual festival of St. Anthony takes place on and around the Campo della Confraternita where the Scuola di San Paquale is situated. The festa includes music, food, open-air tables and processions. Large scale: The spectacular character of the city of Venice certainly makes it a successful host to international festivals year in, year out be it for film, architecture, dance, theatre or art. With the Venice Biennale of Art in situ the scale of the spectacle is extended and the pleasures of the fair are most potent during the days the exhibitions are previewed before the public opening.

Ireland’s participation at the Venice Biennale of Art is an initiative of the Cultural Relations Committee of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, in association with Vittorio Urbani.

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