Following the demise of the photo sharing site Bubbleshare, we have transfered our blog albums with over 1,000 images to Flickr so that you can enjoy slideshows in a bigger format on our blog. Take a tour to this year Venice Biennial (see Arsenale, Giardini or the Collateral Events), the 2008 55th Carnegie International in Pittsburgh or through the Port of Rotterdam in our first site visit in May 2008. 33 further photo sets here.

Photo documentation of Latitudes' projects can still be found as usual on each of our projects pages under 'photo gallery' – see this and this or this galleries as examples.

We welcome your (sensible) comments!

Daniel Birnbaum's 'Making Worlds' felt less melancholic though still very much in keeping with his recently-curated '50 Moons of Saturn', the 2nd Turin Triennial (see post 10 November 2008). Both exhibitions shared several artists (Ulla von Brandenburg, Koo Jeong-A, Pietro Roccasalva, Spencer Finch, Ceal Floyer, Lara Favaretto, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Haegue Yang, Paul Chan, Tomás Saraceno, Wade Guyton, Keren Cytter and Rosa Barba), while Venice included several students (including Att Poomtangon) or professors (Simon Starling, Wolfgang Tillmans) from the Birnbaum-directed Staedelschule in Frankfurt, and the support of curator Jochen Volz in the artistic organization (additional advice was provided by a team of 'correspondents': Savita Apte, Tom Eccles, Hu Fang and Maria Finders). In contrast with the 2007 biennial by Robert Storr it felt less painterly and more sculptural and with a notable lack of 'black boxes' with film and video work.

There seemed to be however, a certain self-reflexivity with regard to the biennale context: several works referred to the winter life of the Giardini venues (Steve McQueen's film in the British Pavilion; Haegue Yang's video in the Korean Pavilion) and the challenge artists face when asked to present work for the Venice. This was most evident in Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster's video in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni (formerly named 'Padiglione Italia'), a touching exorcism of artistic exhaustion. During the last twenty years she has been asked to participate in the Biennale not less than five times, and she speaks about the pressure of expectation in creating something new every time.

Elsewhere in Venice the Biennial threatened to be overshadowed by the opening of François Pinault’s über-collection hosted in the recently renovated Punta della Dogana (the former customs house). The spectacular triangular building has undergone a speedy renovation by Japanese architect Tadao Ando (see video here) and the inaugural exhibition's sombre atmosphere is much in contrast to the über-kitch displays at Palazzo Grassi.



Without trying to be at all comprehensive (with almost one million square feet of exhibition space, more than ninety artists, seventy-seven national contributions, forty-four collateral events that seem increasingly impossible) here are some highlights in no particular order of the Giardini (see first slideshow with 107 images) and Arsenale (slideshow above with 52 images):

Roman Ondák’s 'Loop' contribution in the Czech/Slovak pavilion: a walk-through pavilion with a path running from the entrance to the back door that has been landscaped with exactly the same greenery that exists in the Giardini – it was executed with such precision that some visitors asked the artist if his work was the pavilion building itself as they could not find the 'art' anywhere.

Haegue Yang's 'Condensation' (Korea Pavilion) atmospheric assemblage of Venetian blinds, lamps or bulbs, scent atomizers, infrared motion detectors and crochet.

'The Collectors' in the Nordic and Danish pavilions, taken over by artists invited by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset which included exquisit works by Pepe Espaliú's ('Carrying Project') and Simon Fujiwara.

Lara Favaretto's 'Momentary Monument (Swamp)' at the Giardini delle Vergini as well as the three minute man-horse-motorbike film by David Bestué & Marc Vives, which together with their 'Acciones en casa' presented in the Arsenale, gave one of the only humorous notes in the exhibition.

Finally the biennial at last has a decent cafeteria! Tobias Rehberger was given the Golden Lion for the Best Artist for his neo-pop environment. It could well have been recognised along with another new facility previously in dire need of a revamp: the bookstore, which was designed by Rirkrit Tiravanija and hosted a comprehensive collection of monographs and catalogues.



Off-Giardini (Eventi Colaterali) highlights (slideshow above with 33 images):

Joao Maria Gusmao & Pedro Paiva's 'Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air' (Portugal) which included five 16mm films, a mixture of humour and magical realism (a sunset with three suns, a man lifting a bucket filled with water by grasping the water...). Truly great.

Teresa Margolles (Mexico) showing 'What else can we talk about?'. An traumatised and almost empty Palazzo Rota Ivancich highlighted the many Mexicans who have recently died in a violent manner. Margolles and her collaborators gathered blankets with blood and mud where victims fell. That mud and that same blood is slowly moistened in the ground floor and later used to mop the main floor. A decadent palazzo in almost complete silence combines personal dramas and national sorrow. As the artist put it 'we live in a country that cries' (La Jornada, 10 June). This, perhaps alongside Taiwan ('Foreign Affairs'), was by far the most self-critical national representation.

At Isola di Certosa: 'Animated Scene' by Irish artist John Gerrard: an amazing three-screen real time computer-generated projection of the American West: a reconstruction of a 1935 Texas dust storm, a year in the life of an automated pig production facility in the Great Sothern Plains and a man blacking out the facade of a white silo in Kansas – see images here.

Disappointments:

The Golden Lion for Best National Participation going to Bruce Nauman's 'Topological Gardens'. Yes, indeed a great artist but partly agreeing with Harry Bellet and Philippe Dagen from Le Monde: 'a retrospective without any new work is far away from the very principle of the Biennale: to reveal the present'. It also presented very familiar work from the 1960s until today from museums and private collections. His presentation did however come more to life in IUAV Tolentini and Ca'Foscari yet the need to crame three venues seems questionable.

Steve McQueen's ticketed entry to the British pavilion, showing a double-screen film portraying the off-season of the Giardini during the winter months: insects silently making their way through the vegetation, rain drops, Venetian bells ringing in the mist, greyhounds scavenging a trash-scattered Giardini, gay cruising in the small hours of the night. One cannot argue against the evident beauty of the piece, yet its impact quickly wore off.

Miquel Barceló representing Spain: not only because the choice of the project didn't follow any semblance of a democratic or juried selection (as did the Catalan Pavilion) but also the frankly flatfooted delivery: a hagiographic mini-retrospective complete with reading area.

Italian Pavilion in the Arsenale curated by Luca Beatrice and Beatrice Buscaroli: an embarrassingly poor exhibition, doing no justice to the tremendous artistic talent in the host country.

The sudden cancellation of Emily Jacir's project 'Stazione' for the Palestinian Pavilion (to display the names of each vaporetto station along the Grand Canal in Arabic alongside the Italian). It would have been a telling reference to the cross-cultural exchange between Venice and the Arab world and a great addition to the very little public-space work produced for this Biennale.

'In-Finitum' at the Palazzo Fortuny included some great works (include those by Anselmo, and a room with Lucio Fontana) although the exhibition felt much less compelling than 2007's 'Artempo: Where time becomes art'. This year it seems to include more 1950s-1970s work, more monochromes (Gutai group, Antoni Tàpies, Robert Ryman, James Turrell, Mark Rothko, Hiroshi Sugimoto...) and did not exactly run with the concept of 'the infinite'. The strength of this curatorial exercise lies in widening the timeframe while building a link between Fortuny's legacy and 'anonymous' work (e.g. Egyptian ancient sculpture) with contemporary works (on this occasion John Gerrard, Michael Borremans, Berlinde Bruyckere et. al.), which failed to spark this time.

–

53rd International Art Exhibition: Making Worlds // Fare Mondi // Bantin Duniyan // Weltenmachen // Construire des Mondes // Fazer Mundos…
Artistic director: Daniel Birnbaum
Giardini della Biennale / Arsenale

Open 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Giardini closed on Mondays / Arsenale closed on Tuesdays

http://www.labiennale.org

'Venezia, Catalunya 2009. La Comunitat Inconfessable'
Curated by: Valentín Roma
Participating artists: Sitesize (Joan Vila-Puig and Elvira Pujol), Technologies to the People (Daniel G. Andújar) and Archivo F.X. (Pedro G. Romero)
Location: Magazzini del Sale #3, Dorsoduro, Venice
Support: Institut Ramon Llull (overall production & coordination), MACBA (executive production) as well as the Kunstverein Stuttgart (production of Daniel G. Andújar's work), Ateneu Obrer Popular de Barcelona, ZEMOS98, Repensar Barcelona, DPC estudi and ACTAR who will co-publish and distribute the publication, amongst others.

As announced previously (see post 1 October 2008), Catalunya will have its first pavilion representation within the Eventi Collaterali in the forthcoming edition of the Venice Biennale titled 'Fare Mondi/Making worlds' (7 June–22 November 2009). The first press conference (see slideshow above) took place yesterday evening at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Barcellona, with Josep Bargalló (director, Institut Ramon Llull); Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira (Vice-president of the Catalan Government and on the directing board of the Institut) and pavilion curator Valentín Roma.

The Catalan Pavilion will open during the first week of June with 'La Comunitat Inconfessable' a project curated by Roma (read about the selection process here) and including Sitesize (Joan Vila-Puig and Elvira Pujol), Technologies to the People (Daniel G. Andújar) and Archivo FX (Pedro G. Romero). The project will be shown in the 600 square metre space of the Magazzini del Sale #3, which is normally assigned by the Venetian townhall to the nearby Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia.

'La Comunitat Incofessable' takes its title from Maurice Blanchot's 1983 book 'La Communauté inavouable' (The Unavowable Community), and from Blanchot's inquiry into the nature and possibility of community and interpreting communism as 'that which creates community'. The thread between the three projects is the questioning of the single authorship, as the artists constantly appropriate preexistent materials (photographs, data...) and reconfigure new archives, new readings of these materials. The project is divided into three parts: the exhibition taking Blanchot's reference to the library as a space for knowledge; the catalogue (with reprinted texts by Blanchot, as well as Jean Luc Nancy, Giorgio Agamben, Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, etc.) as well as essays and interviews related to the artists projects by Gerard Horta, Iris Dessler, Jacob Lillemose, Manuel Delgado amongst others) and a website which will host a vast archive around the notion of communality.

During yesterday's press presentation, Roma briefly presented the conceptual lines and academic aspirations of the exhibition. Curiously, considering that the project reflects on the use and reuse of images, archives and libraries – whether concerning territory and landscape (Sitesize), geopolitical changes between the fall of the Berlin wall and 9-11 (Daniel G. Andújar) or information about iconoclasm in Spain (Pedro G. Romero) – there was no visual material shown during the presentation, and no photo documentation related to the artists in the press packs. We will have to wait for the artists' presentations in a month's time at MACBA, as announced yesterday (date TBC).

Roma also commented on the challenges in presenting ongoing research and extensive archival materials in an attractive exhibition format – those who saw Pedro G. Romero's 'F.X. Archive: The Empty City' at the Fundació Tàpies in 2006 might remember a huge scaffolding structure filled with the buzz of printers, flashing TV monitors, wires and stacks of paper. Josep Bargalló (director of the Institut Ramon Llull) and Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira's speeches predictably praised the historical role of Catalunya as a center of debate, innovative cultural society and the pavilion's aim to make the take note of Catalan cultural production.

Why is it that in every such press conference the first question from the floor always related to the budget? In this case the exhibition's coffers total €500,000, plus a exceedingly generous €200,000 for the publication (in Catalan, Italian, Spanish and English) plus c. €5,000 for a website. The agreement with the city of Venice is that they could use the Magazzini del Sale #3 for no rental fee but, according to Bargalló, they would contribute towards the restauration of the spaces to the tune of €40,000, adding up to €745,000. On top of that are curatorial and artists fees, press & marketing, flights, accommodation, opening events, invitations, etc. A hearty budget.

More info: www.veneziacatalunya2009.cat

RELATED LINKS:
Click here to read the full list of participating artists in 'Fare Mondi/Making Worlds';
Here to read the 53rd Venice Biennale Press Release (dated 23 March 2009);
Here to read the full list of Eventi Collaterali
Here to read about the Catalan project

[Images: Press conference and (right) Pavilion curator Valentín Roma. Photos: Latitudes | www.lttds.org]

Haegue Yang's new exhibition at sala rekalde 'Symmetric Inequality' (18.12.08-19.04.09) "belongs to a group of installations the artist has been developing over the course of this year, focusing her interest on investigating new possibilities for parallel crossings between abstraction and narration. Together with Kunstverein (Hamburg), Cubitt (London), the Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh), Portikus (Frankfurt) and REDCAT (Los Angeles), sala rekalde now contributes to the closure of a serial project that has taken the medium of portraiture as the point of departure for its own articulation." (from e-flux 18.12.08).

Below an excerpt from the catalogue essay by Latitudes' Max Andrews "Towards Haegue Yang's 'Blind Rooms'", which will be included in the forthcoming publication (out Spring 2009) followed by a video of the installation:

"Yang has developed a finely-tuned articulation of space through deft assemblage that has encompassed mirrors, multifarious electric lamps, scent atomizers, infrared motion detectors, heat sources and Venetian blinds. Variously sensory and sensible (i.e. readily percieved), such devices are not necessarily socially meaningful in themselves, yet they allow an interactive atmospherics that suggest zones of indeterminate necessities – part domestic interiors, part private theatres – and “localized effects” akin to political action."



As the Arts Council Korea announced on the 23 December Eungie Joo, Director & Curator of Public Programs at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, recently appointed commissioner of the Korea Pavilion at the forthcoming Venice Biennale has invited Yang to represent Korea at the 53rd International Venice Biennale. Joo is the first non-Korean national commissioner for the Korean Pavilion.

Haegue Yang was featured in an interview by Doryun Chong in the Summer 2007 issue, which Latitudes guest edited, of UOVO/14 titled 'Ecology, Luxury and Degradation' (see inside the issue here).

HAEGUE YANG
'Symmetric Inequality'
18 December 2008 - 19 April 2009
sala rekalde
Alameda de Recalde 30
48009 Bilbao, Spain
www.salarekalde.bizkaia.net

update 8 Jan 2009:

The Institut Ramon Llull (IRL), has announced today the appointment of Valentín Roma as the first curator of the Catalan Pavilion. The project will include works by 3 artists/groups: the 'Archive FX' by Pedro G. Romero; the 'Post-capital archive' by Technologies to the People (a multimedia project conceived by Daniel Garcia Andújar) and work by Sitesize, 'a platform of project founded by Elvira Pujol and Joan Vila-Puig that explores the territori of social analysis and creative processes'.

Curator Valentín Roma (Sabadell, 1970) currently teaches at various post-graduate art and design schools (Mecad, Eina, Elisava) and has a PhD in Aesthetics by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. Amongst his recent curatorial projects are: 'Don’t believe them' (La Capella, Barcelona, 2008); Al otro lado del espejo, Col·lecció d’Art Contemporani de «la Caixa», Centro de Arte Tomás y Valiente (Fuenlabrada, 2007); 'Barcelona Producció ‘06' (with Amanda Cuesta and Manuel Olveira, 2006); 'Pedro G. Romero. Archivo F.X.' (PhotoEspaña 04, Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid, 2004); 'Muntadas. On Translation: Museum' (with Enric Franch and José Lebrero Stals), Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (2003).

The jury, chaired by Manuel Borja-Villel (Director Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía), comprised Ignasi Aballí (participating artist Venice Biennial 2007); Daniela Ferretti (curator Palau Fortuny, Venice); Marta Gili (Director Jeu de Paume, Paris), Chus Martínez (Chief Curator MACBA, Barcelona, and Director of Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt) and Vicent Todolí (Director Tate Modern, London) − made their selection on 26 September after interviews with three finalist (the runners-up have not yet been announced). A total of 18 projects were presented by 32 individuals from an international background (Mexico, Italy, Finland, Switzerland and the US).

In the press release the jury also comments on their initial intention to resign in order to support the "open crisis" created by the sudden change of hands of Barcelona's Centre d'Art Santa Mònica (see post 17.07.08) leaving the city with no 'kunsthalle' space. In the note, the jury also acknowledges the transparency of IRL's procedure which led to the selection of the curator of the Catalan Pavilion as exemplary of the 'Código de buenas prácticas' (Code of good practice) design to avoid 'al dedo' ('made') job appointments in art institutions.

In the next phase the semi-finalised project will be presented to the La Biennale di Venezia Foundation and to the 2009 artistic director, Daniel Birnbaum, for final approval as part of the Eventi Collaterali.

The project will take place at the Magazzini del Sale (space #3, see image above), a 500 square metre venue in the cultural area of Dorsoduro (address: Zattere 259), nearby the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Palazzo Grassi which hosts the collection of French businessman François Pinault (Japanese architect Tadao Ando is refurbishing the nearby space Punta della Dogana to become the new space for Pinault's collection, planned to open Summer 09).

[Top photo: views of the Magazzini del Sale © Comune di Venezia; Bottom photo: detail of the Magazzini, http://flickr.com/photos/tsukimi/2301471755/in/photostream]

Last weekend was a turbulent one for the Barcelona art scene. On Friday 11th the Culture Councillor Joan Manuel Tresserras announced the appointment of a new director for the Centre d'Arte Santa Mònica (CASM): Vicenç Altaió, who modestly describes himself as a 'poet, writer, catalan translator, theatre critic, art critic, opinion generator and cultural agitator' and until then the director of KRTU ("Culture, Research, Technology, Universal"). The trouble was, however, that CASM already had a director: Ferran Barenblit, appointed during the summer in 2002. If you'll excuse the football link, the act was not unlike FC Barcelona's recent appointment of 'the next' head coach Guardiola when Frank Rijkaard was still at the club. Invitations to leave are never easy, political muggings of a cultural institution are even harder to bear. On this occassion the news of this affair has hit the press and blogs with general signs of bewilderment, disappointment and bitterness.

For those not entirely familiar with the Barcelona art landscape, CASM has followed the kunsthalle model with funding from the local government (Generalitat de Catalunya) and occasional sponsors. Under Barenblit's directorship, a series of adjunct local curators (Montse Badia, David G. Torres, Frederic Montornés) and international guest curators (Miguel Von Hafe Pérez, Jacob Fabricius) have produced exhibitions and projects by artists such as Christian Jankowski, Tomás Saraceno, Fernando Sánchez Castillo, Dora García, Maria Eichhorn, Joao Tabarra, Filipa César, Nedko Solakov, Runa Islam, Maria Nordman, Cabelo, Juan López, Peter Liversidge, Carles Congost, Antoni Abad, Francesc Ruiz, Joan Morey, Mike Nelson, Joachim Koester, Toni Matelli, Jill Magid, Ceal Floyer and Jiri Kovanda (see our blog from 20.11.07) amongst many other group shows (Think, Hamsterwheel...). Currently, CASM is one of the institutions invited to participate in 'Lucky Number Seven' Site Santa Fe with a compelling project by Martí Anson.

Manolo Borja-Villel, the recently appointed director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid (see our post 23 December) has declared in El País that, "the fact that the government imposes a project ... at best, as an instrument of propaganda, indicates a regression to dark times" (this and other quotations translated from the Spanish / Catalan). According to El Pais (12 July) during the presentation of the new director, Culture Councillor Tresserras insisted "there are no victims left along the way" and that the centre and the general budget (750,000 Euros/annum) will still exist, but in a new location (still to be discussed with the townhall). He added "Barenblit's programme was interesting, but the centre didn't have the social performance required". Barenblit was not invited to the presentation, and, the promise of the new location not being confirmed, he handed in his resignation. Later Barenblit declared "it is the best moment [to resign], after receiving the compromise that the new centre is under discussions. I'm coinvinced that my departure is the best guarantee that this process takes place; I always said that directors should have an expiry date ... CASM collaborated with many artists and local entities and promoted Catalan art abroad".

There had been rumours for several months (see El Periodico, 18.02,08 or even earlier this month the possible relocation of CASM was discussed with the president of the Visual Artists Association (AAVC), see El País 05.07.08) claiming that CASM was going to be taken over by the Generalitat and would be converted into a center for Catalan culture, speculation that has prompted numerous strongly-worded responses by various art associations (visual artists association, association of museum directors, art gallery associations...). With this shadow looming over CASM, the programme in recent months has sufferred an inevitable slide.

The new CASM director Vicenç Altaió will take his position in January 2009 and turn CASM into what is described in the vaguest of terms as "a multidisciplinary center for art, science, thought and communication". The questions are, what place 'the new CASM' can take on the Barcelona art landscape? Does the city need another venue for diluted cultural programming? What happened to the 'código de buenas prácticas' (code of good practice) that was decided last year by the Ministry of Culture, whereby "made" appointments were to be replaced by an open-application advisory-panel system based on merit? Where else will ambitious new work be produced in the city? In recent years Barcelona has suffered from the abrupt disappearance of art spaces including Sala Metrònom, the 'relocation' of Sala Montcada from the city centre – its now sited at Caixafòrum– and the failure of Espai 13 in Fundació Miró to produce relevant and informed projects. There is sadly little space for experimentation, fertile discussion or risk-taking.

What is most dismaying is the utter control the Barcelona politicians seem to have over publicly funded cultural programmes. There is, it seems, a lack of support and respect for the work of experienced and trained art professionals and as there is always an ominous cloud hanging over institutions or initiatives when a (4-yearly) change of administration takes effect, there is little continuity and plenty of suspicion. Working within such constant bureaucratic insecurity is never productive and it undermines confidence and creativity. Instead cultural programmes should have their own administrative cycles, their own secured funding, their own staff who are independent from state workers and protected from temporary or mileuristas contracts and their own governing board. It should go without saying that directors should be free to foment long-term creative relationships with the local scene as well as with national and international contexts.

Many questions remain unanswered: where will the proposed new Kunsthalle be? Why didn't CASM have an independent administrative and advisoary board to prevent such undemocratic moves and defend the exhibition programme? Who will now steer and programme such a space? And admist this political-cultural debacle, another factor has been unleashed: who will take control over the first Catalan Pavilion at the 2009 Venice Biennial in the Magazzini del Sale? Incidentally, the proposals (open submission until 2 September) for the pavilion will be assessed by a jury of six artists and curators and the decision will be made public on 1 October.

UPDATE 30.07.08:
Ferran Barenblit appointed director of the recently opened Centro Dos de Mayo, Móstoles (Madrid). His proposal was selected amongst 26 candidates by a committee of experts (Rafael Doctor, director of MUSAC, León; Lourdes Fernández, director of ARCO; José Guirao, director of La Casa Encendida, Madrid; Isabel Rosell, general director of Archives, Museums & Libraries of the Comunidad de Madrid and Carlos Urroz, advisor of Fine Arts to the Consejería de Cultura y Turismo de la Comunidad de Madrid). He will take up his new job in September. More here and here (all links in Spanish).

To read responses from different parties around Barcelona's cultural politics, read posts on http://cassantamonica.wordpress.com and on http://www.culturadebase.net (in Spanish and Catalan)

[Photos: Kris Martin, 'The End' (2005) (included in the SantaMòniCA 2007 summer show 'PENSA/PIENSA/THINK' curated by Montse Badia, Ferran Barenblit, Jacob Fabricius and Frederic Montornés) and below Ferran Barenblit (left) with Christian Jankowski talking to Joan Manuel Tresserras (right) in May 2007 during the launch of Jankowski's Living Sculptures]

All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org

'Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense': Arsenale


All images: Latitudes | www.lttds.org