Friday, June 14, 2013

‘What and how exactly is the artists' inner world?’

‘Il Palazzo Enciclopedico’ (The Encyclopedic Palace) as part of the Venice Biennale and 55th International Art Exhibition revolves around the curator’s own reflection on the contemporary art and artists’ fate, refusing to settle for limited or pre-defined horizons, and conceiving global realities, to aspire for knowledge and sensibility.

Within la Biennale, the core idea of an exhibit-research is seen profitable for the Art section as well for that of Architecture hence the exhibitions of Gioni and Koolhaas represent vital moments in the institution’s history. Close to 90 countries are taking part of which Kuwait, Angola, Paraguay, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Bahamas, Ivory Coast, the Maldives, the Republic of Kosovo, Tuvalu, and the Holy See are present for the first time. The latter is joining with a show in the Sale d'Armi, spaces the Biennale is restoring for converting them into permanent pavilions.

The Indian artist picked for the main exhibition is Prabhavathi Meppayil. Born in 1965 in Bangalore, she hails from a family of goldsmiths. ‘Process’ for her, is the mystical memory of hands. Employing traditional goldsmith techniques, her compositions incorporate delicate metallic strands that are embedded into lime gesso. Meditation and precision form the crux of her work. A meditative silence as if seems to evoke through surface and object even as images emerge and fade away alternately.

Politicization seeps into her artworks from the very choice of method and material; the craft and its tool are central to her visual expression. Germany’s pavilion examines the artistic contributions of four artists, namely Ai Weiwei, Santu Mofokeng, Romuald Karmakar and Dayanita Singh in the backdrop of contemporary issues related to art and (inter-)nationality. There is much more to look for including guided tours and educational activities at this year’s Venice Biennale.

To sum it up, ‘Il Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace)’ tries to fathom: ‘what exactly is the artists' inner world?’

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