Venice Pavilion at Venice Biennale of Art - Pavilion Venezia, Biennale's Gardens, Castello - Venice

Exhibition in progress from 23 April to 27 November 2022

The 58th Biennale of Art will open to the public on 11 May 2019. But starting from a few days before the opening there will be the various openings and side events that always suddenly animate the Venetian artistic life. The title of the 58 edition of the Biennale d'Arte is May You Live In Interesting Times.

79 artists are invited to exhibit at the 58th Venice Biennale of Art, with a prevalence of women. Among them the 2 Italians Ludovica Carbotta and Lara Favaretto. The first will make a site-specific work in Forte Marghera, inside the building known as the Austrian Powder Mill.

Go to the page of the 58th Venice Art Biennale

Venice Pavilion. Venezia at 58th Biennale Arte of Venice

Artists: Sidival Fila, Fabio Viale, Ferzan Özpetek, Plastique Fantastique, Lorenzo Dante Ferro, Mirko Borsche, Giorgos Koumendakis.
Curator: Giovanna Zabotti.
Concept and Artistic Directors: Stelios Kois, Alessandro Gallo.
Commissioner: Maurizio Carlin.
Seat: Pavilion Venezia, Biennale's Gardens, Castello.

Press Release Venice Pavilion of 58th Venice Biennale of Art

A tribute to the city, to allow the visitor to explore its history and mythology through an engaging artistic environment. Here is the essence of the Venice Pavilion, inaugurated this morning at the Biennale Gardens in the presence of the mayor, the president of the Biennale, Paolo Baratta, the curator Giovanna Zabotti and the highest city authorities. The artistic directors Alessandro Gallo and Stelios Kois, the Pavilion Commissioner, Maurizio Carlin, the curatorial staff and the artists also took part in the ceremony, which was also attended by a large representation of the City Council and numerous councilors. Not even the director Ferzan �zpetek and actress Kasia Smutniak, protagonists of the realization of a section of the exhibition, were present at the event.

The artists wanted to capture the essence of Venice with elements that over time became the symbols associated with the city: sacred images, briccole, water and the use of materials that characterize it as stone, wood, rope and fabric. A complete work of art in which the visitor can experience the microcosm of Venice in its entirety through fog, art and spirituality.

"The marble of Fabio Viale - explained Giovanna Zabotti - was used to create monumental briccole of over three meters that dominate the water that flows along the pavilion. The Plastique Fantastique, have created an inflatable structure in which you walk barefoot passing through the fog, between scents and matter. A section is then dedicated to Venetika, the work of the filmmaker �zpetek and his muse Smutniak, a stoic interpreter immersed in water and on whose face pass the images of the city 'A beauty that never tires'. The section dedicated to works that explore spirituality and religion is created by the artist Sidival Fila, Brazilian but Roman by adoption (the first Franciscan monk to exhibit in the history of the Biennale). The environment, to be even more engaging, is completed by an olfactory setting created by the master perfumer Lorenzo Dante Ferro and a sound work by the composer George Koumentakis ".

For Paolo Baratta the interesting aspect is that the visitor finds stimulus in what he meets and that the Biennale is "at least a temporary escape from the ordinary that forces us every day".

"Giovanna is doing an extraordinary job because she is putting her heart into it," said the mayor. We gave her a specific mandate, to talk about Venice, and she did it with the help of extraordinary artists, with four different modalities, but following the thread of sustainability �. The mayor then wanted to underline the meaning of the competition "Artifacts of our time", promoted by the municipal administration and aimed at young people between 18 and 35 years, attended by more than 2000 members. "The goal was to include them in our artistic history, enriching our heritage: Venice wants to be there and wants to tell its story with voices, with the heart, with the works of these artists and now also with the experiences of young artists".

Each of the six winning works, in rotation, will be exhibited at the Venice Pavilion for 15 days (starting with the videoclip by Gloria Maria Gorreri from June 14th) while all the others that participated in the competition will be on display at Candiani and Forte Marghera.

Hours: Gardens from 10.00 to 18.00. Arsenale from 10.00 to 18.00 (from 10.00 to 20.00 on Friday and Saturday until September 30th). Closed on Mondays (except May 13, September 2, November 18).
Tickets: please visit the official website. On the web € 21.50 until 31 March 2019.
Phone: +39.041.5218711; fax +39.041.5218704
E-mail: aav@labiennale.org
Web: Biennale of Venice