Chilean Pavilion, Chile at Venice Biennale of Art - Chilean Pavilion, Arsenale - City of Venice
(Foto: © Ugo Carmeni)
Exhibition in progress from April 23rd to November 27th 2022
The 59th Biennale Arte will open to the public on 23 April. But on the 20th, 21st and 22nd there will be the various openings and collateral events that always suddenly animate the Venetian artistic life. The awards ceremony will take place on the day of the opening to the public.
The title of the 59th edition of the Biennale d'Arte is Il Latte dei Sogni that means The Milk of Dreams.
The invited artists are 213 from 58 countries. There are 26 Italian artists, 180 the first participations in the International Exhibition, 1433 the works and objects on display, 80 new productions.
In all, 80 nations will participate in the Venice Biennale in the pavilions at the Giardini, the Arsenale and in the historic center of Venice.
Go to the page of the 59th Venice Art Biennale
Chilean Pavilion, Chile at 59th Biennale Arte of Venice
The title of the exhibition at the Chilean Pavilion is Turba Tol Hol-Hol Tol.
Artists: Ariel Bustamante, Carla Macchiavello, Dominga Sotomayor, Alfredo Thiermann.
Curators: Camila Marambio.
Commissioner: Ministero delle Culture, Arti e Patrimonio - Governo del Cile.
Seat: Chilean Pavilion, Arsenale - Venice
Press Release of Chilean Pavilion, Chile Pavilion
The Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Chile
present Turba Tol Hol-Hol Tol at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
This is a
collective project which, in this age of climate crisis, seeks an experimental path toward raising awareness of
and preserving peatlands.
The wetland ecosystem is highly efficient at capturing carbon from the atmosphere,
yet it remains one of the least researched and most vulnerable. The pavilion is curated by Camila Marambio,
whose work blending art, science, and traditional knowledge promotes eco-cultural research and practices
transitioning from extractivist practices to environmental humanities. The project contributes to the Biennale
Arte�s 2022 central theme, The Milk of Dreams, with an investigation into the peatlands of Patagonia and a
transdisciplinary practice that protects their wellbeing.
"Hol-Hol Tol" is the �heart of the peatlands� in the language of the Selk'nam people, one of the original
inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, in Patagonia. This curatorial project aims to bring visibility to these important
ecosystems in the context of climate change, with a repair process based on the intersection of science, fiction,
and traditional knowledge. The exhibition allows viewers to immerse themselves in the material and ancestral
experience of the peatlands with a multisensory installation. The installation highlights an aesthetics of care and
art motivated by real commitmentsto make progress on ecological action.
Turba Tol Hol-Hol Tol brings together
an interdisciplinary team of Chilean artists: sound artist Ariel Bustamante, art historian Carla Macchiavello,
filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor, and architect Alfredo Thiermann. These artists were guided by co-curatorial
scriptwriters B�rbara Saavedra, an ecologist specializing in biodiversity, and Selk'nam writer Hema'ny Molina,
assisted by cultural producer Juan Pablo Vergara, and joined creatively by many others: Rosario Ureta (design),
Mateo Zlatar (web design), Carola del R�o (web design), Sebasti�n Cruz (museography), Nicol�s Arze and Christy
Gast (art direction), Benjam�n Echazarreta (photography direction), Isabel Torres (voice), Constanza G�ell
(catalog), Fernanda Olivares (Selk�nam guide), Nicole P�schel (climate change and biodiversity), Antonia Pe�n-
Veiga (lighting), Susanne Abel, Matthias Krebs, Jan Peters (Sphagnum Lab), Freja Carmichael, Caitlin Franzmann,
Randi Nyg�rd, Renee Rossini, Karolin Tampere, Agustine Zegers, Simon Daniel Tegnander Wenzel (scent), and
Alessandra Dal Mos (Italy production).
The Selk'nam people freely inhabited Tierra del Fuego and lived with the peat bogs of their ancestral land for
8,000 years, until the colonizers responsible for their genocide arrived. Official history insists that the Selk'nam
people were wiped out, but today the Selk'nam community rejects that myth, in a movement to be recognized
as a living culture with its own language.
The Selk'nam Cultural Foundation Hach Saye is an integral part of the
creative process for Turba Tol. It teaches us that their rights and the rights of the peatlands are interdependent,
and that these ecosystems must be recognized as a living body. Beyond Chile, cultural history proves that
peatlands all over the world play a fundamental role in indigenous cultures and other ancestral traditions, and
therefore they urgently need to be valued as a reservoir of memories. On an increasingly hot and dry planet,
these wetlands are in danger. Their preservation is intrinsically linked to the future wellbeing of humanity,
planetary balance, and, in Patagonia, to the empowerment of the Selk'nam people.
Peatlands have a crucial impact on regulating the global climate. They absorb more carbon than forests, a
capability that makesthese wetlands one of the most valuable ecosystems on the planet. Peatlands are exposed
to grave threats: mining, wildfires, peat moss harvesting, and draining for development. Additionally, once
drained and destroyed, they go from being carbon sinksto sources of greenhouse gas emissions. These wetlands
challenge us to create a new, turbulent, multivocal aesthetic that recognizes the histories of the Patagonian
peatlands, highlighting their significance as a stronghold against climate change in the Southern Cone.
Turba Tol Hol-Hol Tol stems from the ongoing research of the Ensayos group, in close collaboration with the
Wildlife Conservation Society Chile, Karukinka Park in Tierra del Fuego, and the Selk'nam Cultural Foundation
Hach Saye. The project�s website (www.turbatol.org) is designed as a dynamic arts and sciences platform for
peatlands all over the world. It will be a way of attracting people to the Chilean Pavilion while disseminating
information about preserving the peatlands of Patagonia and beyond. Its endurance over time relies on several
different outlets, which include a convening, a book, and the global launch of the Peatlands of Patagonia
Initiative.
With an international focus, the symposium aims to create global awareness of the importance of
peatlands by having experts in ecological preservation, environmental arts, and political policies sign an
agreement (The Venice Agreement) on June 2, World Peatlands Day.
The book will be a compendium of eco-
cultural thought by female Latin American authors who bring together voices that focus attention on the
struggles, lifestyles, and experiences of care from the south. Leveraging the visibility of the peatlands in Venice,
the Peatlands of Patagonia Initiative will take up the work of Turba Tol on the ground, maintaining the network
of local stakeholders who protect the biodiversity of these ecosystems. The peatlands and their people will only
be able to continue to breathe when there is an international awareness of their importance for mitigating
climate change and regulating water cycles.
Useful information for the visit
Hours:
Gardens from 10.00 to 19.00. Arsenale from 10.00 to 19.00 (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.
Phone: +39.041.5218711; fax +39.041.5218704
E-mail: aav@labiennale.org
Web: Biennale
of Venice |
