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domingo, 16 de junio de 2013

Serbia- Vladimir Perić and Miloš Tomić

Walking into the Serbian pavilion at the biennale was quite a relief, from all the pompousness that one can encounter at this type of events. Vladimir Perić's (Belgrade, 1962) works are more silent and nostalgic, but as a good nostalgy, of a recent history.

 His works have a very simple principle, which is collecting and classifying ceratin groups of objects, and producing a visual work bringing them into the art context. However this objects have all the visible prints of their time, and their past owners. Like in the case of the Mickey mouses, which where all produced by a single factory in Yugoslavia in 1968. His accumulations of found objects, mainly in flea markets work as three dimensional wallpapers as in his piece: the "Mickey Mouse Pattern", or in the "Razorblade pattern". In his work "Photo Safari", Perić uses parts of used camera cases to emulate the figures of wild animals, playing with visual semantics.

His work is definitely very attached to his daily life, however the objects he chooses are objects that we can all relate to, as part of a generation, they might bring up memories and different interpretations from every viewer.I personally found it heart warming, specially because I would not have expected to see this kind of work at The Serbian Pavilion, I am actually glad that they didn't put up yet another work about the crisis we're in or the past wars and how we all have the weight of the world on our shoulders, but yet a place to stop, and remember, even laugh with the family videos. It is all about love, expression and openness.

Yes it might sound Miloš Tomić's (Belgrade, 1980) work revolves around music, specifically sound experimentation along with his three year old son as s self pre scripted therapy in "Musical Diaries" Errors are what drive him, he turns them into anything he wants, exploring the sounds of harmonicas, piano, saxophone, guitar and not being a trained musician. Both artists focus their attention on childhood, whether is by memory of their own or making their work a part of their lives and engaging their families, which is always comforting, they set this objects and situations into new contexts where collective and individual memory click, if it does, well good for you, if it doesn't, well that is just not your kind of work.

 More of their work http://www.milostomic.com

Spanish Pavilion- Lara Almaracegui

The work of Lara Almaracegui (Zaragoza, Spain, 1972) is highly recognized for her constant research around waste, demolitions, constructions and deconstructions which she has developed in cities like London, Brussels, Rotterdam, Liverpool, Istambul. And has also exhibited in biennals like Sao Pablo's, and this year at The Venice Biennale at the Spanish pavilion, curated by Octavio Zaya.

When entering this pavilion, all you will see are mountains of different construction materials (glass, stone, cement, steel etc.) in the same amount that was used to build the same pavilion it's standing in, Almaracegui even treated the bricks and stone to make it the same quality of the ones made in Venice.

While the space being completely modified by this giant mountains of materials creates a direct interaction with architecture and with the viewer by modifying the way it can be approached. Having a building completely deconstructed right before your eyes, changes your perception of the place we're standing in, it is the place between nature's prime matter and the land that man claims as its own, when piling up these bricks and stones. In Zaya's words :

"Almaracegui's work is not only formal or ontological, but also social, as pointing to the historical nature of the building materials being used, and addresses the complex interactions between materials, economy and space ..." 

 The other work she is showing is a video called "A Guide to Sacca San Mattia", which is an small part of Murano's island made up of all the waste from the glass factories, it is an ongoing project.





Here's a link to an interesting video of her project "Abandoned River Park"



 

miércoles, 12 de junio de 2013

Ai Wei Wei, Disposition (Giudecca & San'Antonin, Venice, 2013)

This Exhibition was quite a surprise, during the frame of the Venice Biennale 2013. Hidden in the san Antonin Church at the heart of Venice was one part of the Exhibition and the other was located at Zuecca Project Space venue in La Zitelle, however I could only see the first location, which I am sharing with you.

This part of the project called S.A.C.R.E.D, was specifically conceives for that space in particular which makes the work more coherent and more aware of the context that surrounds it. Ai Wei Wei was imprisioned for 81 days in 2011. In this work (S upper. A ccusers. C leansing. R itual. E ntropy. D oubt, Ai reenacts scenes from his time in isolation where he was under extreme vigilance 24/7, and under continuous interrogation, he does so by using dioramas like the ones you would see at a natural history museum.

 From the outside the Dioramas look like big blocks of metal with small closed doors and some small windows. The viewer necessarily has to get close to the work and interact with it to relate to the scene that is going on in the inside, just as outsiders, there is nothing to do about it rather than be a voyeur, but this time a voyeur of one intimate story, reconstructed by memory, a story of injustice, oppression and a man fighting for transparency and freedom of speech.

Exhibition will be in display until the 15 of September 2013