57th International Art Exhibition: VIVA ARTE VIVA

About

«In a world full of conflicts and jolts, in which humanism is being seriously jeopardized, art is the most precious part of the human being. It is the ideal place for reflection, individual expression, freedom and fundamental questions. It is a “yes” to life, although sometimes a “but” lies behind. More than ever, the role, the voice and the responsibility of the artist are crucial in the framework of contemporary debates. 

Viva Arte Viva is also an exclamation, an expression of the passion for art and for the state of the artist. Viva Arte Viva is a Biennale designed with the artists, by the artists and for the artists. It deals with the forms they propose, the questions they pose, the practices they develop and the forms of life they choose. 

The Exhibition organically evolves in a sequence of pavilions, rooms and stanze, offering the spectator an experience, i.e. a journey, from the interiority to the infinity. 

These pavilions or Trans-pavilions, which gather artists of all generations and origins, sinuously follow one another like chapters of a book. From the “Pavilion of artists and books ” to the “Pavilion of time and infinity”, a dozen universes tell a conversational and sometimes paradoxical story, concerning the complexity of the world and the variety of positions and practices. 

The Exhibition also aims to be an experience, representing an extroversion movement towards the other, towards a common place and towards the most indefinable dimensions, opening the pathways to a neo-humanism.

Every week, during the six months of the exhibition, the artists and the public will participate to an Open Table (Tavola Aperta) where they can have lunch together and where they can dialogue and talk about the artist’s practice.

Every day, during the weeks before the opening of the Exhibition, a video will be posted on the Biennale official website, giving the opportunity to uncover the artists even before the Exhibition».

(Read here the full text of Macel’s Statement)

Christine Macel is “a curator committed to emphasizing the important role artists play in inventing their own universes and kindly injecting vitality into the world we live in”, President Paolo Baratta said last January on the day of Macel’s appointment. 

Today Baratta adds that: «By finding inspiration in a “humanist” vision and keeping the focus on the artist’s creative act the Exhibition will also promote a new and more intense conversation between visitors and many of the artists on display, through a programme of meetings specifically designed for the occasion».

(Read here the full text of Baratta’s Statement)

The 57th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia will also present, as is traditional, the National Participations with their own exhibitions in the Pavilions at the Giardini and at the Arsenale, and in the historic city centre of Venice.

This edition will also include selected Collateral Events, presented by international entities and institutions, which will present their exhibitions and initiatives in Venice concurrently with the 57th Exhibition.