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TAKE 2: ARMENIAN PAVILION UNVEILS FOR SECOND TIME AT VENICE BIENNALE
epress.am
06.10.2011 15:30
Armenia's Pavilion at the 54th International Art Exhibition of la
Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Biennial) officially opened for a
second time this year.
As previously reported, the first opening, on Jun. 4, was incomplete.
According to one of the curators of Armenia's Pavilion, Ruben
Arevshatyan, an essential construction piece needed to display the
work of one of the works - that belonging to artist Astghik Melkonyan -
was lost during shipping.
Fortunately, the missing piece arrived early this week and the artist,
along with Arevshatyan and other assistants, set to work putting the
work together. The commissioner and the curators of the Armenian
National Pavilion apologized for the work not being ready on time
and invited the public to the second opening today.
Astghik Melkonyan's work elaborates specific formats, manuals, which
address the economic dynamics of artistic work intertwined with
larger techniques of social survival. The installation featured at
the biennial, titled "How-to Manual: A Monthly Salary," features 35
transparent panels that span 31 days in a month, depicting techniques
one might use to survive on an average monthly salary in Armenia.
The title of this year's Armenian National Pavilion was "MANUALS:
Subjects of New Universality." The concept, as described on the
website of Armenia's representation in this year's Venice Biennial,
can be summed up as follows:
"Any Manual is a result of a singular effort to overcome a deadlock
that implicitly suggests the way of achieving its goal as a general
model. Thus, a singular effort motivated by an urgent need proposes
itself as a subject of new universality. The specificity of this
subject is that it includes in itself its own lack, i.e. the need
that brought it into existence.
"The artists involved in this project take the social, economic,
and political turmoil of the post-Soviet Armenia as the platform for
their artistic work. But by virtue of their belief in universality they
model the singular efforts of dealing with these specific issues in
a way that turns them into the possibility of universal emancipation."
The 54th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia
runs through till Nov. 27. The awards ceremony, which took place at
the opening of the BIennale on Jun. 4, saw the German Pavilion win
the Golden Lion for best National Participation, while the Golden
Lion for the best artist at the ILLUMInations Exhibition went to
Christian Marclay, Silver Lion for a promising young artist at the
ILLUMInations Exhibition went to Haroon Mirza and Special Mentions
went to the Lithuanian Pavilion and Klara Liden, reports Cafa Art Info.
Photos (of a segment of "How-to Manual: A Monthly Salary") courtesy
of the artist.
epress.am
06.10.2011 15:30
Armenia's Pavilion at the 54th International Art Exhibition of la
Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Biennial) officially opened for a
second time this year.
As previously reported, the first opening, on Jun. 4, was incomplete.
According to one of the curators of Armenia's Pavilion, Ruben
Arevshatyan, an essential construction piece needed to display the
work of one of the works - that belonging to artist Astghik Melkonyan -
was lost during shipping.
Fortunately, the missing piece arrived early this week and the artist,
along with Arevshatyan and other assistants, set to work putting the
work together. The commissioner and the curators of the Armenian
National Pavilion apologized for the work not being ready on time
and invited the public to the second opening today.
Astghik Melkonyan's work elaborates specific formats, manuals, which
address the economic dynamics of artistic work intertwined with
larger techniques of social survival. The installation featured at
the biennial, titled "How-to Manual: A Monthly Salary," features 35
transparent panels that span 31 days in a month, depicting techniques
one might use to survive on an average monthly salary in Armenia.
The title of this year's Armenian National Pavilion was "MANUALS:
Subjects of New Universality." The concept, as described on the
website of Armenia's representation in this year's Venice Biennial,
can be summed up as follows:
"Any Manual is a result of a singular effort to overcome a deadlock
that implicitly suggests the way of achieving its goal as a general
model. Thus, a singular effort motivated by an urgent need proposes
itself as a subject of new universality. The specificity of this
subject is that it includes in itself its own lack, i.e. the need
that brought it into existence.
"The artists involved in this project take the social, economic,
and political turmoil of the post-Soviet Armenia as the platform for
their artistic work. But by virtue of their belief in universality they
model the singular efforts of dealing with these specific issues in
a way that turns them into the possibility of universal emancipation."
The 54th International Art Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia
runs through till Nov. 27. The awards ceremony, which took place at
the opening of the BIennale on Jun. 4, saw the German Pavilion win
the Golden Lion for best National Participation, while the Golden
Lion for the best artist at the ILLUMInations Exhibition went to
Christian Marclay, Silver Lion for a promising young artist at the
ILLUMInations Exhibition went to Haroon Mirza and Special Mentions
went to the Lithuanian Pavilion and Klara Liden, reports Cafa Art Info.
Photos (of a segment of "How-to Manual: A Monthly Salary") courtesy
of the artist.