Eduardo Prats
La Bienalle di Venezia 2009
A Work of art is more than an object, more than a commodity. It embodies
a vision of the world, and if taken seriously must be seen as a Way of mak-
ing a world. A few signs marked on paper, a barely touched canvas, or a vast
installation can amount to different ways of worldmaking, and the strength
of the vision is hardly dependent on the complexity of the tools brought
into play. It is only through the plurality of languages that the theme of this
year's International Art Exhibition emerges: Fare Mondi, Making Worlds,
Aö búa til Heima, Sozdavanje Svetovi, Stvaranje svjetova, Facere de lumi,
Construire des Mondes, Világok Teremtése, Konstruojant Pasaulius,
Luues Maailmu, Welten Machen. ..
It is perhaps not that easy to translate the title of the exhibition into
every language, but if Édouard Glissant, a major theorist of poetic migra-
tion and transformation, is right, the translation act itself is a way of making
our shared world richer. With every language we lose, the imagination of
the world is impoverished. With every translation of a poem into another
language, our collective imaginary universe is enhanced: “The cultures of
the World are furiously and knowingly coming into contact With each oth-
er, changing by exchanging, through irremediable collisions and ruthless
wars-but also through the breakthrough of moral conscience and hope.”
Perhaps the most productive collision is that of a poem being transformed
from one language to the next, or a work of art being introduced to an
audience for whom the encounter implies a Widening of the intellectual
horizon. La Biennale can be seen as a place Where such artistic translations
and productive misreadings take place, and this is what makes it a creative
site and not simply a place Where one culture is put on display for another
in a way that treats each culture as something static, a fixed essence that
is inevitably rooted in stereotypes. Instead, beyond the world of specta-
cle culture, there is still the possibility of truly poetic clashes, that which
Glissant calls an éclat-a collision that also creates sparks of novelty. With-
out such sparks, life would be a dreary thing.
Today's world consists of individual nations as well as of globalizing
forces, and artists around the world create their works amid the tension
between the' two. Internationalization can be an emancipatory power that
liberates individuals from the limitations of their local culture, but there is
no doubt also a homogenizing tendency that involves a leveling of cultural
differences that can turn the world into a place of monotonous sameness. It
may be interesting to think about art as a counterforce to such leveling-an
insistence on differences that have nothing to do with the politically reac-
tionary return to nationalism. The artists invited to the 53rd International
Art Exhibition do not represent their nations or linguistic communities but are responsible solely for their own visions. “Worldmaking as We know it al-
ways starts from worlds already on hand; the making is a remaking,” claims
Nelson Goodman in Ways of Wor/dmakíng a book full of relevant observa-
tions that has been a source of inspiration when preparing this project.
The graphic design language developed for this exhibition shows how
the most well-known symbols, the national flags of the world, can be bro-
ken down into basic visual shapes that display unexpected painterly quali-
ties. A new visual language emerges that allows for repetition and differ-
ence producing infinite variation. A world tends to be inhabited by more
than one individual, and so “making” in this case revolves around building
something common, something that can be shared. Perhaps new worlds
emerge where worlds meet. I don't really now what Dünyalar Yaratmak,
Te Mahi Ao or Fazer Mundos sound like to the people who speak these
languages, but underlying all these valences of “making” and “worlds” is
the impulse to move away from any understanding of the show as a mu-
seum-like presentation of self-sufficient ready-made objects. Numerous
artists working in the Giardino delle Vergini take advantage of the highly
unusual opportunities available in a garden With old architectural struc-
tures that have not been in use for decades. This previously unexplored
area opens up a new atmospheric universe for the exhibition. It is full of
surprises and provides a unique backdrop for artistic interventions.
It is an exhibition without sections that presents different themes yet
weaves them into one articulated whole. Placing particular emphasis on
La Biennale as a site for production and experimentation, it will involve
projects that probe the possibilities of the built world. But the emphasis on
the creative process and on things in the making will not exclude an ex-
ploration of visual richness-abstract imagery and painting in the broadest
sense. When Fare Mondi Making Worlds brings back expressions from a
recent past it is never for nostalgic reasons but in order to find tools for the
future and to make possible new beginnings. It is an exhibition driven by
the aspiration to examine Worlds around us as well as worlds ahead.
Daniel Birnbaum
La Bienalle di Venezia 2009
A Work of art is more than an object, more than a commodity. It embodies
a vision of the world, and if taken seriously must be seen as a Way of mak-
ing a world. A few signs marked on paper, a barely touched canvas, or a vast
installation can amount to different ways of worldmaking, and the strength
of the vision is hardly dependent on the complexity of the tools brought
into play. It is only through the plurality of languages that the theme of this
year's International Art Exhibition emerges: Fare Mondi, Making Worlds,
Aö búa til Heima, Sozdavanje Svetovi, Stvaranje svjetova, Facere de lumi,
Construire des Mondes, Világok Teremtése, Konstruojant Pasaulius,
Luues Maailmu, Welten Machen. ..
It is perhaps not that easy to translate the title of the exhibition into
every language, but if Édouard Glissant, a major theorist of poetic migra-
tion and transformation, is right, the translation act itself is a way of making
our shared world richer. With every language we lose, the imagination of
the world is impoverished. With every translation of a poem into another
language, our collective imaginary universe is enhanced: “The cultures of
the World are furiously and knowingly coming into contact With each oth-
er, changing by exchanging, through irremediable collisions and ruthless
wars-but also through the breakthrough of moral conscience and hope.”
Perhaps the most productive collision is that of a poem being transformed
from one language to the next, or a work of art being introduced to an
audience for whom the encounter implies a Widening of the intellectual
horizon. La Biennale can be seen as a place Where such artistic translations
and productive misreadings take place, and this is what makes it a creative
site and not simply a place Where one culture is put on display for another
in a way that treats each culture as something static, a fixed essence that
is inevitably rooted in stereotypes. Instead, beyond the world of specta-
cle culture, there is still the possibility of truly poetic clashes, that which
Glissant calls an éclat-a collision that also creates sparks of novelty. With-
out such sparks, life would be a dreary thing.
Today's world consists of individual nations as well as of globalizing
forces, and artists around the world create their works amid the tension
between the' two. Internationalization can be an emancipatory power that
liberates individuals from the limitations of their local culture, but there is
no doubt also a homogenizing tendency that involves a leveling of cultural
differences that can turn the world into a place of monotonous sameness. It
may be interesting to think about art as a counterforce to such leveling-an
insistence on differences that have nothing to do with the politically reac-
tionary return to nationalism. The artists invited to the 53rd International
Art Exhibition do not represent their nations or linguistic communities but are responsible solely for their own visions. “Worldmaking as We know it al-
ways starts from worlds already on hand; the making is a remaking,” claims
Nelson Goodman in Ways of Wor/dmakíng a book full of relevant observa-
tions that has been a source of inspiration when preparing this project.
The graphic design language developed for this exhibition shows how
the most well-known symbols, the national flags of the world, can be bro-
ken down into basic visual shapes that display unexpected painterly quali-
ties. A new visual language emerges that allows for repetition and differ-
ence producing infinite variation. A world tends to be inhabited by more
than one individual, and so “making” in this case revolves around building
something common, something that can be shared. Perhaps new worlds
emerge where worlds meet. I don't really now what Dünyalar Yaratmak,
Te Mahi Ao or Fazer Mundos sound like to the people who speak these
languages, but underlying all these valences of “making” and “worlds” is
the impulse to move away from any understanding of the show as a mu-
seum-like presentation of self-sufficient ready-made objects. Numerous
artists working in the Giardino delle Vergini take advantage of the highly
unusual opportunities available in a garden With old architectural struc-
tures that have not been in use for decades. This previously unexplored
area opens up a new atmospheric universe for the exhibition. It is full of
surprises and provides a unique backdrop for artistic interventions.
It is an exhibition without sections that presents different themes yet
weaves them into one articulated whole. Placing particular emphasis on
La Biennale as a site for production and experimentation, it will involve
projects that probe the possibilities of the built world. But the emphasis on
the creative process and on things in the making will not exclude an ex-
ploration of visual richness-abstract imagery and painting in the broadest
sense. When Fare Mondi Making Worlds brings back expressions from a
recent past it is never for nostalgic reasons but in order to find tools for the
future and to make possible new beginnings. It is an exhibition driven by
the aspiration to examine Worlds around us as well as worlds ahead.
Daniel Birnbaum