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Meetings on Art – program of performances and talks during 58th Venice Biennale

Lara Favaretto

Meetings on Art is a programme of conversations, performances, and talks that will run throughout the 58th International Art Exhibition, from May 11th to November 24th, 2019.

In conversation with the artists
Throughout the six months of the Exhibition the public will be able to learn more about May You Live In Interesting Times from the voice of its protagonists. The Curator Ralph Rugoff will meet with some of the participating artists to further explore some of the main themes of the Exhibition.

The program will include lectures from some of the participating artists, such as Lara Favaretto in conversation with the art historian and curator Angela Vettese (on June 14th).

A conference addressing art’s relationship with technological, social and environmental issues will take place at Teatro alle Tese Arsenale (on September 14th and 15th); led by Ralph Rugoff, the meeting will involve artists participating in the Exhibition such as Dominique Gonzales-Foerster, Tomàs Saraceno, Margaret Wertheim and Anicka Yi.

As part of the Pavilion of Applied Arts Special Project, a symposium on Felicita Bevilacqua La Masa will be chaired by Paolo Baratta, President of La Biennale di Venezia, and feature as speakers Marysia Lewandoska and Angela Vettese (on October 22th).

Lastly, Paolo Baratta and Ralph Rugoff will meet the public on Sunday, November 24th at the Teatro alle Tese Arsenale to discuss the legacy of this year’s Exhibition.

Performances
(May 11th – 12th / November 22nd, 23rd, and 24th)

The performances, which will run during the opening weekend and the closing days of the Exhibition, will activate the ‘in-between’ spaces of the Biennale’s Giardini areas, outdoor walkways, and interior spaces in short and durational episodes. In addition, the Teatro alle Tese and the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale will host an array of performances, scheduled daily, and create a focused space for the unfolding of more concentrated narratives.

“This year’s Exhibition, titled May You Live In Interesting Times, will highlight art that exists in between accepted categories and genres – said Ralph Rugoff – and which questions the rationales behind our categorical thinking. The performance programme will exemplify this kind of approach, testing aesthetic, behavioural and social conventions in a wide range of events”.

The programme will include artists that are defining this generation of performance such as boychild, Alex Baczynski-Jenkins, Vivian Caccuri, Cooking Sections, Invernomuto, Paul Maheke, Nkisi, Nástio Mosquito, Victoria Sin, Florence Peake and Eve Stainton, Vivien Sansour, Zadie Xa, Bo Zheng, and others. Within their diverse practices – spanning dance, music and visual art – they open up new possible readings of broader culture territories. Through their omnivorous curiosity in hybrid and transnational approaches, they propose more complex forms that challenge the perception of the times we currently live in.

Artistic organizer Aaron Cezar. With the additional support of Arts Council England and Delfina Foundation.

Clandestine Talks – Lara Favaretto

In relation to the Thinking Head installation in the Central Pavilion and for the duration of the steam clouds, there will be a series of closed-door roundtable discussions, hosted in a bunker-like performance space in the Arsenale. There will be no audience, though the talks will be recorded and audible online in La Biennale’s official website.

Each roundtable will be led by a chair, with a numbers of participants that will be conditioned by the answers they get from the invitations. The theme for each will be a single keyword, chosen for its currency and relevancy as a topic for open discussion.

The intention for these roundtables is to bring out new thoughts and points of view. Lara Favaretto would like them to produce uncertainty and even failure – as she put it, “strange answers to unanswerable questions”.

According to Ralph Rugoff, “for the artist, these intensive conversations produce the knowledge that generates the steam rising from the building. The endpoint for each roundtable, with the input of individuals from different fields that communicate through different languages, is to create an outcome that isn’t immediately decipherable, and which may even be clumsy or out-of-place”.

Opening Programme

Saturday , May 11th | Giardini

12pm – 2pm
Nástio Mosquito – No.One.Gives.A.Mosquito’s.Ass.About.Our.Performance
(2-hour processional work )

3pm – 5pm
Zadie Xa – Grandmother Mago
(2-hour processional work)

daily
Tomàs Saraceno with guests – Spider/Web Pavilion readings programme

Saturday, May 11th | Arsenale | Giardino delle Vergini

4.30 pm – 6 pm
boychild, Untitled Hand Dance (20’ approx.)

Paul Maheke – Seeking After the Fully Grown Dancer *deep within* (20’ approx.)

Tarek Atoui* – The GROUND Sessions (30’ approx.)

Saturday, May 11th | Teatro Piccolo Arsenale

6,30 pm
Victoria Sin – A View From Elsewhere (1 hour approx.)

Sunday, May 12th | Giardini

daily
Tomàs Saraceno with guests – Spider/Web Pavilion Readings programme

12 pm – 2pm
Zadie Xa – Grandmother Mago
(2-hour processional work)

Sunday, May 12th | Teatro Piccolo Arsenale

11 am
Victoria Sin – A View From Elsewhere (1 hour approx.)

5.30 pm
Florence Peake and Eve Stainton – Apparition – Apparition (30’ approx.)

Sunday, May 12th | Arsenale | Giardino delle Vergini

4.30 pm – 5.30 pm
boychild, Untitled Hand Dance (20’ approx.)
Paul Maheke – Seeking After the Fully Grown Dancer *deep within* (20’ approx.)

November 22nd – 24th | Arsenale | Teatro alle Tese and Teatro Piccolo

Closing Performance Programme:
Vivian Caccuri, Cooking Sections, Invernomuto, Paul Maheke & Nkisi, Vivien Sansour, Bo Zheng

“In conversation with the artists”

Friday, June 14th | Arsenale | Teatro alle Tese
2.30 pm
Lara Favaretto and Angela Vettese

Saturday, September 14th and Sunday, September 15th | Arsenale | Teatro alle Tese
2.30 pm
Ralph Rugoff + Dominique Gonzales-Foerster +Tomàs Saraceno + Margaret Wertheim + Anicka Yi

Tuesday, October 22nd | Arsenale | Teatro alle Tese
2.30 pm
Omaggio a Felicita Bevilacqua La Masa: Paolo Baratta, Marysia Lewandowska, Angela Vettese (as part of the Pavilion of Applied Arts Special Project)

Sunday, November 24th | Arsenale | Teatro alle Tese
2.30 pm
Paolo Baratta and Ralph Rugoff in conversation

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