Lecture – O poder simbólico de I Giardini di Castello: arqueologia e contemporaneidade dos pavilhões nacionais na Bienal de Veneza
by Anita Orzes
21 June 2022, 17.00 – 19.00 (Brasília local time)
Auditorio Campus Guarulhos
Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas – Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)
At the 51st Venice Biennale (2005) two artists provided critical reflections on its secular structure. Antoni Muntadas presented On Translation: I Giardini, a project that questioned the hierarchical structure of the Biennale and emphasized the symbolic power of the pavilions. Santiago Sierra exhibited Altavoces, a sound piece that analyzed national participations (and absences) from a geopolitical and economic point of view. Using these two projects as a bridge between the past and the present of the exhibition, this conference aims to analyze the role of the national pavilions and discuss the potentialities and limits of this structure. First, a historical excursus will be made to explain the origin of the national architectures. Secondly, the (trans)formation of I Giardini di Castello will be analyzed, defining its urban development and giving voice to eclipsed histories and unrealized projects. Finally, through case studies of satellite pavilions, it will be discussed whether and how the structure of the Venice Biennale can be used as a tool for identity, social and political claims.
Anita Orzes is a PhD candidate at the Department of Art History of the Universidad de Barcelona and the Université Grenoble Alpes and a member of the research project Modernidad(es) Descentralizada(s). She researches the transformation of the biennial model and the transnational networks between biennials in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. She participated in the Theoretical Event of the 14th Havana Biennial and worked as a cultural mediator at the 53rd Venice Biennial. She was a documentalist for the exhibition Caso de estudio. España. Vanguardia artística y realidad social: 1936-1976 (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern).
More information about the event here.
