Meetings on Art

Delfina Foundation and Venice Biennale are co-producing a special series of performances, commissioned by Arts Council England, as part of Meetings on Art, the official public programme of the 58th biennale.

Devised by Ralph Rugoff, Artistic Director of the 58th Venice Biennale of Art, and Aaron Cezar, Director of Delfina Foundation, the artists selected for the opening week of the performance programme include Alex Baczynski-Jenkins, boychild, Paul Maheke, Nástio Mosquito, Florence Peake & Eve Stainton, Victoria Sin, and Zadie Xa. These artists are defining this and the next generation of performance with diverse and hybrid practices spanning music, movement and visual art. Together, the artists interrogate identity politics through the concepts of nationality, gender, and intersectionality. They consider the architecture of representation and how language, as articulated through the body and the voice, can reaffirm or refuse conventions.

The performances will activate the ‘in between’ spaces of the biennale’s gardens and galleries in short and durational episodes, occurring at designated times or occupying space without notice. The Teatro Piccolo Arsenale will host scheduled performances and create a more concentrated space where certain narratives can be thoughtfully unravelled and reimagined.

The second part of the event will take place during the final weekend of the Venice Biennaleand  will be punctuated by discursive events, lecture performances and other activities, including new works by Vivian Caccuri, Cooking Sections, Invernomuto, Paul Maheke & Nkisi, Vivien Sansour, and Bo Zheng.

Saturday , May 11th | Giardini 12 noon – 2 pm
Nástio Mosquito – No.One.Gives.A.Mosquito’s.Ass.About.Our.Performance
(2-hour processional work )

3 pm – 5 pm
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
boychild, Untitled Hand Dance (20’ approx.)

Saturday, May 11th | Arsenale | Tese dei Soppalchi 5 pm
Paul Maheke – Seeking After the Fully Grown Dancer *deep within* (20’ approx.)
Tarek Atoui* – The GROUND Sessions (30’ approx.) with the performers/musicians: Julia Giertz, Vivian Wang, Shane Aspegren, Alan Affichard, Igor Porte.

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

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
boychild, Untitled Hand Dance (20’ approx.)

Sunday, May 12th | Arsenale | Tese dei Soppalchi 5 pm 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