My Art Guides Venice Meeting Point: A Report of the 2019 Edition
The 4th edition of My Art Guides Venice Meeting Point, titled “Asia Focus”, has ended with incredible success. The event saw the participation of a number of special guests, professionals and journalists who have particularly appreciated exhibited artworks and events that were running during the Venice Biennale opening days (May 7-11, 2019, Navy Officer’s Club).
Among the guests we welcomed:
Bummo Youn, MMCA Seoul Director / Seungwan Kang, MMCA Chief Curator / Korean artists Inhwan Oh, Moon Kyungwon+Jeon Joonho and Na Hyun / Francesco Urbano Ragazzi, Curatorial duo / M+ and HKADC delegation: Suhanya Raffel, M+ Director; Winsome Chow, Chief Executive; Chris Chan, Council member; Lo Wai Luk, Council member; Kay Wong, Arts Development Officer; Chesna Ng, Programme Officer; Fanny Chu, ADC Ambassdor; Ribble Chung, Council member; Caroline Cheng, Council member; Queenie Lau, Arts Development Director; Hilda Ho, Arts Development Manager / Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, Founder of Alserkal Avenue / Vilma Jurkute, Director of Alserkal Avenue / Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation / Shoba Pia Shamdsani, UAE Unlimited Director / Aaron Cezar, Delfina Foundation Artistic Director / Ralph Rugoff, Curator of the 58th Venice Biennale / Edoardo Bonaspetti, Ordet Artistic Director / Fatos Ustek, DRAF Director / Artist Ryoji Ikeda / Olivier Audemars, Founder of Audemars Piguet / Alia Al-Senussi, Art Patron and Academic, London / Marc Spiegler, Art Basel Global Director.
The main cultural partner MMCA Seoul supported by the SBS Foundation presented Tilted Scenes – What Do You See?, an exhibition curated by Joowon Park, featuring work by nine Korean artists that raise topics related to the ‘unseen’: phenomena such as social systems, rules, concepts of nation, identity and ideology that restrict our thoughts and actions. The power of the unseen exists and quietly controls us throughout the world, for this project each story told by the nine selected artists are specifically rooted or attached to local contexts in South Korea. The unseen blinds us to the world around us and sometimes leads us astray, onto highly isolated paths, yet we remain unaware of its power. By awakening viewers to their surroundings, this project seeks to encourage new perspectives and bring about new points of view.
Featured artists: Seung Woo Back, Inhwan Oh, Yang Ah Ham, Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho, Minouk Lim, Noh Suntag, mixrice, Sanghee Song, Na Hyun.
Our project partner for “Asia Focus” König Galerie showcased the artworks by Korean artist Koo Jeong A including a magnetic sculpture and a drawing. Koo Jeong A has been featured by Acute Art with series of drawings brought to life in Augmented Reality (AR). On the morning of the 8th of May, the works were presented during a talk between Daniel Birbaum, director of Acute Art and Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Lounge Partner Audemars Piguet, supported the Special Project by Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (Arsenale).
An other Cultural Partner for this edition was the Caribbean Art Initiative who presented two works of Jean Ulrick Désert, a visual artist born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and living and working in Berlin, Germany. Jean Ulrick Désert participated together with Marianne de Tolentino, Susan Mains, Billy Gerard Frank, Blue Curry, Giscard Bouchotte, Babara Paca and Cristina Sanchez Kozyreva to the Caribbean Art Salon: Connecting South, curated by Albertine Kopp and organised by Caribbean Art Initiative (8th of May).
Alongside works of art, the Venice Meeting Point Aside presented a dense programme of performances book launches and presentations.
Alserkal Arts Foundation presented its latest project Join Rhodiola – a transmission by 3 137 – that began in Alserkal Avenue, Dubai in March 2019. Rhodiola, a conversation piece, explores the ideas of maintenance in everyday life and unravels through waves that challenge ordinary perceptions of domestic life and public affairs, offering a place for moments of active pause.
The performance Means of Flotation: Island Ark by Marcos Lutyens (represented by Galerie Alberta Pane) took place on May 10 as well as a performance by artist Miltos Manetas who presented the “VI Internet Pavillon”.
The UAE Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development organised a the book launch of “Geometry and Art in the Modern Middle East”. The book celebrates the work of 24 distinguished contemporary artists from across the Middle East whose work reflects the intersection of modern and traditional elements in Islamic art.
To present the Comprehensive Monographic Publication of works by Jitish Kallat the artist had a conversation with curator-writer Natasha Ginwala (editor of the book) and Suhanya Raffel, Director M+ Hong Kong (contributor to the book). Jitish Kallat’s work is currently exhibited in the India Pavilion at the Arsenale.
The VMP programme ended on Saturday 11th of May with visit of the official Chinese delegation presenting the new city of Qin Han and its project for an International Biennale of Urban Sculpture. Artists Ren Jun and Bernar Venet spoke about a new Silk Road between Venice and Xi’an for the Development of Urban Sculpture.
