Well, first things first—The Biennial Project would like to wish a very Happy New Year to you and yours!! With 2011 finally on the books we here at The Project will be setting our collective sights on preparing for our much anticipated trip to the 54th Venice Biennale!! As we get ever closer we will be providing a series of Venice-themed-tidbits to get our Faithful Fans pumped up too…..
Dorothy so immortally said in The Wizard of Oz, “there’s no place like home”—thus, we take a moment to report on our very own American Pavilion…..and the winner is….or rather, the WINNERS ARE: Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla! This dynamic art duo from San Juan Puerto Rico have been working together since 1995 and according to the New York Times their work “explores art, politics, and international identity.”
alloracalzadilla.com
The selection of our New Found Friends is noteworthy on several counts. Specifically, this is the first time a “collaborative” has been selected vs. a single artist…..so CLEARLY the way is paved for The Biennial Project! In addition this is the first time that the American Pavilion will showcase a combo of performance and installation….so did I mention The Biennial Project???
Commissioner of the US Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale is Lisa Freiman, chair of the department of contemporary art at the Indianapolis Museum of Art—thus demonstrating that the OH-SO-PICTURESQUE city of Indianapolis can dish up more than Peyton Manning, Colts football, David Letterman and NASCAR racing.
According to our Exclusive Inside Sources, the art will be comprised of works developed specifically in response to the US Pavilion site. The exhibition will analyze contemporary geopolitics through the lens of spectacular nationalistic and competitive enterprises such as the Olympic Games, international commerce, war, the military-industrial complex and even the Biennale itself…..AHEM! Hello curators out there all over the world—DID WE MENTION THE MOMENTOUS AND GROUND-BREAKING IMPORTANT WORK OF THE BIENNIAL PROJECT???????? OBVIOUSLY we are influencing the Art World at the very Highest Levels!
And if there are still naysayers and doubting Thomases and Thomasinas out there we will close with this pearl of wisdom:
The Department of State has long been supportive of the arts as an integral component of our foreign policy. Without the need for translation, the arts have the unique ability of helping us reach beyond differences to embrace our common humanity,” said Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Ann Stock.
See—we told you that our Important Work was in fact SAVING THE WORLD!