31st August – 14th October 2007
Location
Open-air spaces at Venice Lido: Piazzale and Gran Viale S. Maria Elisabetta, Tempio Votivo, Via Lepanto, Lungomare G. Marconi, Parco Hotel Des Bains, Blue Moon, Terrace / Hall Hotel The Westin Excelsior
Organization
Arte Communications, Venice
Joint Organization
Venice City Council, Department of Cultural Production
Ten years of sculptures, installations, happenings and performances, showing how art can invade the outside environment to attract the observer, capturing his gaze and cheering his soul. A stage, a point of arrival and of starting off again, more conscious and more severe but always in line with the philosophy of its curator and founder, Paolo De Grandis. In fact, contrary to other yearly events, from which one might always expect something new, OPEN proposes its linearity, its integration and its introductory character, aspects that have matured thanks to the simplicity of the basic idea and to the exhibition context offered by the open-air spaces at Venice Lido: territories to explore, focal points for exchange and confrontation, choreographic spaces often left open so that they can be transformed, places where the visitor can ideally negotiate the contents of the works on display, in both physical and mental terms.
Curators of international repute have been also involved, among them Achille Bonito Oliva, Alanna Heiss, Chang Tsong-zung and Vincenzo Sanfo. So, this offers a really special opportunity for comparison and dialogue between artists, curators and institutions in order to valorise contemporary culture and give space to artistic creativity from all over the world. As always, OPEN combines the presence of important artists such as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Lee Ufan, John Henry, Beverly Pepper and historic figures of contemporary art such as Sandro Chia, Enzo Cucchi and Giuseppe Spagnulo, with the works of already recognised, talented young artists such as Daniele Nitti Sotres, Antonella Zazzera and Enzo Castagno, while also continuing to present promising artists whose talent has still to be discovered. The successful formula of the Academies continues with the presence of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. Again, this year the presence of Asiatic artists is particularly numerous and feature work by Hu Xiangcheng, Li Chen, Shi Jinsong, Xiang Jin and Shan-Shan Sheng. As every year, all the artists have been completely won over by the magic of OPEN, where each detail is the fruit of a profound collaboration between space, art, territory; this year too, they have created works designed especially for the occasion. Art is therefore declined in all its variations, from the most severe essence to light-hearted entertainment with the performance by Iris Brosch and the intervention of B.zarro. This tenth edition is a proof of growth. Forty-eight artists have been tackled the challenge to organise and reformulate the concept of art in the open air. On the confines of philosophy, art is fragmented into multilayered visions in which energy is consumed at the limit of its possibilities.
OPEN is organised by Arte Communications and is jointly organised by the Department of Culture of the Venice City Council under the patronage of the Italian Ministry of the Cultural Heritage, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Veneto Region, the Province of Venice and Venice City Council. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue available daily from the Infopoint in Lido at the Lungomare G. Marconi (in front of the Hotel Des Bains) from 31/08 to 10/09 h. 10.00 am - 7.00 pm; from 11/09 to 14/10 h. 11.00 am - 5.00 pm; in Venice, Riva San Biagio, Castello 2145 (Arsenale) daily h. 10.00 am - 6.00 pm.
Curators
Achille Bonito Oliva, Alanna Heiss, Chang Tsong-zung, Paolo De Grandis, Vincenzo Sanfo, Pilvi Kalhama, Enrico Pedrini, Zhang Qing, Bruno Grossetti, Daniele Crippa, Naomi Evans, Konstantinos Yeoryiou, David Andriadze, Gianluca Marziani, Gloria Vallese, Leone Jannuzzi, Giampaolo Trotta, Art - St – Urban, John T. Spike, Ken Rollins, Margery Gordon
Participating Artists
Argentina
Eduardo Pla
Australia
Lindy Lee
China
Hu Xiangcheng, Li Chen,
Shi Jinsong, Xiang Jing
Cyprus
Kyriakos Kallis
Finland
Pasi Eerik Karjula
France
Ariane Michel, Frédérique Nalbandian
Georgia
Tamara Kvesitadze
Germany
Iris Brosch and Fiora Gandolfi
Great Britain
Michael Lyons
India
Kriti Arora, Bharti Kher
Italy
B.zarro, Enzo Castagno,
Sandro Chia, Enzo Cucchi,
Ferruccio Gard and Maurizio Rosa,
Resi Girardello and Cristina Treppo,
Luigi Masin, Gianfranco Meggiato,
Daniele Nitti Sotres, Marco Nereo Rotelli, Giuseppe Spagnulo, Barbara Taboni,
Antonella Zazzera
Korea
Lee Ufan
Luxembourg
Florence Hoffmann
The Netherlands
Jackie Sleper
Romania
Martin-Emilian Balint
Republic of San Marino
Leonardo Blanco
Switzerland
Heinz Aeschlimann
U.S. Virgin Islands
Cornelia Kubler Kavanagh
USA
Christo and Jeanne-Claude,
Carole A. Feuerman, John Henry,
Beverly Pepper, Daniel Rothbart
USA/China
Shan-Shan Sheng
Finnish Academy of Fine Arts
Jukka Rusanen, Antti Majava,
Sampo Malin
Press Office
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