James Wong Represents Macau at the Venice Art Biennale

Next year we will celebrate the 57th edition of the International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, which will be under the direction of Cristine Macel from May 13th to November 26th next year. Another year to collaborate with Macau, a country we have been working with since 2007. 

This year the judging panel of the Macau Museum of Art (MAM) has chosen artist James Wong Cheng Pou to represent Macau's Pavilion. . 

"The five members of the judging panel; comprising of the Director of the School of Arts of the Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM), Hsu Hsiu-Chu, the veteran Macau artist Wong Ho Sang, in collaboration with the director and art consultant of MAM, Chan Hou Seng and António Conceição Júnior and the curator of MAM, Ng Fong Chao, unanimously chose Wong from a group of nearly 40 Macau-based candidates to showcase his works alongside many other international artists.

During the information session held yesterday MAM also revealed the exhibition plan of the Macau Pavilion for the 2017 Biennale.

Wong was awarded with the 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize and was recognized as one of the top 30 Asian artists. He was involved in the development of modern art education in the territory and has been dedicated to education in printmaking since 1990. He is currently President of the Printmaking Research Centre of Macau and Chief Curator of the Macau Printmaking Triennial.

In the past he has assumed several roles, namely as the Chief of the Division of Arts Research and Museology of Leal Senado, the Head of the Printmaking Department of the Academy of Visual Arts (known today as the School of Arts of the Macao Polytechnic Institute) and the Coordinator of the Ethnography Exhibition in Luis de Camões Museum.

Outside of Macau, his works have been showcased in mainland China, Japan and in the United Kingdom, and are part of the collections of several institutions around the world.

In this edition of the Venice Biennale, the Macau Pavilion will feature Wong’s work creating an ambience using three-dimensional modeling, installations, paintings and mobile images in order to express the artist’s experience of the region’s rapid development in recent years. The layout is designed to evoke memories of going back to the countryside.

The Venice Art Biennale has been held since 1895 and is one of the most important contemporary art events attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the globe every year.  RM"

From: http://macaudailytimes.com.mo/james-wong-represents-macau-venice-art-biennale.html

Paolo De Grandis Guest Curator for THE KARACHI BIENNALE TRUST IN PAKISTAN

October 21st to November 5th, 2017

We are glad to announce Paolo De Grandis has be appointed as guest curator for the Karachi Biennale to be held in Pakistan during 2017. 

"The Karachi Biennale 2017 is a project of the Karachi Biennale Trust (KBT) a non-profit platform that promotes innovation, criticality and global exchange through Art. The event will take place from October 21st to November 5th, 2017.

KBT will include artists from Pakistan and abroad. Their works will be exhibited at multiple venues throughout the city, but the main venue of the Karachi Biennale is the monumental Narayan Jagannath Vidyala High School (NJV), located on M.A Jinnah Road. Founded in 1855, the NJV is not only a heritage building, but also has great historic value, as the Sindh Assembly was temporarily held in its North Western portion. This government school has had a glorious past and has been the alma mater of many social and political leaders. However today, only a quarter of the classrooms are being used and the building is in a state of neglect. The Karachi Biennale aims to draw attention to this important historical landmark. We also hope to have community engagement projects, as this saturated locality is at the heart of the city.

The thematic focus of the First Karachi Biennale is Witness.

wit-ness / ‘witnis /

n. 1 a person who sees an event take place.

2 a person giving sworn evidence to a court of law or the police.

3 a person who is present at the signing of a document and signs it themselves to confirm this.

v. 1 be a witness to an event.

2 be the place or period in which an event takes place.

The artists will be asked to interpret and articulate the curatorial theme through their chosen genre. Your participation in the Biennale will provide an opportunity for you to share your work with the local audience and visitors from abroad.

The Karachi Biennale will have a comprehensive catalogue with information on each participating artist and documentation of the event, which will be given to each artist."

LAST DAYS TO VISIT OUR BIENNALE EXHIBITIONS 2016

Changwon Sculpture Biennale 2016
22nd September - 23rd October
Yong-ji Lake, Seong-san Art Hall of Changwon,  Moonshin Art Museum of Changwon
South Korea

Stratagems in Architecture: Hong Kong in Venice | Collateral Event Architecture Venice Biennale
28th May - 27th November
Campo della Tana, Venice

Coexistence from Macao | Collateral Event Architecture Venice Biennale
28th May - 27th November
Campo della Tana, Venice

Italian and Colombian art meet in the third edition of the Changwon Sculpture Biennale in South Korea,inaugurated the 22nd of September where Paolo De Grandis was invited by Director Yoon Jin-Sup to curate the participation of Michelangelo Pistoletto with his Third Paradise, and the Colombian artist Jaime Arango Correa with his Dynamic Sculpture. The artworks are exhibited in the two main halls of the Biennale, the Yong-ji Lake and the Seong-san Art Hall of Changwon City. The Biennale is an international celebration of sculpture and an opportunity established by the formal unification of three cities: Changwon, Masan and Jinhae. Changwon hosts a long tradition and sculpture legacy and has give extraordinary artists as Moon Shin, Kim Chong-Yung, Park Chong-Bae, Park Suk-Won, and Kim Young-Won. 

From South Korea to Venice with two collateral events in occasion of the 15th Architecture Biennale. The first is Stratagems in Architecture: Hong Kong in Venice organized by The Hong Kong Institute of Architects Biennale Foundation (HKIABF) and Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) with35,000 registered visitors until now, where the classical Chinese essay Thirty-Six Stratagems, a collection of military tactics applied at wars in ancient China, guide the exhibiting architects and artists to examine their everyday challenges and provide solutions over the architectonical ground of their city, which reflects human, social and even political conditions. On one hand, it conforms to the rules of capitalism and private demand; on the other, it seeks to transcend the norm and open up imagination. What lies in between could be conflictive and creates endless and ever-changing battlefields. 

The wisdom of the stratagems provides guides in politics, business and civil interaction in modern time. The stratagems are categorized into chapters that illustrate different situations, both advantageous and disadvantageous.  

Stratagems in Architecture: Hong Kong in Venice

The second, Coexistence from Macao with 30,000 registered visitors until now,  presented by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao S.A.R. Government of the People’s Republic of China, in cooperation with Architects Association of Macao, covers an overview of the Historic Centre of Macao, a lucrative port of strategic importance in the development of international trade in Chinese territory, which became a Portuguese settlement in the mid-16th century and returned to China in 1999. The “Historic Centre of Macao” is a collection of a series of locations in the old city centre that witness the unique assimilation and coexistence of Chinese and Portuguese cultures. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005, and represents the architectural legacies of the city's cultural heritage, including monuments, squares, streetscapes, churches and temples.

Through the use of physical installation and digital communication, the exhibition provides the interactive opportunity to review how we can learn from these “old” buildings and the existing urban context of Macao in a “new” way. 

Both exhibitions will be open until the 27th of November in Campo della Tana, opposite to the entrance of the Arsenale.

Coexistence from Macao

Italian and Colombian Art in the Changwon Sculpture Biennale 2016

22nd September - 23rd October Yong-ji Lake, Seong-san Art Hall of Changwon, Moonshin Art Museum of Changwon

PDG Arte Communications grows with more international collaborations, as in the third edition of the Changwon Sculpture Biennale in South Korea inaugurated the 22nd of September where Paolo De Grandis was invited by Artistic Director Yoon Jin Sup to curate the participation of Michelangelo Pistoletto with his Third Paradise, a symbol, myth, and ideal narration of ethic responsibility, and the Colombian artist Jaime Arango Correa with his Dynamic Sculpture build up with oil painting modules. The artworks are exhibited in the two main halls of the Biennale, the Yong-ji Lake and the Seong-san Art Hall of Changwon City. 

Official Opening, 22nd of September. Paolo De Grandis at left and Artistic Director Yoon Jin Sup at right along with other members of the Changwon Biennale commitee.

Changwon Sculpture Biennale is an international celebration of sculptures established by the opportunity presented by the unification of formerly separated cities of Changwon, Masan and Jinhae. It brings a very special art form: the sculptural arts Changwon is the hometown to sculptural history and heritage, home to great sculptors such as Moon Shin, Kim Chong-Yung, Park Chong-Bae, Park Suk-Won, and Kim Young-Won, making this event a meaningful occasion. The first step of the Biennale was to paid a tribute to Moon Shin’s sprit of art who is a remarkable contemporary sculptor in South Korea, and now the genre of Changwon Sculpture Biennale is spreading from sculpture to other media. The Biennale creates a new way and concept of sculpture. Also, the Biennale considers how to assimilate into the local communities through the prospect of glocalism, therefore the Biennale is fascinated for introducing emerging artists and communicating with local audiences through educational programs. 

Terzo Paradiso, 2016. Michelangelo Pistoletto

Terzo Paradiso, 2016. Michelangelo Pistoletto

“In 2003 Pistoletto wrote The Third Paradise manifesto and drew its symbol. The basic idea of the Third Paradise is the overcoming of the current worldwide existing conflict between the two polarities of nature and artifice. The Third Paradise is symbolically represented by a reconfiguration of the mathematical infinity sign. In the symbol of theThird Paradise three circles are drawn: the two opposite circles signify nature and artifice; the middle one is the conjunction of the two and represents the generative womb of a new humanity. 

In March 2004 the University of Turin granted Pistoletto an honorary degree in Political Science. On that occasion Pistoletto publicly announced that The Third Paradise would be the next phase of his work. 
From this date onwards the Third Paradise has been the main driving force behind Michelangelo Pistoletto's as well as Cittadellarte's work. A work developed through building a growing network of relationships and collaborations with many different partners: individuals, associations and institutions active not only in the artistic field, but at every level and sphere of the social life, turning it into a big collective and participatory work of art.” www.pistoletto.it

Dynamic Sculpture, 2016. Jaime Arango Correa

Dynamic Sculpture, 2016. Jaime Arango Correa

The Dynamic Sculpture of Arango is a "mute architecture", which unites the modular and structural element of a three dimensional construction to the poetry of sign and a chromatic component the Colombian artist loves to solve through the encounter of different levels and forms. 

The modules enclose two pictorial series, which suspended and composed geometrically  in two staggered towers restitute a mute architecture. The modules, worked with composite materials as plexiglass and natural oil paintings, have a life of their own as closed forms that give off a subtle perfume. The aromatic, visual and tactile elements compile the dynamic energy of the sculpture, and permit the viewer to interact with it. An architecture of silence that foresees listening. 
The informal artist relies on a profound practice and master technique of painting, graphics and ‘sculpture paintings’ made with overlapped recycled materials. 
In 2011 he founded, together to the Italian curator Bianca Laura Petretto, the International movement of the “Wonderers” inspired on intellectual nomadism which includes Italian artists and among all Latin-American artists from the Experimental Studio of Maestro Arango actually established in Bogotá, Colombia which started 20 years ago.