Archive: Issue No. 115, March 2007

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African Art at Venice in June

Two and a half months after the initial date promised for an announcement as to the winning curatorial team for an African exhibition at this year's event, the 52nd International Art Exhibition at Venice, La Biennale di Venezia office sent out the following announcement on February 14:

The panel of experts invited by Director Robert Storr has selected the exhibition Check List to represent African contemporary art in the Artiglierie space of the Arsenale. The jury consisted of Meskerem Assegued, Ekow Eshun, Lyle Ashton Harris, Kellie Jones and Bisi Silva. The winning project will be curated by Fernando Alvim and Simon Njam, and will be drawn from works in the Sindika Dokolo African Collection of Contemporary Art (Luanda, Angola).

� The 52nd International Art Exhibition (running from June 10th to November 21st 2007) will host in the core of its international section a special area dedicated to AFRICA. The main purpose of the project, which will be seen in spaces made available to it by the Biennale in the Arsenale Artiglierie, is to present an informed and distinctive perspective on current art from Africa and the African Diaspora. In making their selection, the jury not only praised the project's curatorial strengths and those of the Sindika Dokolo Collection overall, but sought to draw attention to the Sindika Dokolo initiative as a signal undertaking within the context of art patronage in Africa generally.

The Sindika Dokolo African Collection of Contemporary Art was created in Luanda (Angola) in 2004 by the Congolese businessman and art collector Sindika Dokolo, together with the Angolan artist Fernando Alvim.

The Collection's aim is to promote the knowledge of the contemporary art scene throughout the African continent. The Sindika Dokolo Collection is comprised of 500 works by 140 artists from 28 different nations. Every year about 100 works are purchased in order to update and improve its holdings.

Eyebrows have been raised about the appropriateness of allowing work from one private collection to be shown in what is essentially being regarded as a national pavilion. Also, work from a collection is not likely to be new work which has not been seen elsewhere - a drawback in Venice where the art world comes to see the latest offerings.

However, the jury is made up of highly regarded figures in the field of contemporary art, and given that the announcement has been made so late, it would probably have been extremely difficult for any other contenders to raise the necessary funding at such very short notice. Added to that, both Njami and Alvim are seasoned veterans of the biennale circuits, and one imagines that at the very least the work will be most presentable, get to Venice, be hung and lit well, and have a good catalogue to accompany it.

And it is a foot in the door for Africa, a continent with no pavilion to represent it. With more time next time around, the foundation provided by this exhibition can be built on.

52nd International Art Exhibition
La Biennale di Venezia

Venezia
Arsenale and Giardini of the Biennale

June 10th - November 21st 2007

Africa at the Biennale di Venezia: the Check List exhibition selected to represent African contemporary art.

For further information:
Press Office - Art and Architecture
ph. +39 041 5218716 - 5218846 - 5218733
fax +39 041 2411407
infoartivisive@labiennale.org


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