Venice in Venice. Glow and Reflection – Venice California Art from 1960 to the Present

54. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte – la Biennale di Venezia - Eventi collaterali

Dal 4 giugno al 31 luglio 2011

Venice in Venice. Glow and Reflection – Venice California Art from 1960 to the Present

Riguarda gli artisti di Venice, California, che hanno creato cose basandosi su una visione assolutamente unica—l’arte. Non si basano sulla vostra auto, la vostra casa, il vostro cielo, la vostra donna, le vostre lacrime, la vostra angoscia, il vostro tormento, o qualsiasi altro riferimento alla condizione umana (Billy Al Bengston).

Los Angeles in the 1960s was thought to be the city of the modern world. Drawing inspiration from numerous sources, ¾ the sunlight, the reflective surface of the ocean, car and surfboard cultures, and the influx of new technologies introduced by the local engineering and aerospace industries ¾ artists began experimenting with industrial materials in order to explore new possibilities for perception, light, and illusion. Their investigations were central to the developments of the still-nascent post-war Los Angeles art scene. Join us for a raucous conversation with artists Peter Alexander, Billy Al Bengston, Laddie John Dill and Ron Cooper, whose colorful insights often are on par with their vibrant work.

Foundation 20 21 in celebration of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene, is mounting Venice in Venice, an ambitious exhibition during the upcoming La Biennale di Venezia. Curated by Tim Nye and Jacqueline Miro, Venice in Venice has been selected by the Venice Biennale as one of its Collateral Events where it will transport a group of revolutionary artists from the 1960s in Venice, California to the city of Venice, Italy for the 54th international Venice Biennale. Artists include Peter Alexander, John Altoon, Charles Arnoldi, Billy Al Bengston, Larry Bell, Tony Berlant, Wallace Berman, Vija Celmins, Bruce Conner, Ron Cooper, Mary Corse, Laddie John Dill, Joe Goode, Robert Graham, George Herms, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John McCracken, Ed Moses, Kenneth Price, Ed Ruscha, and James Turrell.

These artists will travel significant metaphoric waters from their roots squatting in an abandoned amusement park—which housed many of their studios as they first began their phenomenological experiments in the mid 1960s—to the opulent Palazzo Contarini Dagli Scrigni on the Grand Canal.

As the Academia Bridge unites the two banks of the Canal Grande, a fleet of psychedelic gondolas commissioned by Tim Nye, Jacqueline Miro and Quiksilver to transform two dilapidated gondolas into functioning sculptures. Bengston, a former dirt track racer, chose to take a means of transport synonymous with “stillness” and create an homage to the blazingly fast Ducati motorcycle.Another aspect of this cultural exchange will include the installation of two quarter pipes in Campo San Polo, which will be used to create a piece of unique contemporary art by two of Venice, California’s most beloved Gods in skate culture; Steve and Alex Olson.

Swell Magazine, a new magazine published by the producers of Venice in Venice containing oral Histories by Tibby Rothman, essays by C.R. Stecyk, and all original art work by Jim Evans will be distributed.

Linking the two cities of Venice is an inevitable concern with water, a shared unique luminosity (the product of intense sunlight refracted by droplets of mist and fog and light). Sun and Moon and Tides. Either/or, in Goethe’s word: “Venice(s), like everything else which has a phenomenal existence, is subject to Time…” to Light and Space. And Fetish.

Once the event touches down in Venice, Italy, the art world will never be quite the same. As the drivers of Light and Space art embrace the edges of urban pop culture, surfers, skaters, and new technology buffs will gravitate to the heat of a single source of energy—the Biennale. On the evening of June 4 at Campo San Polo, the surrealism of Fellini and the noir of Robert Altman film scores will receive tribute with a concert featuring today’s most revered musicians interpreting Nino Rota and John Williams, a mash-up worthy of the happenings of the 1960’s.

Venice in Venice will be unified by a revolutionary revolutionary interactive program. Its goal is to not only offer experience which allows the user to actively view read and listen to content but to engage visitors and viewers to ignite their creative energies. A powerful arsenal of tools will be launched to excite the most reluctant of technophobes.

Venice in Venice is not a re-creation, but an homage—an event that only the art, politics, and technical progress of the last 50 years can bring to life at a single event.

The painting of the hulls of Venetian gondolas any color other than black is blasphemy. Wheels are forbidden to roll in her. On June 1st, 2011 the battle cry from a Venice far West of Italy will sound. The revolution begins:

Venice in Venice—Glow & Reflection: June 1st through July 31st, 2011. Round Table Discussion: June 2nd. Billy Al Bengston Gondola Project: June 1st through July 31st.

Pacific Standard Time is a collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together for six months beginning in October 2011 to tell the story of the birth of the Los Angeles art scene and how it became a major new force in the art world. Each institution will make its own contribution to this grand-scale story of artistic innovation and social change, told through a multitude of simultaneous exhibitions and programs. Exploring and celebrating the significance of the crucial post-World War II years through the tumultuous period of the 1960s and 70s, Pacific Standard Time encompasses developments from L.A. Pop to post-minimalism; from modernist architecture and design to multi-media installations; from the films of the African American L.A. Rebellion to the feminist activities of the Woman’s Building; from ceramics to Chicano performance art; and from Japanese American design to the pioneering work of artists’ collectives.