With a special weekend full of events and meetings, the 54th International Art Exhibition – ILLUMInazioni, directed by Bice Curiger and organized by the Biennale di Venezia chaired by Paolo Baratta, closes on Sunday 27th November.

 

Considering the visitors to date, we are certain to exceed 440,000 visitors with an increase of 18% (375,000 the total figure in 2009). During the 25 weeks that it was open, the 54th Exhibition ranked first for attendance among Italian exhibitions with a daily average of 2,850 visitors and record attendance in particular over the weekend of October 29th and 30th with 12,420 visitors. Young people and students represented 31% of total visitors. The students who visited the Exhibition in groups represented 19% of the public.

 

“There will be a temporary stop to what we have called the great wind machine – states Paolo Baratta – which will be ready to go back to work in two years to shake up the forest again, discovering hidden truths, bringing strength and light to new shoots, and putting the familiar branches and ancient trunks into a new perspective. The world expects us to represent new ideas, the thoughts and tragedies that artists know how to turn into sensitive material. Bice Curiger’s exhibition highlighted the irony and the restiveness of the present as it is experienced by artists with their permanent creative energy. Bice has done an excellent job which has been crowned with remarkable success!”

 

“We live in an era in which artists are interested in reciprocity – declares Bice Curiger – and I refer to the way they responded to the idea of the parapavilions, for example. I believe that the subtle interaction between the works and the artists was interesting, and this was demonstrated in the performances at the Giardini, when Karl Holmqvist engaged in a dialogue with Patti Smith, and Oscar Tuazon involved the public in his own parapavilion as if it were a stage, or with Franz West whose parapavilion played music that wafted through the Corderie. In fact, it was wonderful to see the atmosphere that was created in the spaces of the Arsenale and the Central Pavilion, so fertile for the exchange of energy and dialogue.” And she adds: “Curating the 54th Exhibition was an extraordinary experience: I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the staff of the Biennale for their professional work and for the kindness with which they supported my decisions: without them I could never have perfected my project for the exhibition”.

 

The 2011 Art Biennale included the participation of 89 countries (compared to 77 in 2009) and 37 collateral events sponsored by international bodies and institutions and organized in various venues throughout Venice. There were 4 nations participating for the first time (Andorra, Bangladesh, Haiti and Saudi Arabia), and 7 nations returning after a prolonged absence (India, Congo, Iraq, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Costa Rica, Cuba). There were 83 artists featured in the international exhibition, 62 of whom were participating for the first time, 32 young artists born after 1975 and 32 women artists.

 

Another great success was the Italian Pavilion organized by the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities with the General Direction for the Landscape, Fine Arts, Architecture and Contemporary Arts, and curated by Vittorio Sgarbi. The Venice Pavilion at the Giardini – promoted by the City of Venice – this year presented MARIVERTICALI by Fabrizio Plessi, in an exhibition curated by Renzo Dubbini; the commissioner was Madile Gambier.

Many institutional visits took place during the preview and over the six month duration of the exhibition, including Heads of State (7), Ministers (40) and Ambassadors (23). During the preview Argentina signed an agreement with La Biennale di Venezia for a new permanent pavilion.

• Biennale Sessions

In the wake of last year’s success, La Biennale extended the project aimed at Universities and Institutes of Higher Learning: 31 protocols of agreement were signed with 13 Italian and 18 foreign universities from the following countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, India, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United States. 1083 university students from all over the world included the visit in their educational curriculum and considered the Biennale as a place for study and research. As a total, 16 seminars were organized by the participating Universities, whereas the University of Applied Arts of Vienna and the University of Aalborg, Department of Architecture Design and Media Technology, organized two performances.

• Meetings on Art

Highly appreciated by the public was the cycle of conversations with artists, curators, critics, writers and art historians, an integral part of the ILLUMinations Exhibition: they took place from July through November at the Giardini and at the Arsenale, and attracted a large number of spectators, mostly young people and students.

“The Meetings were the place for producing thought based on the theme of ILLUMInations – explained Curiger – in which the exhibition opened to the intellectual exploration of previously uncharted areas”.

 

The programme will end today at 3:00pm at the Teatro alle Tese in the Arsenale: President Baratta, curator Curiger and the curators of the most recent editions (Francesco Bonami, Maria de Corral, Rosa Martinez, Robert Storr and Daniel Birnbaum) will ask themselves “What have we done?!”

 

 

42,397 (2,120 groups) is the total number of participants in the educational activities and in the guided tours, with a 57% increase over 2009. In particular, 26,494 (+53% compared to 2009) young people and students participated in the educational activities, including 1,324 groups. 15,904 (+64% over 2009) is the number of adults and visitors organized in groups who participated in the guided tours. Once again this year, the Biennale was able to provide 20 educational specialists who accompanied the visitors through the two exhibition venues.

For the first time, a Biennale Bus was organized to respond to the many requests from the schools that in increasing numbers reserve their visits to the Educational activities from the Veneto region, to assist the more distant schools with less access to railway service. The Biennale Bus – organized by the Biennale for the 54th Exhibitions as part of the Educational activities, which are also made possible by the support of the Chamber of Commerce of Venice – made 133 trips and transported 6,036 students. For the second year in a row, the Biennale Vap guaranteed free shuttle service from the station to the Giardini and vice-versa, totaling 155 trips and carrying 7,123 students.

• Catalogue

The catalogue was published by Marsilio Editori. The selection of publications grew again this year with the addition of iBiennale, the iPad application dedicated to the Biennale, an extensive and interactive catalogue of the Exhibition created in partnership with Marsilio Editori and Log607. The application, which may also be used with the iPhone and iPod touch, has been downloaded so far by over 35,000 users, 45 % in Italy and 55% abroad, from 80 different countries, with the following the top ten: Italy, United States, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, France, UK, Belgium, Austria, Spain.

iBiennale is available on the App Store.

• Web

The Biennale corporate website (www.labiennale.org) was seen over the duration of the exhibition by 1.174.509 visitors, whereas La Biennale Channel, founded to stimulate creativity and foster interest in the contemporary arts in a younger audience, over the same period totaled 65,160 visitors. The Biennale Facebook page was extraordinarily successful, counting 59,600 fans on November 25th. On the same day, the followers on Twitter numbered 42,300.

• Media

A total of 4,554 journalists visited the exhibition, including 3,012 from the foreign press and 1,542 from the Italian press (compared to 3,774 in 2009, of which 2,626 were from the international press and 1,148 from the Italian press) with a 20% increase. The press coverage was extensive, totalizing to date 3,385 articles in print and on the major websites compared to 3,155 in the past editions (an increase of 7%) The television stations accredited during the exhibition totaled 369, including 277 foreign stations and 92 Italian. The 54th Exhibition was also covered by over 70 reports on the national television news and by the most important news and events programs on foreign television stations including: Arte TV, Euronews, France 2, France 3, France 24, ORF, ZDF, DEUTSCHE WELLE, TSR, SF, BBC, and CNN.

 

The 54th International Art Exhibition was also made possible by the support of Swatch, the event partner, Enel, Foscarini, Vela-Hello Venezia, Micromegas Comunicazione, Consorzio Venezia Nuova, illycaffè, Egi – Gruppo Poste Italiane, Golden Goose Deluxe Brand, Adecco, Moroso, Volume, Bellussi, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, Charta. We would also like to thank Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Geomag.

 

We would like to thank Ultrafragola Channels for producing the videos of all the events that distinguished the 54th Exhibition (Preview and Meetings on Art) which may be viewed on the websites www.labiennale.org and www.labiennalechannel.org

 

La Biennale would like to thank everyone who worked on the Exhibition, the sponsors and all those who in their various capacities contributed to its realization and those who made it possible to maintain the high quality of the event, first and foremost the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities.