Imago Mundi II

Lunch is served and finished at Fondazione Cini. Journalists, photographers, curators, artists… everyone disappears. It’s time to take a break, a walk, a nap, a shower – preparing for the evening’s opening party. I return to the exhibition venue, now quiet and abandoned, to listen to the artworks.

From Israel/One: “One”, by Raafat Hattab (as seen from frontside and backside).

From Syria Off Frames: “A Woman and Crow Under the Tree in Front of the Window”; a video by Nidal Hassan.

From Israel/One: “Minute Flower Arrangement”, Ella Amitay Sadovsky

From the Swedish collection: works by Ulrika Jansson, Makode Linde, Victor Marx, Ruben Wätte and Alvaro Campo (among others).

Imago Mundi I

art, recent work, time-out

The format of Imago Mundi is strict: each curator is contracted to collect a number of representative works from a defined geographic area – usually a nation, but sometimes a group of countries, a single city (Vienna) or a native territory such as the Kalahari. Each invited artist receives a framed canvas 10 x 12 centimeters, and is free to alter it by any chosen artistic technique; the result has to fit into the pre-designed display system, though. Each geographical collection is given a title by the curator. I remember some of them, holding an open or concealed statement: Syria Off Frames; Israel/One; North Korea, A Unique Country; The Andinian Gaze; Tibet: Made by Tibetans. The Swedish collection is presented under the title Archive of Visions and Actions – a very apt one.
Although the conditions of this project may well be questioned from several aspects, I find the body of artworks not only overwhelming by quantity but also surprisingly interesting. But a press review isn’t really the ideal instance for experiencing the art… I’ll have to return later.

Opening Day at Fondazione Cini

art, recent work, time-out

Sitting on the quay at Isola San Giorgio Maggiore, dipping my feet in the water, waiting for the press conference to begin. This is the opening day

for a permanent exhibition of more than 6000 artworks from all inhabited continents on the globe. It’s also a release event for the book presenting the Swedish part of the collection (in which I contribute). Look,

there’s the Swedish curator Paula von Seth. We – the artists – gather around her trying to get a clue, while the photographers are clustering in front of the man in the blue jacket. Photo session finished, he invites us into the Fondazione Cini to present this project of his: