50th Biennale di Venezia
15th June - 2nd November 2003
Awarded the Golden Lion for Career Achievement at the 50th Venice
Biennale, Michelangelo Pistoletto has been invited to present the
Love Difference project in the Utopia Station section curated
by Molly Nesbit, Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Rirkrit Tiravanija.
Pistoletto opens the Love Difference Office in the Tese
delle Vergini space. The Office consisted of a large mirroring table with
the shape of the Mediterranean basin, surrounded by seats from the various
countries facing the sea. For five months the table – a mirror of
differences, surrounded by the seats symbolizing the Love Difference network
– becomes a spontaneous meeting point for exchanging ideas and experiences,
and an information desk for the movement.
The Office has organized a wide range of activities, including workshops,
meetings, concerts, debates and performances.
The Love Difference words workshop has involved
international artists from the Manydee platform, who are developing their
projects in various areas of the Mediterranean. These projects operate within
the social fabric and seek to forge relationships between the various shores
of the Mediterranean. Notes taken during this workshop has then been published
in the issue 6/2003 of "Illywords", the magazine published by
Illycaffè, distributed in September in the FestivalLetteratura
of Mantua.
The Love Difference Boat has been launched on July 26th,
to start a a journey from Venice to Zara, the first stage of its World
Tour Mediterraneo. In the same afternoon a party, with music
by Mariposa, featuring typical Mediterranean sounds and tastes.
50th Biennale - Meetings around the
table
Important steps in the evolution of the Love Difference project the events
"Art and Alternative Politics" and "Cultural
Activators and InterMediterranean Collaboration".
Art and Alternative Politics
The event of September 13th involves artists and curators who are working
on projects in which an artistic approach and methods are applied to politics.
Moderated by Dagmar Reichert, the day opens with a discussion of the points
that the projects have in common, and strategies for engaging with politics
through art. The speakers were:
Tal Adler (artist, Tel Aviv), Transnational Republic (international artists’
collective), Chiara Bertola (curator, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice),
Frederikke Hansen (curator, Shedhalle, Zürich), Michelangelo Pistoletto
(artist, Italy), Georgina Portelli, (psychologist, UK), Pierre Portelli
(artist, Malta) and Margit Rosen (curator, ZKM, Karlsruhe).
The discussion results in the drawing up of a draft document-manifesto,
the main points of which have been presented to the general public in an
afternoon session. The representatives of the three artistic projects –
Love Difference, Transnational Republic and Pettek – have stressed
the need for art to develop systems of thought and action parallel and alternative
to institutional political systems. Art cannot limit itself to reflecting
upon and stimulating reflection about what happens in the world, but must
act directly on the social fabric and the complex web of international relations.
However, the political action of art should not enter the specific field
of parliamentary disputes but, operating from outside, should indicate another
approach to citizenship, representation and participation in decisions regarding
public affairs.
If all this is to function, one necessary condition is the accessibility
of art to everyone – and not only to small elites – and the
active involvement of the public in projects.
A common manifesto for the alternative political projects should be based
on an ethics of freedom and a sense of responsibility – total freedom
of artistic expression and its responsibility in managing the relationship
with the socalled user, which does not come to an end when the latter comes
into contact with the work but brings about genuine changes in
thinking and behaviour.
Cultural Activators and InterMediterranean Collaboration
A kind of art that assumes social responsibility and does not limit itself
to producing furniture for museums also requires the existence
of a culture capable of sustaining and promoting it. This issue has been
discussed in the second event, held on September 14th.
The purpose of this meeting is to present concrete initiatives for the establishment
of a network of Mediterranean collaboration.
The typically horizontal nature of communication in a network structure
is, in fact, the only way to tackle the hierarchies and disparities that
divide the European Mediterranean countries from the North African
and Middle Eastern ones, both from a political and from an economic and
cultural one.
This is one of the issues discussed in his paper by Franco Farinelli, Professor
of Human Geography at the University of Bologna.
download the
paper by Franco Farinelli in PDF format
Michelangelo Pistoletto and Dagmar Reichert present a general outline of
Cittadellarte and Love Difference, receiving comments and criticism from
the other participants: Pierre Abi Saab (journalist and publisher, Beirut),
Enver Hadziomerspahic (Director of the Ars Aevi Museum, Sarajevo), Molly
Nesbit (curator of Utopia Station, Professor of Art, Columbia University),
Zeina Maasri (artist and graphic designer, Beirut), Federica Thiene (artist,
artway of thinking collective, Venice), Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti
(architects, Stateless Nation and Multiplicity, Palestine/Italy), Immanuel
Wallerstein (director of the Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies,
Historical Systems, and Civilization).
The proposal is to create a network of cultural activators/mediators for
the Mediterranean, developing the traditional idea of a school for curators.
The training course should be organized as a nomadic laboratory which, basing
itself on existent institutions and organizations, gives a group of people
already engaged in the field of social art or intercultural mediation the
possibility of working in different Mediterranean cities for a few weeks
each year. They would organize events or meetings in close collaboration
with local bodies. Social art initiatives are much more problematic than
traditional international exhibitions or art biennials, but are more readily
acceptable to local cultures because they are not necessarily invasive with
respect to their customs and culture. The misunderstandings and rejection
that often result could be overcome through a greater understanding of the
culture of the host country, which can be achieved through contact with
recognized organizations. In this way not only can the participants gain
a clearer idea of how to set about establishing intercultural dialogue and
tackling the rifts between the Mediterranean countries, but it also creates
a small core of people interested in the project and with ties with communities
and organizations in the Mediterranean countries.
:: Dafnà Moscati has collected footage (including
23 interviews with people from the countries of the Mediterranean) from
the meetings held between September and October.
:: On October 26th Chiara Bertola and Michelangelo Pistoletto
present the programme of active collaboration between Love Difference and
the Venice-based Fondazione Querini Stampalia at Tipping Point,
organized by the Art Historical Contemporary Archive of the Venice Biennale
(ASAC).
:: The activities of Love Difference at the Venice Biennale
conclude on November 1st with the experimental music of Curva Chiusa, Chris
Blazen and Alex Mendizabal.
www.labiennale.org
