GREAT BRITIAN – BORROWED LIGHT, TRACEY EMIN

THE CURATORS SAY:

“Tracey’s work goes from strength to strength. She’s a storyteller with an extraordinary ability to scratch away the surfaces to what lies below. This is a great moment to see her work in the context of the Venice Biennale, where her work will be shown in an international context and at a distance from the YBA generation with which she came to prominence.”

Tracey Emin, Trust Me, 2000. Image: ubs.com

VoCA SAYS:

Ugh. We like Tracey Emin’s work, but this was a commercial gallery exhibition in the British pavilion. (Some have complained that commercial dealers’ power dominates the choice of UK artists showing at Venice) Where was the pathos, the grit, the madness that we expect from Emin? This was an oxymoronic exercise in well-practiced anger. Emin’s work depends on it being borne of raw emotion, and here she became a name brand.

Jay Jopling, Emin’s dealer, must have been pleased. But what about Emin herself?

Tracey Emin, Bath 6, 2005. Image: ucl.ac.uk

Next to Sophie Calle (see below), it seemed as if the post-feminist Brit had stopped trying. It was beautiful work, almost too beautiful. The power was gone. A shame.

FRANCE – TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, SOPHIE CALLE

THE CURATORS SAY:

“The installation consists of a series of video and photo-portraits. The starting point for this project was an episode from her personal life – a relationship broken up by email. Calle asked 107 women, whom she had chosen according to their line of work - some famous, some not - to interpret the letter in their professional capacity.”

VoCA SAYS:

Everyone VoCA spoke with loved the French pavilion. Can Sophie Calle do no wrong? The installation was a vast rumination on one piece – an email ending a relationship, received by Ms. Calle.

She then copied the letter to a diverse group of women – including Peaches, Jeanne Moreau and others – for their reactions.

Jeanne Moreau. Image: bbc.co.uk

The installation showed the letter itself, then each woman’s photograph with the letter and their written (or acted, or sung) reaction. In one room, a video was divided into sections, each one showing a woman’s reaction. The centre screen played each reaction, one after another. Peaches’ lonesome and slightly sarcastic ballad exemplified one possible response.

The Canadian artist Geoffrey Farmer - whom VoCA saw at Venice - was disappointed with the installation. He would have preferred it to be more spare, with just the letter and perhaps fewer reactions. It’s true that the curating was perhaps overemphatic, but we saw it as an echo of the idea, reverberating throughout the space.

THE ARSENALE – Think with the Senses – Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense. Director: Robert Storr

CURATORS SAY:

“The analytical dichotomies between the perceptive and the conceptual…obscure or negate the complex presence of all these factors in our experience of the world. All together, the correspondences between the works…will draw the attention of the public…towards the diversity of emotions…themes which characterizes works of art.”

VoCA SAYS:

What can one say? It was a very engaging group exhibition. Lots of new discoveries alongside some fantastic established names. The highlight was Francesco Vezzoli’s piece Democrazy which came as light relief at the end of the long show, and was thankfully much better than Caligula, which premiered at the last Venice Biennale. Democrazy stars Sharon Stone on one side, and French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy on the other as The Next President of the United States. Hilarious.

Francesco Vezzoli, Democrazy, 2007. Image: c. F. Vezzoli

VoCA recommends some artists from the curated Arsenale show that caught our eye:

Leon Ferrari
Felix Gmelin
Marine Huggonier
Oscar Munoz

Oscar Munoz, Proyecto de memorial, 2004-05. Image: sicardi.com

Ilya & Emilia Kabakov
Tatiana Trouve

Tatiana Trouve, Polder Leather, 2006. Image: michaelsteinbergfineart.com

Melik Ohanian
Margaret Salmon
Sophie Whettnall

Sophie Whettnall, Shadow Boxing, 2004. Image: arcoenglish.artmediacompany.com

OFF SITE: NORTHERN IRELAND - WILLIE DOHERTY

Willie Doherty, Non-Specific Threat, 2004. Image: replica21.com

THE CURATORS SAY:

“These video works are set against the backdrop of a changing Northern Ireland but they engage with a wider international discussion that reflects the apprehension and uncertainty we all live with.”

VoCA SAYS:

We LOVED these works, both Passage (2006) and Ghost Story (2007).

Passage showed two men in separate tightly framed head shots, presumably walking toward each other, still at quite a distance. They walk quickly on a dark street, alone at night. They each convey a suppressed anger, evidenced by the suppressed emotion in their faces, their taught bodies and determined gait. The viewer sits in anxious suspense. You just know something terrible will happen. But it never does…at least not as long as we were able to stay.

Leaving the video (not resolving the story) stayed with us all day long. An excellent show.

OFF SITE: THOMAS DEMAND FOR FONDAZIONE PRADA

THE CURATORS SAY:

Thomas Demand, Grotto, 2006. Image: regenprojects.com

“In Processo grottesco, the artist presents the source material he collected for the work for the first time. Postcards, books, tourist guides, photographs, catalogue illustrations, and other paraphernalia are exhibited alongside the 36-ton grey cardboard object, shaped and measured by computers and divided into 900,000 different layers, together with the final photograph of the sculpture. In this way, the visitor is invited to follow the different stages of Demand’s creative process, going backstage of the stunning photographic image known as Grotto.

The grotto is a subject encountered throughout the history of art and architecture. From the Sixteenth century onwards, the imitation of nature was the basis for the Tuscan and Rustic orders which derived their motifs from grottoes and caves, trees and boughs in an attempt to endow buildings with functionality and a spare, primitive adornment. At the same time, these architectural concerns are linked to the very naturalness of the materials, which are humble and simple.”

VoCA SAYS:

We had a nightmare trying to get to the opening party on a nearby island – well, us and about 20 other bejeweled would-be guests. We finally caught a water taxi and made in into the show at the last minute. It was well worth it, because although we had seen the photograph Grotto (2006) at Thomas Demand’s show at London’s Serpentine Gallery last year, for the Prada show they had imported the artist’s paper set.

Grotto of Lourdes, Rio Grande City, Texas. Image: rootsweb.com

The elaborate, delicate set for the work Grotto (2006), the photographs and accompanying research and paraphenalia including colour coded postcards of grottoes around the world, was displayed in one half of the exhibition. It was a fascinating insight into Demand’s rigorous working process.

The Grotto Azzura, Capri. Image: snowdomer.com