Opening Week for the 54th Venice Biennale: Commercial Break
Garage Projects is presenting the mobile installation Commercial Break from the 1st to the 5th of June 2011, as part of the opening week of the 54th Venice Biennale.
On a giant mobile video screen, which will sail through the center of Venice, over eighty artists engage with the relationship between advertising and culture. The short digital works by globally recognized and emerging artists from around the world will bring the form and language of advertising to Venice. The project is curated by Neville Wakefield and powered by POST magazine.
Since the early days of Pop–think Lichtenstein, Ruscha and Warhol–art has drawn direct influence from the language of advertising in the creation of hybrid collisions of high and low cultural forms. Nowhere are these collisions more evident than in the city of Venice, host to one of the most well-established and oldest Biennales in the world. Steeped in history and tourism, it is a city of contradictions, a place where every two years art and the traditions of the past play host to the provocations of the present. Venice is a city of commerce without commercials–a place that advertises only itself.
Commercial Break is both an intervention with the architecture of the city and an iPad application created by POST, the world’s first magazine created specifically for the iPad. The special art issue will allow readers to explore individual artists and films for the 5 months of the Biennale as well as on location in Venice.
Post
Founded by Alexander Dellal, Remi Paringaux and Xerxes Cook, POST is an only child, born of the iPad. With no print sibling to imitate or be intimidated by, POST looks beyond the traditional rules of how and what magazines ‘should’ be, in favor of speculating upon what magazines could be. Liberated from the imposing heritage of paper culture, POST exists in an entirely virtual realm, yet is intimately connected to material through the medium of touch. Inherently interactive, POST presents a truly multimedia, multi-sensory journey from the first frame to the last, where even the advertisements are immersive, tactile experiences.
During the five months of the Venice Biennale, POST presents a special edition of the application dedicated exclusively to Commercial Break, available to download for free from iTunes. Titled POST Pavilion, the app includes information about the artists and their works, the curator’s statement, sponsor’s message and bespoke advertisement.
Commercial Break Curator
Neville Wakefield is a writer and commentator on contemporary art, culture and photography. Author of ‘Postmodernism: the Twilight of the Real’ (1990), Wakefield has contributed to numerous magazines: Artforum, Art + Auction, Art in America, I-D, Interview, The New York Sunday Times, American, British and Italian Vogue, High Times, ACNE Paper and the Journal and many others. As well as contributing to monographs on many significant artists including Matthew Barney, Dan Colen, Vija Celmins, Daido Moriyama, Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha and Rachel Whiteread, Wakefield co-edited the highly influential ‘Fashion: Photography of the Nineties’ (1996), was creative director of Tar Magazine and continues to work as creative director for Adam Kimmel Projects and creative consultant for Calvin Klein.
In 2005 he co-founded ‘Destricted,’ an ongoing series of pornographic films by artists such as Marina Abramovic, Larry Clark, Gaspar Noe which shook critics at Edinburgh, Lorcarno, Sundance and Cannes. Since then he has also served as Senior Curatorial Advisor for PS1 MoMA and Curator of Frieze Projects at the Frieze Art Fair. Recent shows include Greater New York (PS1 2010), ‘Matthew Barney: Prayer Sheet with Wound and Nail’ (Schaulager 2010) and the upcoming ‘Jack Smith: Thanks for Explaining Me,’ Barbara Gladstone Gallery opening May 6th 2011.
Content consultants: Defne Ayas and Davide Quadrio (Arthub Asia) and Shwetal Patel
Participating artists include:
Aakash Nihalani; Aaron Young; ABC Group; Adam McEwen; Adel Abdessemed; AES + F; Agathe Snow; Agnieska Kurant; Aida Ruilova; Ahmet Ogut; Aleksandra Mir; Alex Hubbard; Andrea Chung; Annika Larsson; Anton Ginzburg; Ari Marcopoulos; Assume Vivid Astro Focus; Bandana Tewari; Baptiste Coelho; Barbara Kruger; Bharat Sikka; Blue Noses Group; Bose Krishnamacahri; Brendan Fowler; Bruce High Quality Foundation; Cevdet Erek; Christian Jankowski; Collier Schorr; Cyprien Gaillard; Dan Colen and Nate Lowman; Daniel Keller; Daniel Newman; Dima Gutov; Diyva Thakur; Dominic Nurre; Dmitry Bulnygin; Dzine; Electroboutique; Eloise Fornieles; Erik Van Lieshout; Erika Verzutti; Francesco Vezzoli; Gardar Eide Einarsson; Gelitin; Gillian Wearing; Hank Willis Thomas; Hanna Liden; Helmut Lang; Heman Chong; Hu Jieming; Huang Kui; Ilya Korobkov; Janaina Tschape; JenDeNike; Jennifer Wen Ma; JD Walsh; Jeppe Hein; Jesper Just; Jitish Kallat; Johan Grimonprez; John Pilson; Jonathan Horowitz; Josephine Meckseper; Juliao Sarmento; Kaari Upson; Karen Kilimnik; Kon Trubkovich; Kris Martin; Lais Myrrha; LaToya Frazier; Linder Sterling; Liz Magic Laser; Lu Yang; Marcel Oldenbach; Marco Brambilla; Marcos Chaves; Maria Petschnig; Marilyn Minter; Martin Murphy; Martynka Wawrzyniak; Matthew Day Jackson; Mathias Faldbaken; Maurizio Cattelan; Melodie Mousset; Meredith Danluck; Michael Sailstorfer; Mika Rottenberg; Mike Bouchet; Miltos Manetas; Monica Narula; Munir Kabani; Narendra Yadav; Natalie Czech; Nicolas Provost; Norma Jeane; Olaf Breuning; Olympia Scarry; Paul Pfeiffer; Paolo Canevari; Pavel Buchler; Peter Coffin; Piero Golia; Pinar Yolacan; Prasad Raghavan; Rashaad Newsome; Rasmus Nielson; Raymond Pettibon; Richard Phillips; Richard Prince; Rikrit Tiravanjila; Riyas Komu; Rob Pruitt; Rodrigo Matheus; Ruangrupa; Ruben Bellinkx; Ryan Gander; Ryan Trecartin; Samar Jodha; Sara Ramo; Sarah Morris; Scott King; Sergey Bratkov; Shwetal Patel; Slater Bradley; Spandan Banerjee; Sreyas Karie; Stefan Bruggemann; Sudarshan Shetty; Terence Koh; The Propeller Group; Thiago Rocha Pitta; Tintin Wulia; Tom Sachs; Tony Oursler; Uri Aran; V Sunil; Valeska Soares; Vanessa Beecroft; Vivek Vilasani; Wael Shawky; Wilfredo Prieto; Xaviera Simmons; Xu Tan; Yael Bartana and Yoshua Okon; Zhou Xiaohu.
