Ângela Ferreira
MAISON TROPICALE
10 June 21 November 2007
curated by Jürgen Bock
Fondaco Marcello (Grand Canal)
official opening reception:
8 June 2007 from 6 to 8 p.m.
www.iartes.pt/veneza2007
> Ângela Ferreira will present a new work especially developed for the Portuguese Pavilion at the Venice Biennial 2007. The exhibition is curated by Jürgen Bock.
Maison Tropicale consists of a large-scale installation, which includes sculptural and documentary elements alluding to colonial history and to contemporary colonial phenomena.
Ângela Ferreiras oeuvre can be situated conceptually between the failure of modernism in the so-called centres, and the conflicting impact of colonizers attempting to implement modernism across Africa. The critical proposition of her objects is not upfront, but simmers subtly below the surface of her aesthetically compelling sculptures, offering a space between the object and the political, a space for the viewer to occupy.
Born in the then Portuguese colony of Mozambique in 1958, Ângela Ferreira studied in apartheid South Africa and has lived in Portugal and South Africa since the early 1990s. This complexity constitutes the root of all her work. Her in between status inherent to the identity of many Portuguese drives her intense exploration of different universes in centres and peripheries, highlighting the importance of perspective.
The Portuguese Pavilion is located at the Fondaco Marcello on the banks of the Grand Canal, a two-minute walk from the Palazzo Grassi between the Accademia and Rialto bridges.
A bi-lingual publication will be launched at the opening of the Pavilion. The catalogue offers extensive documentation on Ângela Ferreiras Maison Tropicale and will contain essays by Jürgen Bock, Manthia Diawara, Andrew Renton and Gertrud Sandqvist.
Mali born film-maker and Professor at New York University Manthia Diawara is directing a documentary film around the project Maison Tropicale. The film is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture / Institute of the Arts and will be premiered in Spring 2008.
The Portuguese Pavilion is organised and financed by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture / Institute of the Arts.
Portuguese Pavilion
Fondaco Marcello
San Marco 3415 (Calle dei Garzoni), 30124 Venezia
Vaporetto 1 Sant Angelo; Vaporetto 82 San Samuele;
Traghetto from San Tomà to the pier next to Pavilion;
Direct water taxi landing at the terrace of the Pavilion.
For further information please contact the International Press Office of the Portuguese Pavilion: European Art Projects
Anne Maier
T. 49 30 30 38 18 37
F. 49 30 69 81 94 15
E: portuguese.pavilion@european-art-projects.eu