52nd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia
Lithuanian Pavilion
Artists: Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas Project: Villa Lituania Commissioner: Simon Rees
Venue (returning to): Ludoteca, Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, Castello 450, 30122 Venice
The Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius, is proud to announce the selection of Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas as artists representing Lithuania at the 52nd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia. The project Villa Lituania, principally funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, is being organized by the Contemporary Art Centre and lead by CAC curator Simon Rees.
Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas have established an international reputation for their socially inter-active and inter-disciplinary practice that engages with the fabric of everyday life, public social space, and even political space, focusing on issues relevant to Lithuania. Generally, their practice is comprised of collective activitiesworkshops, lectures, debates, television programs, Internet chat-rooms, and public protest actionsthat form around a specific social space and a topical issue. The art outcome is often the documentary recording, in a range of media, of the activity: or the collective production of an art work. They also collaborate with experts in different fields of cultural production such as architecture, design, and fashion to produce objects or products that cross disciplinary boundaries. Urbonass work has evolved hand-in-hand with new media as they experiment with forms of access that impacts upon public/audience reception of exhibition practices.
Recent international projects include: the Pro-test Lab Archive currently on show in Monuments of our Discontent a special-project for the Second Moscow Biennale; the Archive was first displayed in Fever Variations the Gwangju Biennale 2006. The archive developed from the Pro-test Lab project commissioned for the multi-venue touring exhibition Populism 2005. Their Ruta Remake project (200305) evolved in exhibitions staged in Stuttgart, Oslo, Vienna, Berlin, and Vilnius. And Urbonass multi-platform work Transaction was exhibited in Documenta XI and Manifesta 4 in 2002.
Villa Lituania in Rome is a building associated with the Lithuanian nation: it was the Embassy of the first independent Republic of Lithuania (19181940) to Italy. The Embassy operated in the Villa from 19331940 but became a possession of the USSR after the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. The keys to the property, which had been in safe keeping, were handed by Italian authorities to Soviet officials in step with the alliance of powers signaled by the MolotovRibbentrop Pact (1939). Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 199091 and the formation of the Republic of Lithuania the Villa has remained the property of Russia; operating as the Russian Consulate in Rome. It is considered the last occupied territory of Lithuania, and successive Lithuanian governments have lobbied internationally for its restitution.
Now two of the Lithuanias leading artists are taking up its cause. Their approachqua the anarchitects Acconci, Matta-Clark, and Smithsonbelongs to the symbolical field and will unfold in Venice, Vilnius, and Rome in the coming months…
Launching soon: www.villalituania.lt/
For more information contact:
Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius
Email: info@cac.lt
Tel: 370 5 212 1954 Fax: 370 5 262 3954
Artists website: www.nugu.lt
