Udo Kittelmann to curate the Russian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale
The Commissioner of the Russian Pavilion, Stella Kesaeva, announced the appointment of the curator of the Pavilion for the 55th Venice Biennale. The curator of the Russian Pavilion will be Udo Kittelmann, Director of the Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (State Museums in Berlin).
Commenting the appointment, Stella Kesaeva said:
“It was decided in April 2012 that the artist Vadim Zakharov would represent Russia at the Venice Biennale in 2013. The idea of inviting Udo Kittelmann as curator followed from the choice of the artist. As a result, the Russian Pavilion will be curated by a citizen of another country for the first time in its history. Udo Kittelmann is one of the most renowned curators in the art world and his appointment is an important and conscious step, reflecting our principal objective, which is to bring Russian art out of isolation and secure for it the attention that it deserves at the highest international level. I am very happy that Udo Kittelmann shares our view and has accepted the project.”
Accepting the appointment as Curator of the Russian Pavilion, Udo Kittelmann said:
“I am very pleased to take on this responsibility and the tough challenge of curating the Russian Pavilion at the forthcoming Venice Biennale.
The fact that Russia will be represented by the artist Vadim Zakharov means much to me. I am greatly honoured that Vadim Zakharov proposed me as candidate for the curatorship and that the commissioner, Stella Kesaeva, supported the idea, enabling the continuation of my long cooperation with Vadim, which dates from the 1990s. I greatly admire the contribution, which Vadim Zakharov has made to contemporary art. His work has a continuity of development and is marked by a unique outlook and independence of artistic thought. His constant role as thinker and protagonist of the Moscow Conceptualist movement from the end of the 1970s remains a hallmark of his work right up to the present.
As a curator, it gives me joy to be able to present this outstanding artist to a broad public. It would be hard to find a better place for an international exhibition of Vadim’s work than the Russian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.”
The Venice Biennale in 2013 will be held from June 1 until November 24, with preview days on May 29, 30 and 31. Massimiliano Gioni has been appointed artistic director of the Biennale. The Russian Pavilion was built following a design by the architect Alexei Schusev. It is one of the oldest Biennale pavilions and stands on the main thoroughfare of the Giardini della Biennale.
Udo Kittelmann
Udo Kittelmann was born in 1958 in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Since fall 2008, he has been the Director of the Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (State Museums in Berlin). In this position he is responsible for the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Galley), Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) and the Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin (Museum for Contemporary Art), as well as the Berggruen Museum, the Sammlung Scharf-Gerstenberg (Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection) and the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche.
Udo Kittelmann worked as a freelance curator from 1987 to 1993, organizing more then 100 exhibitions of contemporary art during that time. From 1994 to 2001 he was the director of the Kölnischer Kunstverein (Cologne). In 2001, he was the commissioner of the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, where the Totes Haus ur project by Gregor Schneider won the Golden Lion award for best national pavilion. Between 2002 and 2008, Udo Kittelmann was the director of the MMK, Museum für Moderne Kunst (Modern Art Musem) in Frankfurt.
Udo Kittelmann is the author and editor of various publications and essays on art.
The official site of the Russian Pavilion is: www.ruspavilion.ru
Press contacts:
Anna Svergun a.svergun [at] gmail.com, T +79166094115
Daria Kuzneva dashakuzneva [at] mail.ru
