Dora Garcia to represent Spain at the next edition of the Venice Biennale
The artist Dora García has been selected by Katya García-Antón, curator for the Spanish Pavilion, to represent Spain in the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale in 2011.Katya García-Antón, who was appointed in April 2010 curator of the Spanish Pavilion by AECID, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), has selected the artist Dora García to represent Spain at the next edition of the Venice Biennale, which will run from the 4th of June to the 27th of November 2011.
Carlos Alberdi, Director General of Cultural and Scientific Relations at the AECID, convened the Advisory Committee for Contemporary Art last April with the objective of selecting the curator for the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The committee, which was comprised of Carmen Giménez (Curator of 20th Century Art, Guggenheim Museum, New York), Estrella de Diego (Professor of Contemporary Art, Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Bartomeu Marí (Director of MACBA, Museu d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona) and José Lebrero (Director of the Picasso Museum, Málaga), decided unanimously to appoint Katya García-Antón as curator.
After several months of research, Katya García-Antón has chosen the artist Dora García to develop the project that will represent Spain at the Venice Biennale, one of the most prestigious events in the international arts calendar, which will be celebrating its 54th edition from the 4th of June to the 27th of November 2011.
In the words of the curator: “The Venice Biennale, and in particular the national pavilions in the Giardini, represent a very unique exhibition context. Given its geopolitical architecture, its history and present, as well as the waves of professional and non-professional consumerism which convene there, the Giardini (and, by extension, the Biennale) represent a complex scenario in which to present and receive works of art. Dora Garcia is an artist who is interested in analyzing the paradigms and conventions of art, and who has frequently challenged notions of power and the way in which it operates. Her work is also directed at demystifying the relationship between artist and audience, and using fiction to question the ethical and moral elements of this relationship. Each work allows the artist to experiment, interfere, distort and play with the visitor’s expectations, forcing each and every one to question the objective of the project, the role that s/he plays in it, and consequently reconsider the world of art and the rules of the game. These factors, and many others, point to why Dora Garcia is an artist who will know how to navigate the special context of the Biennale, combining in the work she will present her intellectual acuity with a characteristic dose of black humour.”
Katya García-Antón is the director of the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva, one of the most prestigious Swiss institutions dedicated to contemporary visual arts. Graduated in Art History at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, she has worked at important international institutions including: MNCARS, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; the Museum of Arte Moderna of São Paulo, Brasil; ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, and IKON, Birmingham, United Kingdom. She curated one of the sections of the 2nd Prague Biennale (Prague, 2005) as well as the Spanish representation at the 26th São Paulo Biennale (2004). She has organized and curated over 50 exhibitions featuring both artists who have played a pivotal role in the history of 20th century art—Tony Cragg, On Kawara, Yves Klein and Joan Jonas, among others—as well as more recent exponents—Francis Alys, Ernesto Neto, Jean-Luc Moulène, Fernando Sánchez Castillo, or Gillian Wearing. She has formed part of the editorial council of Third Text magazine, which is dedicated to art in developing nations, and she has been an art critic for BBC World Service, in addition to contributing to numerous catalogues and monographs.
Dora García studied Fine Arts at the University of Salamanca and at the Rijksakademie of Amsterdam. She has exhibited individually in some of the most important museums and art centres both in Spain and abroad: MACBA, Museu d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona (2003); MNCARS, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (2005): MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León (2005); SMAK, Gante, Belgium (2006); GfZK, Leipzig, Germany (2007); CGAC, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela (2009), Galeria Civica di Trento, Italy (2010); Kunsthalle Bern, Bern (2010) and Index Stockholm, Stockholm (2010). She has participated in prestigious international exhibitions including Manifesta 2 (Luxembourg, 1998), 8th Istanbul Biennial (Istanbul, 2003), Münster Sculpture Projects (Münster, Germany, 2007); 17th Biennale of Sydney (Sydney, 2007); Xe Biennale of Lyon (Lyon, France, 2009); 2nd Athens Biennale (Athens, 2009) and the São Paulo Biennale (São Paulo, 2010).
Contact Information:
For International Media Enquiries: Brunswick Arts; spanish-pavilion@brunswickgroup.com; +44 (0)207 936 1290.
For Local Media Enquiries: RMS La Asociación: Marta de la Torriente (marta@rms.com.es)
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