The Parliament of Marmots

The ninth edition of Biennale Gherdëina, The Parliament of Marmots, curated by Lorenzo Giusti with Marta Papini as associate curator, will launch with an opening weekend from Friday, May 31 to Saturday, June 1, 2024 in Val Gardena, Italy, immersed in the breathtaking Dolomites landscape.

Set in a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Biennale Gherdëina 9 unfolds in various exhibition venues including the 17th-century Castel Gardena in Selva di Val Gardena, the Ortisei town center and, this year for the first time, the industrial area of Pontives, Laion. The pivotal themes explored by The Parliament of Marmots, are the wild as a creative dimension, multi-speciesism as a trajectory of becoming, and the mountain as a sewing  ground and narrative dimension.

The Parliament of Marmots includes works by Talar Aghbassian (1981), Atelier dell’Errore (2002), Alex Ayed (1989), Nassim Azarzar (1989), Ismaïl Bahri (1978), Yesmine Ben Khelil (1986), Ruth Beraha (1986), Chiara Bersani (1984), Alessandro Biggio (1974), Julius von Bismarck (1983), Nadim Choufi (1994), Elmas Deniz (1981), Esraa Elfeki (1989), Andro Eradze (1993), Marianne Fahmy (1992), Valentina Furian (1989), Daniele Genadry (1980), Eva Giolo (1991), Shuruq Harb (1980), Arnold Holzknecht (1960), Michael Höpfner (1973), Ingela Ihrman (1985), Nadia Kaabi-Linke (1978), Katia Kameli (1973), Laurent Le Deunff (1977), Linda Jasmin Mayer (1986), Femmy Otten (1981), Sara Ouhaddou (1986), Eva Papamargariti (1987), Diana Policarpo (1986), Janis Rafa (1984), Lin May Saeed (1973-2023), Helle Siljeholm (1981), Tobias Tavella (1990), Markus Vallazza (1936-2019) + Martino Gamper (1971), Karin Welponer (1941).

This year’s edition borrows its title from one of the most enchanting Ladin myths of the Dolomites: The Fanes Kingdom. Celebrating the cycle of life and the intimate relationship between all the living species, the legend recounts the conflicts that led to the fall of the kingdom following the breaking of the historic alliance with the marmots caused by a princess who was ashamed of her people’s pact with the animals.

Linked to the archetypal figures of archaic Mediterranean myths even more than to Nordic legends, the Ladin myths offer a cue to bridge research developed in different contexts of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, bringing together a multicultural assembly in the extraordinary setting of the Dolomites. Remnants of giant coral reefs that emerged from the sea 250 million years ago, the mountains of Val Gardena thus become from a barrier and a borderland into a point of encounter, contamination and gathering.

The artists who will meet in Val Gardena, in different forms, place the concrete experience of the forest, of walking in the mountains or deserts, of living matter, of the body, of connecting with different animal species, and of empathizing with the natural world at the center of their research.

Alongside side presentations in the various Biennale venues, The Parliament of Marmots—as part of the long-term programme Thinking Like a Mountain, developed by GAMeC, will present a tribute to the work of Lin May Saeed (1973–2023) and, in the new venue Pontives, a selection of works produced over the last years by artists Talar Aghbassian, Alex Ayed, Ismaïl Bahri, Yesmine Ben Khelil, Nadim Choufi, Elmas Deniz, Andro Eradze, Marianne Fahmy, Shuruq Harb, Katia Kameli and Janis Rafa.

A series of collaborative partnerships with some of the region's leading contemporary art institutions round out the program of Biennale Gherdëina 9.  Ar/Ge Kunst in Bozen-Bolzano will present Eva Giolo's new film work, shot in Val Gardena, as part of Biennale Gherdëina 9. The contemporary dance festival Tanz Bozen Bolzano Danza will present Helle Siljeholm's choreographic installation, developed on the rock walls of the Dolomite mountain Cir in Selva Val Gardena. Museion, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bolzano will share with Biennale Gherdëina the work of South Tyrolean artist Tobias Tavella. Muse and Biennale Gherdëina will develop a film program related to the themes and geographic area of investigation of The Parliament of Marmots introduced by researchers from the museum in Trento.

Press office, Biennale Gherdëina—Italy
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Press office Biennale Gherdëina—international
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Siobhan Scott, ss@nicolajeffs.com