The excitement never stops

by Leonhard Emmerling

The Italian fashion magazine Vogue has published a special issue dedicated exclusively to the Biennale and the events around it. You could chose between a cover that shows Cindy Sherman, and one with Richard Prince. I choose grumpy Richard Prince.

Inside you find portraits of artists, interviews, images etc., but most importantly images of almost all participating artists in their studios. And here we go: Francis Upritchard sitting amongst her sculptures,

Image copyright Vogue
and Judy Millar standing above White’s Beach in her studio at Anawhata

Image copyright Vogue
One day we all will be famous!

The city slowly fills up with visitors and new members of our team. Jenny Harper, director of Christchurch art gallery and commissioner of this year’s New Zealand participation in Venice, arrived from Paris and was immediately thrown into negotiations and discussions, which she took up with great professionalism, a never ending patience and her usual sense of humour.

Katrina Smit from CNZ has arrived, and finally there is Tanea Heke prepared to be photographed.

Julia Holderness, who will be – with Simon Glaister – the first attendant at the venues, is looking forward to a great summer time. And to our all surprise, Jenny and Errol Clark paid a short visit, the patrons from Wellington, who had hosted with such great generosity a function at their home in Wellington earlier this year to support the projects.

The day ended with food and drinks at Jenny Harper’s and Carla van Zon’s apartment near Accademia. There are reasons not to put up all the pictures of that night, but only one to honour Simone Birac, who works with Diego Carpentiero as our Italian partners. Simone takes care of all the issues arising – buying buckets of paint, getting the key for the church, negotiating with the church officials, organising guards for the venue etc. And she is doing this with a beautiful and seemingly limitless kindness. Thank you, Simone.

'Save Yourself' - installation progress & work in development

by Heather Galbraith

 

Francis arrived in Venice on 21 May with her sister and assistant Hannah Upritchard, Martino Gamper and Harry Thaler to begin the installation. The works arrived early on the morning of the 22 May, and were unpacked from their crates. The large tables that Francis had designed with Martino, which were fabricated in Proveis Northern Italy, were shipped to the venue along with the London consignment of figures, lamps and tools. The tables were assembled in a day - this was the first time Francis has seen them completed and was really pleased with how they fitted the space. Heather arrived late on the 23 May when the tables were in situ and the figures had begun to be placed.

As the works arrival was a little less dramatic in scale (as you can see in the great images Judy and Leonhard have provided), we thought we would instead post some images of how the works and furniture have developed. Formal installation views will be taken at the very beginning of the week of the 31 May and we will post these as soon as possible. In the meantime, we hope these behind the scenes shots will be of interest.

Francis makes her work in her studio in Hackney, London.

 

Here you can see the work Rested (without beard) and then the same work Rested (without paint).

 

 

In these images of Sniffer (above) - you can see he has a wire base, with tin foil around it to form volume, which is then clad in a professional modelling compound called Supersculpy, and baked. Any bits that need to be filled or fixed are done so using Milliput - which hardens like a rock. After this the figures get painted - Kremer pigments are mixed with Lasceaux mediums to make a paste, and then are applied with a wet brush and a dry brush. 

 

To try out different layouts of figures, Francis mocked up the table surface sizes in her studio. The figures sit on temporary bases, before they get attached to the exhibition furniture. 

 

 

Francis has customised the exhibition space: "I really didn't want to use heavy plinths in the exhibition space. There is a table in each of the three spaces, extending out from the base of a large antique mirror. We designed the long table based on a table I had at home which I cut down for Japanese style dining. The tables were designed in collaboration with Martino Gamper and Jochem Faudet did the CAD drawings. They have been made so beautifully, these huge pieces of furniture still feel delicate because they have been crafted so well."

 

This is a layout model made in the studio in London to check table sizes in relation to the rooms of the Fondazione Claudio Buziol. A fairly rustic version of an elegant space. 

These lamp shades are pre-firing. These were then glazed and fired at Maze Hill Pottery. Because we are not able to hang anything on the walls or from the ceiling Francis decided to make some lamps to illuminate some of the works. 

 

 

'Psychic Pushing', with light on and light off. Jochen Holz of Stratford blew the glass shade with Francis. It looks a little bit like salami. 

 

 

The 'Save Yourself' books have arrived from Graphicom in Verona - a great printer. They were designed by Kalee Jackson who is the designer at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, who are co-publishing the book. It was press passed by James Goggin, who designed all of the NZ at Venice 2009 printed matter and the 2009 section of the NZ at Venice website. James has previously designed 'Doomed, Doomed All Doomed' and 'Human Problems' for Francis and has a great design company Practise. The book will be available from the official Biennale bookshops in the Giardini and Arsenale, from the venue and soon from the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth - but please be patient as they are coming back to New Zealand by sea.

 

This new reception desk - also designed by Martino and Francis - is great and will profile Francis' books, including the two new titles 'Every Colour By Itself' and 'Bart Wells Institute' which she produced with Luke Gottelier and Abake. Here is the website where you can find out more about these two titles.

 

The offices of the Fondazione Claudio Buziol are just behind the desk. We have been so warmly welcomed by Simona Casarotto, Renzo diRenzo, Anna Kristina Skaar, Federica Pezzato and Andrea Lissoni. The Fondazione Claudio Buziol is a hive of activity as they are also hosting Arto Lindsay, who is making an amazing project for the Biennale - Multinatural (blackout), which will take the form of a procession Friday June 5, at 6 pm.

 

 

This shot was taken at the end of day, shutters closed, work under the light. Look again after the 2 June for installation shots of 'Save Yourself' by Andy Stagg. 

 

 

Installation has taken place during a really hot week in Venice, so lunch picnics in the Palazzo Mangilli-Valmarana garden have been very restorative. Here Harry Thaler and Hannah Upritchard take a well earned break. 

Hannah unpacking one of the lamp shades. 

 

Francis and Hannah looking at the figure placement on the long table. 

 

On 27 June we were able to take a quick break from the heat of Venice and travelled about an hour and a half to a very reasonable B&B with amazing food prepared by great hosts. It was called Al Possetto - Cucina e Alloggio, in Molvena.

Our host Florry cooked us dinner even though the restaurant was closed, hand made pasta with white asparagus, and check out this breakfast! Florry was so excited to hear we were from New Zealand, and said one of the best holidays of his life was in the Coromandel, and he has a dream to move to New Zealand for his retirement. He was such a warm and kind man and an excellent chef - we said he would be very warmly welcome and wouldn't need to wait until he retired!

 

 

We went for a walk when we arrived and that morning the area had been hit by a huge hail storm that had decimated crops; vines, cherries, corn, and domestic vegetable gardens. There were residual piles of hail stones all over the place. It looked like it had been snowing. Check out the cabbages - those under cover survived, those not under cover are now coleslaw / kraut salad. It is a serious problem for the area.

 

 

Francis and I working, just before heading back to Venice to complete the installation. 

Posters, events and Titian

by Leonhard Emmerling

Walking from the Arsenale to Chiesa Maddalena (which is almost on the opposite, the Eastern end of the city) you pass by a church called San Salvador, the Church of the Saviour. It was early and the doors were open. So I walked inside without having any idea what to expect. And then there was this incredible Transfiguration by Titian – an absolutely mind-blowing piece, exaggerated, wild.

Unless you are really a specialist in Titian, it seems you can never be sure what you get from him.

Not far away the next epiphany was waiting for me: Carla van Zon, Manager International of the CNZ team. It is fantastic to have her here on the ground: welcome, Carla!

Surprisingly there is not much advertising for the Biennale in the city, probably for the same reasons why junk food restaurants like McDonald’s or Burger King are almost invisible: to keep the look of the streets intact. Only on some special spots you can find posters. And their number is increasing.
The general design of the poster for the main exhibition in the Arsenale is particularly dry: Some little coloured forms or the title of the exhibition in many languages and alphabets (no German, though).
 
Some designs seem to follow that strategy:

Others not: Yoko Ono’s one is not very subtle, the Thailand one is funny but sadly invites people to make the wrong assumptions.

The Singapore pavilion, which is in the same building as the Icelandic pavilion, next to Francis Upritchard’s venue, tries to catch the eyes with even two different advertisements.
 
But the biggest hit is certainly the advertisement for the Ukrainian pavilion on the façade of the Gallery Accademia. It looks like Wladimir Klitschko (is he still world boxing champion?) has expanded his field of expertise.

It became finally clear, what the mystic construction was that we had seen a couple of days ago: an artwork by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye.
His exhibition opened tonight at the Peggy Guggenheim collection.
 
In the shop window of the collection they sell any kind of merchandise you can think of, from colour books to toilet paper.

It was an enormous pleasure to meet at the Guggenheim Winsome Wild. She had worked for Gary Langsford in Auckland and has now an internship at the collection. We certainly will see her at our openings.

During the opening week of the Biennale, other institutions will take advantage of the enormous amount of art lovers, artists, curators, writers and critics coming to Venice for this event from all over the world. One institution is the Vedova foundation at the Zattere, in the south of the city, opposite to island of Guidecca and the church Il Redentore.
Emilio Vedova (1919 – 2006) was a leading figure of Italian non-figurative painting after the Second World War, a fantastic painter and a very articulated artist, who was never shy to express his political opinions.

It will be an exciting opportunity to become familiar with his work, which is – compared to the works of his American contemporaries – not known enough.
The official opening of the Vedova Foundation is scheduled for June 4. The interior of the huge building on the canal is designed by Renzo Piano.

Another huge event will be the opening of the collection of French billionaire François Pinault at he Punta della Dogana, next to Santa Maria della Salute, on June 6.

Similar to the building of the Vedova foundation, the exterior of the historic building of the Dogana will remain unaltered, while the interior was modified by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Monsieur Pinault has owned the Palazzo Grassi at the Grand Canal since 2006, where he exhibits his collection.

Mountaineering in Venice

by Leonhard Emmerling

 

Simon Glaister has a kind of multiple personality. He is an engineer by trade, an artist, a biker, surfer, skater, rock climber and mountaineer. Today, the mountaineer was on duty, while the other Glaisters had a day off. To hang wires from the rim above the capitals of the half-columns it was necessary to climb up to that pretty small ledge.

 

It gave us, who stayed on the ground, the opportunity to muse about the famous sotto in sù (seen from below) technique of baroque painting, any visitor can perfectly study at the frescoes of Giambattista Tiepolo in the Ca’ Rezzonico in Venice.

On the Strada Nova we met Heather Galbraith, co-commissioner of New Zealand’s Venice project and curator of the exhibition Save Yourself by Francis Upritchard. They were in the company of Francis’s sister Hannah, and of Tobias Berger.

 

Tobias, the former director of Artspace Auckland, curates the Hong Kong pavilion in Venice, one of the many collateral events of the Biennale.

It is great to have Heather here in Venice. Carla van Zon and Tanea Heke from the International Team have also arrived back to support the teams. Tanea came to the church to check if everything is alright. Now it will take only a couple of days and the installation will be finished, and the series of festivities will commence.

Relaxing with a Spritz Aperol, I had a wee chat with the director of the Venice Biennale, Daniel Birnbaum who looked pretty relaxed, considering that he had to put together the big exhibition Making Worlds in the Arsenale. All the best of luck for him on the last meters.

Imagine Yoko Ono, books & wind

by Leonhard Emmerling

Today the books on Judy Millar arrived. Sent by German publishing house Kerber right in time, as promised, the 300 copies of this beautifully designed, full colour book were waiting in a truck to be unloaded. In the midst of the turmoil of roaring trucks and busy workers, the Judy Millar team packed the books in boxes.

 

Other teams had to face more challenging tasks. Simon Glaister and I took the books back to Chiesa Maddalena on a hired boat – a nice opportunity to check out one more time the canals of Venice, to have a sneak preview at the Giardini and to greet the famous mercenary Colleoni (statue by Andrea del Verrocchio, 1479-1488) who is still riding towards his perennial glory.

 

The rest of the day saw us taking care of some details and finishing some work that hadn’t been done in the last days. Heavy gusts up to 30 knots made it impossible to hang the banners outside of the church, as originally planned.

 

The city slowly fills up with artists. Judy Millar crossed Yoko Ono’s path the other night on Saint Mark’s square. Yoko Ono and John Baldessari will receive the Golden Lion Life Time Achievement in a ceremony on June 6^th. Yoko Ono is, as the director of this year’s Biennale, Daniel Birnbaum states, a "pioneer in performance and conceptual art. She is one of the most influential artists of our time. Long before becoming an icon in popular culture and in peace activism, she developed artistic strategies that have left a lasting mark both in her native Japan and in the West."

 

Californian Baldessari, 78, is "one of today's most important visual artists (who) above all developed a visual language entirely his own. Since the 1960s, he has worked in many disciplines and has produced an outstanding body of work that has inspired several generations of artists."

Blog post by Leonhard Emmerling, curator of Judy Millar's Giraffe-Bottle-Gun

Ups and Downs in Venice

by Leonhard Emmerling, curator of Judy Millar's Giraffe-Bottle-Gun

Venice has much more to offer than bridges, canals, gondoliere and the other tourist stuff we openly admit to enjoy.

You pass by a church and think it might be a good idea to spend some time in the chilly space inside, and you come across the most unbelievable works of art. In San Polo Giandomenico Tiepolo, the son of the more famous Giambattista, painted the Stations of the Cross as a young man, barely 20 years old. The cloister also contains a beautiful image of the ascending Christ and of angels hovering in the sky.

 

And just next to the door to the cloister you find one more beautiful and astounding Last Supper by Tintoretto. So it is not only the nice cold climate in the church, but also this beautiful discoveries that Venice offers all the time, which makes you go back to work quite uplifted and elevated.

Other people may be less uplifted these days. Rumour had it yesterday, that a boat had sunk close to the Arsenale, and a quick read in today’s newspaper confirmed this rumour. A boat, which carried a work by US American artist Mike Bouchet sank for unknown reasons just before it arrived at its final destination. The work was a house, modelled after middleclass houses one can find in American suburbs. It is quite a coincidence that the title of the work was “Watershed” and that it was intended to refer to the real estate hype that stood at the beginning of the global financial crisis that currently floods the entire world. We wish to convey our sincere empathy to the artist.

Back from Chiesa Maddalena on the Canal Grande, we saw this mysterious construction waiting on a boat to be lifted into the Peggy Guggenheim collection. It looked like an over-size reliquary. We have no clue what it could be – one more reason to visit the Peggy Guggenheim collection to find out.

 

Getting There

by Leonhard Emmerling, curator of Judy Millar's Giraffe-Bottle-Gun

The Judy Millar team comes close to the final stages of the installation. A lot of details need to be taken care of, but it feels like being half-way through.

Support has arrived from Berlin: Judy Millar’s fellow artist, Katharina Grosse and her brother Hans flew in to help stretching the huge canvas around the cylindrical form in the centre of La Maddalena. And photographer Hans-Georg Gaul didn’t hesitate a second to give us a hand when it was needed. The team was busy with painting, stretching and stapling, moving the works around in the beautiful space of the church and finding out the best ways of arrangement.

 

The image shows the installation team of this Sunday from left to right: Hans Grosse, Veronica Green, Simon Glaister, Bruce Edgar, Katharina Grosse, Judy Millar, Leonhard Emmerling. Thanks to Hans-Georg Gaul, who took the shot.

Judy Millar gave us all a treat by booking a vaporetto, and Anne-Louise Wirth, who makes sure here on the ground, that things don’t get out of control and everybody is happy, joined us on a little journey through the canals of Venice. It is the perfect way to explore this unique city and to enjoy its flair.

 

Judy Millar installation update

by Leonhard Emmerling, curator of Judy Millar's Giraffe-Bottle-Gun

 

The Judy Millar team is close to the final stages of installation – a bit more of sanding, plastering and painting, and the Chiesa Maddalena will be ready for final adjustments and the arrangements of the shaped canvases around the central cylindrical form in the rotunda.

 

Checking out the vicinity

by Dr Leonhard Emmerling, curator of Judy Millar's Giraffe-Bottle-Gun.

Cannaregio, the area where Judy’s and Francis’ pavilions are located, hosts other national pavilions, too.

Just next door to Fondazione Buziol, where Francis will show Save Yourself  Singapore and Icelandic teams start to install in the Palazzo Michiel Dal Brusà.

 

A little bit further away, opposite to Scuola Grande di San Marco, the Scottish team occupies the Palazzo Pisani.

 

And a bit further north of Chiesa Maddalena, where Judy will show Giraffe-Bottle-Gun, the Lithuanian team takes over the huge building of Scuola Grande della Misericordia, built by Venetian Renaissance architect Jacopo Sansovino.

 

A beautiful little relief shows La Madonna della Misericordia protecting the traders and ships-men who embark on their journeys –  this is a good opportunity to wish safe sailings to all New Zealanders who pack their bags for their trip to the Biennale.

Inside of Chiesa Maddalena, Simon Glaister and Bruce Edgar continue building the support for Judy’s large-scale paintings and enjoy the view from the roof top of La Maddalena while checking out the possibilities to hang the banners on the façade of the church, which will complement the paintings in the interior and certainly will attract a huge crowd of curious by-passers and art lovers.

 

 

Judy Millar's exhibition being installed

Judy Millar's Venice Biennale exhibition arrives at her venue La Chiesa della Maddalena on 15th May. As the photos below show, the task of installing Judy's impressive, towering work, Giraffe-Bottle-Gun, commenced soon after.