Venice Biennale: Getting knotted in red tape

17 March 2015 - 02:21 By Sean O'Toole
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BOOKED: Mixed-media artist Kay Hassan's work is to be shown as part of the main exhibition
BOOKED: Mixed-media artist Kay Hassan's work is to be shown as part of the main exhibition

With less than two months to go until the opening of the Venice Biennale, it is still unclear who will officially representSouth Africa in its national pavilion at the 120-year-old event.

The Department of Arts and Culture - which issued a call for exhibition proposals for one of the global art world's biggest get-togethers last September - has yet to appoint a curator. It is the curator's responsibility to make a selection of artists, with or without a linking theme, and orchestrate this selection in specially leased premises in Venice.

"The [department] has been grappling with the appropriate processes to appoint a curator for some time," said its spokesman, Sandile Memela.

"In fact, we have yet to find a wholly successful model that is able to meet the stringent government procurement framework."

Memela's officious language is purposeful. Bid proposals are construed as tender submissions. As such, they are subject to bureaucratic due diligence. The existing bids were rejected, he said, "due to technical reasons".

"A new process has been initiated through a closed tender to appoint the curator to ensure the rapid identification of the curator," Memela said. "Names of selected artists will only be known after[wards]."

A speedy resolution is a necessity. In 2013, the department secured a 20-year lease on a newly retrofitted space in the main thoroughfare of the Arsenale, a former military battery that now functions as one of the biennale's two main exhibition spaces. The first-floor venue is officially designated as the South African Pavilion.

While the department's decision is pending, a number of South African artists are readying themselves to show their work in Venice. Painter Marlene Dumas, photographer Mikhael Subotzky and mixed-media artists Kay Hassan and Joachim Schönfeldt have all been selected to appear in the biennale's 136-person main exhibition.

Titled All the World's Futures, the exhibition is being overseen by Nigerian-born curator Okwui Enwezor, who came to global prominence after directing projects such as the 1997 Johannesburg Biennale.

At an event known for its ostentatious show of wealth - Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's mega-yacht was a talking point in 2011 - plucky enterprise is an essential part of the proceeding. Among the exhibitors at this year's always-rambunctious fringe will be a group of South African artists working in film and performance.

The Johannesburg Pavilion - organised by Roelof van Wyk - will feature Athi Patra-Ruga and Anthea Moys, both winners of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for performance art, as well as videographer Bogosi Sekhukhuni.

  • The 2015 Venice Biennale runs from May 9 to November 22
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