Legarda Invites Filipino Curators and Artists to Submit Proposals for PHL Pavilion in 2017 Venice Art Biennale

July 11, 2016

Senator Loren Legarda encouraged Filipino curators and artists to submit their curatorial proposals for the Philippine Pavilion in the 57th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

 

The Philippine Art Venice Biennale (PAVB) Coordinating Committee, composed of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), and the Office of Senator Loren Legarda, will be accepting proposals until July 21, 2016.

 

Legarda said that the Philippine Pavilion for the 2017 Venice Art Biennale will be housed at the Arsenale, the largest pre-industrial production center of the world, where national pavilions of countries all over the world are located.

 

“When the Philippines re-entered the Venice Art Biennale in 2015, we were housed at the beautiful Palazzo Mora. Our present pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2016 is also at the Palazzo Mora. But in 2017, we will be at the Arsenale, a venue where we can directly converse with other pavilions, and where our artists and curators can freely exchange ideas with other countries,” said Legarda, the visionary behind the Philippines’ return to the Venice Biennale.

 

The Philippine Pavilion in the 2017 Venice Art Biennale will be the third consecutive year that the country participates in the Venice Biennale (which features the Art and Architecture Biennales, held in alternating years). In 2015, the Philippine participation in the 56th Art Biennale featured the exhibition “Tie A String Around The World”. This year, “Muhon: Traces of an Adolescent City” is the Philippine exhibition for the 15th Architecture Biennale. But the Philippines first participated in 1964, at the 32nd Venice Art Biennale, which featured the works of National Artists Jose Joya and Napoleon Abueva.

 

Curators, Artists Invited to Represent the Country in 2017

 

The Call for Curatorial Proposals is open to all Filipino curators and contemporary artists residing in the Philippines and abroad.

 

The curator must have participated in at least one international contemporary art exhibition or related projects/platforms; while the artists must have participated in at least one national exhibition or an equivalent record in related projects/platforms.

 

All curatorial proposals should be emailed on or before 21 July 2016 to[email protected].

 

Submitted proposals will be thoroughly reviewed and deliberated on by an esteemed panel of judges in the field of contemporary art.  The panel of judges will select only ONE curatorial proposal. The selected proposal will be mounted at the Philippine Pavilion in the 2017 Venice Art Biennale.

 

The 57th Biennale Arte of La Biennale di Venezia will open in May 2017 in Venice, Italy under the directorship of Christine Macel.

 

For more information, check the NCCA website www.ncca.gov.ph or PAVB website www.philartvenicebiennale.com.

 

About The Arsenale[1]

 

The Arsenale is “the largest pre-industrial production center of the world.” Its surface area is forty-six hectares, and it can accommodate up to 2000 workers a day in full swing. A significant venue in Venice, the Serenissima fleet was built there and acts as a symbol of the military, economical and political power of Venice way back in history. The Arsenale underwent several changes due to the “naval and military needs of the Serenissima.” Through time, its military importance wavered, making it a more commerce-related site.