The Venice Biennale opens on August 29 and runs until December with “The Disquieted Muses – When La Biennale Meets History,” an exhibition by all the curators coordinated by Cecilia Alemani
125 years after its foundation, the Venice Biennale in 2020 faces an unexpected turn of history, and like many—people and projects—who refused to give up, it opens from August 29 to December 8, 2020, with an exhibition that presents La Biennale in all its complexity: “The Disquieted Muses – When La Biennale Meets History.” The title refers to Giorgio De Chirico’s painting, The Disquieting Muses, exhibited at the Biennale in 1948.
The exhibition will narrate the moments when La Biennale and history intertwined in Venice, and will be curated by all the directors of the six artistic sectors: Cecilia Alemani (Art), Alberto Barbera (Cinema), Marie Chouinard (Dance), Ivan Fedele (Music), Antonio Latella (Theatre), Hashim Sarkis (Director of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition 2021), under the coordination of one of the most influential women in the contemporary art sector: Cecilia Alemani, former curator of the Italian Pavilion “Il Mondo Magico” in 2017 and the first Italian woman to be Artistic Director of the upcoming Biennale Arte 2022.
It is important to note that the exhibition is organized by ASAC, the Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts, along with other national and international archives, to understand the exhibition’s invitation to view things from a historical perspective: if De Chirico’s muses looked toward a world to be rebuilt, the six artistic disciplines of the Biennale are the muses of 2020, called upon to analyze the watershed moments of the past, where La Biennale has always been an active witness and an eye on the world: the 1930s, the Cold War, ’68, the 1970s, the 1980s: Postmodernism and the birth of the Architecture Biennale, and the 1990s: the beginning of Globalization.
“This exhibition is a sign of enthusiasm and a collective response to an exceptional moment—says Cecilia Alemani—in which we felt it was important to demonstrate how the arts and art continue even in times of greatest adversity, as the history of the Biennale itself reminds us.”.
For Roberto Cicutto, the new President of the Venice Biennale, “this important date should mark the beginning of a much more motivated dialogue between our arts, leading to a permanent activity that sees Venice as a container of excellence and a true research center in the field of contemporary arts.”
What we “Biennalisti” continue to call the Central Pavilion was built in 1894 as the Palazzo delle Esposizioni at the Giardini, and in 1895 it hosted the first Biennale in history. For this year’s exhibition, it will be divided into rooms with a layout designed by the two young Italian designers Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi of Formafantasma.
The opening of The Disquieted Muses will be on Saturday, August 29, 2020, and Veneziadavivere will cover all the events as always through digital communication.
The vernissage will be preceded by the Biennale Days – August 26, 27, 28, 2020 – three days of dance, music, and theatre featuring choreographic performances, DJ sets, and improvisations with young artists from the Biennale College in the open spaces of the Biennale Giardini.
The inaugurations of Biennale Cinema (September 2), Biennale Teatro (September 14), Biennale Musica (September 25), and Biennale Danza (October 13) will follow.
The Disquieted Muses – When La Biennale Meets History
August 29 – December 8, 2020
Giardini della Biennale, Venice
www.labiennale.org
Photos are kindly provided by La Biennale di Venezia.
