Irenebrination: Notes on Architecture, Art, Fashion, Fashion Law, Science & Technology

Migration & Refugee Narratives @ The 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia

Tragedy struck yesterday as a boat of migrants attempting the perilous Atlantic route from Senegal to Europe, sank near the Canary Islands. Of the 60 reported onboard, only nine were rescued.

Recent incidents - including the discovery of nine bodies off Brazil's coast a fortnight ago, probably from Mauritania and Mali, but arrived in Brazil after drifting across the Atlantic - underscore the deadly nature of this dangerous route.

As seen in the last few posts, migration is one of the topics tackled by different artists at 60th International Art Exhibition in Venice (until 24th November), characterized by the theme "Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere".

Different artists, as it is only natural, interpreted the theme employing a wide range of materials and inspirations. For example, upon seeing Teresa Margolles' "Tela Venezuelana" on display in the Central Pavilion at the Giardini, some visitors' minds may conjure up visions of the Holy Shroud. The latter is a linen cloth that, bearing the image of the front and back of a man, is venerated as the burial shroud used to wrap the body of Jesus.

On Margolles' Tela you can see the imprint of a human body, and at first you try and guess how the artist created that ghostly and unsettling image of a human being on the canvas. Soon, though, you realize that you're not staring at a painting made with acrylic colors, but at death, and you feel as if an invisible force had delivered a sudden blow to the stomach, as you understand that this is not the recreation of the imprint of a human image, but the real thing.

"Tela Venezuelana" is indeed part of a research project by Margolles on labor and migration at the border between Venezuela and Colombia and the silhouette of the human form was derived from the blood of a young Venezuelan man killed at the Táchira River in Cúcuta, on the Colombian side of the border.

Margolles placed the cloth over his body during the autopsy and let the dried blood from the man's face, arms, torso and legs to leave a mark, The grueling linen becomes an anonymous portrait of another victim of forced migration, the physical representation of a tragedy that repeats itself in different parts of the world.

Elsewhere in the Biennale different vision and interpretation of refugees emerge: Yinka Shonibare's "Refugee Astronaut VIII" (2024) is part of a series introducing life-sized nomadic astronauts clad in Dutch wax fabric suits.

Positioned at the Arsenale entrance, this Refugee Astronaut assumes a dynamic stance, yet appears burdened by the weight of its possessions - a poignant symbol of displacement and the challenges it entails. Shonibare draws inspiration from the concept of space as a potential refuge, highlighting the complexities of seeking sanctuary.

Beyond its thematic exploration of displacement, the artwork serves as a cautionary narrative on environmental degradation and capitalist exploitation, while also moving a critique to colonial ambitions. Here, the nomadic astronaut embodies indeed the quest for habitable spaces amid a world marked by ecological peril and social upheaval. Shonibare prompts viewers to reflect on the repercussions of apathy towards issues such as the rising sea levels (a relevant topic in a city like Venice) and the displacement of communities.

Within the Arsenale, Shonibare’s astronaut appears to have landed near the overhead structure crafted by the Mataaho Collective, (recipients of a Silver Lion). This juxtaposition underscores the interconnectedness of themes within the Biennale; "Refugee Astronaut" thus stands as an invitation to contemplate the consequences of indifference and the imperative of collective action in safeguarding our shared future.

Somehow you would hope that also politicians would see these works by Margolles and Shonibare as they may help them pondering more on the themes of migrants and refugees and come up with more human solutions to this issue.

EU interior ministers gathered in Ghent yesterday and today for a two-day conference on the European pact on migration and asylum. However, the pact has faced significant criticism from over 160 human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. These groups argue that the pact will exacerbate suffering, reduce protection, and lead to more rights violations. 

Art may not provide us with the ultimate solution to dealing with the migration crisis, but it can shake us out of our indifference. For example, both Margolles and Shonibare prompt viewers to confront the tragedy of forced migration, the human cost of indifference and the imperative of collective action in addressing global issues, inviting reflection on environmental and social challenges and on the quest for a safe refuge in an increasingly precarious world.

Transcending Borders, Transgressing Boundaries: "The Endless Spiral" by Betsabeé Romero, Collateral Event @ The 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia

In her installation "Fractured Footprints" (2024), Mexican multidisciplinary artist Betsabeé Romero employs something you may spot in an artisanal shoe shop - antique wooden lasts.

Yet here there is no connection with fashion, Romero uses indeed the lasts in a symbolical way. Engraved and painted by hand, the lasts hint at the suffering that borders cause and, implicitly, also at the routes of migrants leaving their countries to escape economic hardships, war and persecution.

Romero draws with the lasts maps of different territories and borders that assume the meaning of metaphorical scars, the lasts are indeed split by a red neon light that calls to mind blood.

Using data and information from the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations, Romero reminds us that on the Morocco-Spain route, thousands of migrants died or disappeared between 2019 and 2021. Numbers dramatically increased, going from 474 to 2,170.

There are other maps and routes that Romero includes in her installation: the artist highlights through them that 85% of the Gaza Strip population was displaced since 2023. Besides, the border between the Unites States and Mexico has become the most dangerous land migratory route in the world, while millions of Ukrainians left their homes since Russia invaded the country.

For Romero, these invisible routes become inscribed on the body and engraved on the feet tracing them, like fresh wounds (from a distance the wooden lasts with the neon lights look a bit like long sutured scars on the walls…). Indeed, borders are intended here as imposed lines that oppose necessity and survival, scarring somebody for life.

This is just one of Romero’s installations, part of a collateral event at the 60th International Art Exhibition in Venice (until 24th November). Romero’s exhibition "The Endless Spiral", at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, located in St. Mark's Square, is organized and commissioned by the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, California, and curated by Argentine art historian, researcher and MOLAA Chief Curator Gabriela Urtiaga.

Romero lives and works in Mexico City and themes of migration, miscegenation, and mobility, cultural traditions, religion and the juxtaposition of individual and collective memory have always been dear to her heart.

In her practice she is also interested in addressing the problems of public art and popular art, their permanence and relationship with the social fabric and with alternative audiences to contemporary art.

Her exhibition in Venice resonates with this year's theme "Foreigners Everywhere," as Romero explores border tensions, but also ponders on her personal experience of being a foreigner in the world and of coming across multiple barriers in her life and transgressing the boundaries of established categories.

The exhibition starts on the ground floor of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, with two rooms dedicated to "Families Divided by Sharp Borders" and "Breaking the Perverse Frontiers of the Mirror".

In the former Romero creates a festoon of tin cutouts that reveal themselves as dramatic since they show a family on the run.

The second installation features instead concave safety mirrors integrating LEDs. The mirrors with their mapped and rigged surfaces, distort the reflection of people entering the room, generating confusion and doubts and symbolizing a broken universe.

Upstairs the installation "Memories of a Moving Totem" introduces visitors to the idea of mobility and the symbology of memory instruments.

This installation could be inspiring for fashion and textile designers as well (fashion students, pay attention to the materials and meanings in this installation) as it may prompt them to think about how to create prints with unusual items.

The hand-engraved rolls on the floor painted with gold leaf are indeed actually repurposed and upcycled GoKart wheels.

Romero makes a parallelism here between the cylinder seals and stamps found in different cultures, from Mesopotamia to Mesoamerica (the San Andrés cylinder seal was found in an Olmec archaeological site in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco). Engraved with written characters or figurative scenes or both, the cylinders were used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface - generally wet clay, cloth and other materials.

These cylinders left culturally important imprints, but the advent of Western wheels changed everything, prioritizing speed and forgetfulness.

By turning GoKart wheels into cylinder stamps, Romero reclaims the art and the craft behind the original rolls, eliminates from the equation the speed variable and re-establishes a slower and therefore more human rhythm as the carvings were made by hand.

Memories become once again more prominent, and they are represented by the lace strips hanging along the walls and decorated with gold motifs, a theme that goes well with Venice, and in particular with Mariano Fortuny's printing techniques.

There are two further installations to discover, one is entitled "The Shadow of the House Was Also Broken" and it consists in a  paper house floating in a room.

The fragile structure doesn't represent the tangible presence of a house, but points at the home we carry inside us, a haven that can survive any destruction (some visitors may want to stop and ponder on this concept and on the concept of domicide in our times...).

Finally, "Dreaming of a Sunrise with Feathers in The Endless Spiral", is a structure of colorful feathers that can be admired from different points of views.

Depending from where you are, you may see in it a wing, a snail or a crest, and this work may also be interpreted as an architectural or as a ritual piece. Yet it's not important to define its physical form, but the messages it carries.

It speaks indeed to the interconnectedness of humanity, symbolizing the collectivity as a continuum in space. In this way, Romero's work serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration, reminding us of our common humanity amidst a world divided by boundaries that the artist is not afraid of traversing.  

After all, Gabriela Urtiaga describes Romero as "a nomadic spirit," who willingly confronts the pressing issues that define our times and invites audiences to engage with essential and urgent topics that transcend borders and transgress boundaries.

"The Endless Spiral" by Betsabeé Romero will travel to the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in 2025.

From Harrowing Routes to Starlit Paths: Bouchra Khalili's "The Mapping Journey" @ The 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

When planning a journey, we always seek the most direct route to our destination, aiming to avoid transfers, stops, and delays.

However, those who are forced to flee their countries because of political and economic circumstances, lack the privilege of choice in their routes and usually travel illegally. Their journeys typically do not involve the comfort of planes or trains, but they risk their lives trying to cross borders by walking or travelling on unsafe boats arranged by smugglers.

Bouchra Khalili, a French-Moroccan artist and scholar, sheds light on this reality in her project "The Mapping Journey" (2008-11), exhibited at the 60th International Art Exhibition in Venice (until November 24th).

In her practice, Khalili employs collaborative storytelling methods with marginalized communities, particularly those excluded from citizenship. Showcased at the Arsenale, "The Mapping Journey" project evolved over three years along Mediterranean migration routes, engaging refugees and stateless individuals in transit hubs in Europe, North and Eastern Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Khalili's approach involves prolonged listening rather than direct interviews, allowing her collaborators to guide and narrate their experiences. The project comprises eight videos featuring single, uninterrupted shots, without any cuts.

The narrator's voice accompanies the viewer as their hand, wielding a permanent marker, traces the complex and perilous journeys on a map. Lines traced across oceans and borders show the routes of these people moving furtively, to avoid being spotted by systems of surveillance and border controls.

The narratives are poignant, depicting moments of despair in which the traveler had to hide, then family reunions upon arrival, or the struggle to find work, with one of the interviewees recounting his day-long job in Milan distributing flyers from 8.00am to 9.30pm, for a meager wage (30 euros).

The marker's trails on paper depict convoluted paths: journeys from Annaba to Marseille via Milan; from Jalalabad to Rome via Tehran and Debrecen; or from Skopje to Rome, a trip that by plane would take one hour and a half, that instead turns into a long ordeal, a journey that passes through Dhaka and Dubai. Other trajectories include Mogadishu to Bari and Béni-Mellal to Utrecht via Alicante and Barcelona.

Khalili then transformed these personal maps into her "Constellations" series. These geopolitical constellations, presented as white traces on a blue backdrop, reinterpret the narrated journeys as celestial patterns reminiscent of ancient astronomy and mythology.

By contemplating these constellations, viewers are invited to collectively imagine alternative notions of belonging. In a poignant tribute, cities along the routes become stars, representing both the migrants who succeeded in their journey and those who perished, those who were not rescued by the authorities, or were forcibly returned to their homelands.

While the cities on the constellations create an architectural tangible spot in space, the invisible migrants become like Castor and Pollux, the brothers who became the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini ("the twins"), they turn into parts of these constellations, stars in the vast firmament of life.

A textile piece entitled "Sea-Drift" featuring the Noth-West migration routes to the Canary Islands, including Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Fuerteventura, El Hierro and Lanzarote, completes the installation at the Venice Biennale.

As Europe grapples with uncertainty regarding migrant policies, often resorting to deportation for those hoping to improve their lives elsewhere, "The Mapping Journey" project offers profound insights: Khalili tells us indeed that, if we were willing to listen and embrace rather than reject, these meandering, painful and harrowing journeys could transform into stellar narratives, symbolizing the eternal human quest for a better future.

Authorship in the Digital Age: The Malta Pavilion @ The 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

The ongoing debate surrounding the integration of Artificial Intelligence into various domains, including art, persists. Those opposed to its use in artistic contexts often argue against AI's capacity to generate imagery derived from diverse inspirations within training data, resulting in creations that are essentially reimagined and repurposed from existing works, without the consent of the original creators.

However, there exist other, more intriguing applications for AI, as demonstrated by some of the artists included in the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

You might recall Olalekan Jeyifous, who won a Silver Lion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice last year for his installation envisioning a futuristic portrayal of Lagos, employing AI to craft a narrative of a techno-ecological retro-future born from the vestiges of colonialism.

In this year's Venice Art Biennale (running until November 24, 2024), Matthew Attard employed AI in a multifaceted installation at the Malta Pavilion in the Arsenale, intertwining physical and virtual realms.

This year's pavilion marks the fourth participation of Arts Council Malta with its own National Pavilion since 2017, and the first occasion the national Pavilion of Malta has been entrusted to a solo Maltese artist, making Attard the youngest to represent the country to date (we was born in 1987).

Entitled "I Will Follow The Ship," the pavilion merges cultural heritage - specifically drawings and historical references - with state-of-the-art digital technology, providing a platform for discourse on authorship and image creation in art.

For his background research, Attard moved from the churches and sanctuaries across the Maltese Islands, where he discovered various forms of ex votos (from Latin, short for ex voto suscepto, "from the vow made") - votive offerings of gratitude or devotion to saints or to God. The maritime-themed graffiti ex votos on the facades of chapels throughout Malta, were likely crafted by seafarers due to the religious significance and sanctuary these structures provided.

These modest etchings on chapel facades symbolize humanity's inclination to leave traces, they are conceived as marks of faith, and un-authored personal experiences, identities, motivations and beliefs.

Within the pavilion, visitors can contemplate pen-plotted drawings on stone panels, a contemporary reinterpretation of the ship-themed graffiti found on the exteriors of wayside chapels.

Three screens invite visitors to engage with the project: in one Attard recreates his ship drawings using an eye-tracker (which captured his eye movements) and generative algorithms. The technology translated this gaze into data points, which were subsequently interpreted to produce lines or drawings. Digital images generated from the data points captured the engravings from various points of view producing a database that served as the basis for artworks such as 3D scans and video compositions.

This symbolic eye-tracking process intertwines human intention, technology, and co-authorship, enabling visitors to uncover the project's multilayered structure.

Attard draws a parallel between tangible historical drawings on stone and contemporary digital drawing, both forms of tracing - sometimes unintentional, always ephemeral or immaterial - and of human actions across time. In Attard’s practice, the eye-tracker serves as an extension of himself (there's a pun in the pavilion title between the words "I" and "eye"...) symbolizing the convergence of human and machine perspectives, and exploring the intersection between humans and technology.

Drawing, digital technology, and historical references converge in the project: the drawings signify humanity's perpetual desire for exploration while hinting at the anonymous individuals who made them and their personal experiences and legacies.

One of the themes that emerges in this pavilion is transformation: the ship evolves from markings on walls to a digital drawing characterised by sketchy and skeletal lines, then to a series of data points and lines of code in the virtual domain, its journey dramatically altered by technology.

A ship drawing continuously materializes on a screen, blurring the line between intentional human input and automated creation. A large screen narrates this exploration, translating wave movement data into a symbolic quest for ships, encapsulating humanity's enduring pursuit of hope amidst uncertainty. 

QR codes on one wall invite visitors to engage in digital drawing, expanding the project's scope and adding another layer of authorship through algorithmic transformation.

Rather than using technology solely for image generation, the project aims to dissect and analyze AI and digital technology processes, while prompting contemplation of our society's reliance and faith on digital technology through an artistic approach. 

The ship emerges as a timeless symbol of hope and survival, whether carved on weathered chapel walls or digitally rendered. But there is a final metaphor to ponder about here: like the boundless sea, the expanse of data produced by the project (and the data we generate daily...) knows no boundaries - it expands, raising profound questions on the digital realm and on our tangible reality.

The Malta Pavilion presents "I Will Follow the Ship" by Matthew Attard at the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, commissioned by Arts Council Malta, until 24th November 2024.

Image credits for this post

Installation views, "I Will Follow the Ship" by Matthew Attard, The Malta Pavilion by Matthew Attard at the 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia. Photographer: Eoin Greally.

Tackling the Trans Identity (Evolution of the LED Dress): Puppies Puppies @ The 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

Carlo Scarpa's sculpture garden within the Central Pavilion of the Giardini in Venice offers a serene retreat amidst the bustle of the Biennale. Upon entering this secluded safe haven, visitors are greeted by the graceful curves of the structure and by lush ivy adorning the walls.

This year, a bronze sculpture by contemporary artist Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo AKA Puppies Puppies, installed in this space, prompts contemplation on identity.

Born in Dallas to a Japanese mother and Puerto Rican father, Kuriki-Olivo pursued artistic education at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago and Yale University's MFA program. Identifying as a Latinx transgender woman, at the end of her studies she worked on a series of performance pieces and also on collaborations with queer and trans artists.

Kuriki-Olivo's recent solo exhibition, "Nothing New," at New Museum, New York, transformed the gallery with a Zen garden and a replica of her bedroom, spaces dominated by shades of green, a hue the artist seems to favor (maybe as a reference to her name and to the eponymous semi-precious stone that is prevalently green).

Green followed Kuriki-Olivo to Venice as well: her sculpture is indeed surrounded by walls covered in vibrant green ivy, climbing the walls of Carlo Scarpa’s sculpture garden. The title of the sculpture reads a bit like the manifesto of this artist – "A sculpture for Trans Women A sculpture for the Non-Binary Femmes. A sculpture for Two-Spirit People. I am a woman. I don’t care what you think. (Transphobia is everywhere and everyone is susceptible to enacting it at any moment) (Unlearn the transphobia brewing within) I am a Trans Woman. I am a Two-Spirit Person. I am a Woman. This is for my sisters and siblings everywhere. History erased many of us but we are still here. I will fight for our rights until the day I die. Exile me and I’ll keep fighting" (2022).

First displayed at Art Basel Parcours, Switzerland, in 2022, the sculpture, emblazoned with the word "Woman", is a representation of a 3D scan of the artist's naked body. The artwork embodies defiance against societal invisibility, while representing a protest and a confrontation.

Another intervention by Puppies Puppies at the Biennale, located in the Arsenale space, is the artwork entitled "Electric Dress (Atsuko Tanaka)," a homage to the victims of the mass shooting that took place during a "Latin Night" party at Pulse, a queer nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

The piece consists in a LED dress (inspired by Atsuko Tanaka's "Electric Dress", 1956), that shines bright, mutating its colors. The dress integrates LED lights that flicker to the pulse of a heartbeat and lights that cycle through the rainbow colors found in the Progress Pride Flag, while the word Pulse forms a luminous belt around the waist. Style-wise the design may not be so groundbreaking, but this piece is not about fashion, it is indeed about honoring the lives of the victims while celebrating queer and trans existence, and confronting oblivion and invisibility.

Fashion-wise, Puppies Puppies’s LED dress is the latest reinvention of this type of designs integrating luminous elements that have been produced as runway showpieces or as one-off projects in the last 4 decades.

Since the ‘80s we have seen a myriad of examples of designs integrating LEDs, from Cinzia Ruggeri’s behavioral tulle dress interspersed with LED lights, to Hussein Chalayan’s Autumn/Winter 2007 "Airborne" collection that included a dress featuring 15,600 LEDs; from rainbow hued experimental designs and luxury designs dotted with micro LEDs, to accessories integrating LED screens. The material may be the same, but the outcome is different and so is the rationale behind it as Puppies Puppies reuses the concept of the LED dress as a tribute, to affirm one's identity, claim her space and pay homage.

Many of Puppies Puppies's exhibitions often included sections with actionable components that went from a GoFundMe campaign to support a friend's transition fund, to free HIV testing and counseling, and a working shower available for use by the public. It is a shame that this interactive aspect with visitors wasn't replicated in Venice, but this was also the first time Puppies and Puppies exhibited there, so it may have been logistically difficult to integrate this aspect of her work into the displays. 

That said Puppies and Puppies’ LED dress adds another note to the history of this garment. In most cases, the LED dresses designed and made so far were conceived as experimental and wearable artworks. Here the LED dress is used as a wearable sculpture to honor the victims of a mass shooting, but also to make a political statement of resistance and defiance.

Emblem of Remembrance, Symbol of Resistance: Monument to the Partisan Woman, Venice

It's St. Mark's Day, and, if you happen to be in Venice (keep in mind that, starting today until July 14th, day-trippers are required to pay a "Venice access fee" of €5 to enter the city, a measure implemented by local authorities to regulate the flow of tourists), you can celebrate by visiting the renowned St. Mark's Basilica, which also houses the relics of the saint brought to Venice from Alexandria in 828 by two merchants, along with the famous Campanile.

Alternatively, you might want to treat yourself to a slice of St. Mark's cake from Dal Mas' pastry shop (View this photo).

While Venice celebrates its patron saint today, it has also got another local holiday dedicated to the St. Mark, November 21st, when it celebrates the Madonna della Salute, as today coincides with a national holiday in Italy - Liberation Day. This public holiday commemorates the end of Nazi-fascism during World War II.

If you are in Venice, a fitting way to honor this day would be to visit the Monument to the Partisan Woman located on the Riva dei Partigiani, near the Giardini, convenient if you're heading to the Biennale.

The Monument to the Partisan Woman was crafted by Italian sculptor, painter, and partisan Augusto Murer (1922-1985), who experienced the Resistance firsthand. It serves as a tribute to the women who actively fought against Nazi-fascism.

As mentioned in a previous post, sculptor Leoncillo Leonardi created the Monument to the Venetian Partisan in polychrome ceramic in 1957. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in a neo-fascist attack in 1961, leaving intact only the pedestal designed by Carlo Scarpa.

In response to this, a competition was held among Venetian sculptors to create a new statue. In 1969, Augusto Murer completed the bronze sculpture depicting a dying woman, symbolizing the Partisan, emerging from the water with her hands bound in front of her head.

Murer's statue is different from the neo-cubist monument by Leonardi that was destroyed: it represents indeed a dying woman tortured by Nazi-fascists, and tackles Resistance from the point of view of pain and sacrifice.

Architect Carlo Scarpa advised on the location and designed the stone pedestal for the statue, a floating structure conceived to support the artwork on the surface of the water, positioned lower than the observer's viewpoint. Carlo Scarpa's small dock is composed of cement pillars with square sections topped with Istrian stone heads emerging from the water at various heights.

The architect's solution contrasts for its modernist style with Murer's partisan, but also creates a geometry of stepping stones offering multiple viewpoints. In much the same way, the monument dialogues with the sea as the tide engulfs, hides and then reveals it again, offering every time to viewers a different point of view.

The chosen location is symbolical as it is near where Leonardi's statue once stood and where the body of a partisan woman, shot and thrown into the water, was found.

With the rise of right-wing ideologies across Europe, the monument to the partisan woman prompts reflection on democracy, freedom, and equality, so take a moment to contemplate the values embodied by this powerful statue.

Geometries, Colors & Crafts in a Work by Eduardo Terrazas

In yesterday's post we looked at an artist featured in the 60th International Art Exhibition in Venice, employing geometries and colors to convey powerful messages. Let’s continue the thread, but take a break from the main pavilions at the Biennale to look at just one work on display in the Central pavilion of the Giardini, Eduardo Terrazas's "11.91".

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1936, and currently residing in Mexico City, Terrazas is a multifaceted artist, he is indeed an architect, designer, and painter.

Terrazas gained early recognition as an architect when he was chosen as the co-designer of the logo and design elements for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. His iconic Olympic logo, featuring black and white concentric circles emanating from the letters MEXICO and colorful interlinked Olympic rings with the numbers 68, was inspired by the yarn panels of the Huichol (or Wixárika) people, where yarn is pressed onto wax-covered boards in parallel lines.

In the 1970s, Terrazas began exploring the relationships between geometric elements, combining them with elements from Mexican folk art to develop a unique visual language. He adopted the Huichol technique of arranging colored wool thread on wooden boards covered with Campeche wax, not only for its aesthetic qualities but also for the meditative process it requires and for the fact that craftsmanship can calm the mind.

Terrazas further refined his technique through the series "Possibilities of a Structure," started in the 1960s, exploring concepts of repetition and difference. "Possibilities of a Structure" includes the subseries "Cosmos," "Diagonals," "Grid," and "Tables".

According to Terrazas you have to think with your hands and the process behind these series allows him to do so since it requires special concentration and implies tactile exploration. 

"11.91" is on display in the first room of the Central Pavilion: in this work made with colored yarns, Terrazas blurs the boundary between two-dimensionality and three-dimensionality, creating a geometric composition illuminated by threads that serve as both brushes and lines. In this single piece there is mathematics, geometry and cosmology, plus there is a joyful passion for bright colors.

Through bold geometric shapes and vibrant colors, Terrazas also references modernist discussions on abstraction in art history, Indigenous traditions, and working-class aesthetics in Latin America. This work reflects Terrazas's thoughts on the contrast between local and global influences, traditional and modern aesthetics.

Between February and March this year, an exhibition entirely dedicated to him, entitled "To Weave the Possibility", took place at Proyectos Monclova, in Mexico City, showcasing works from his "Possibilities of a Structure" series and also reproducing his “Globos” (Balloons) installation, the first monumental soft sculpture in the history of art in Mexico. Terrazas's works may prove inspiring, especially for graphic or fashion designers, and particularly for knitwear designers (fashion design students, as usual, take note).

The Space in Which to Place Me: The US Pavilion by Jeffrey Gibson @ The 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

Last Thursday morning there was a joyful atmosphere outside the US Pavilion by Jeffrey Gibson at the 60th International Art Exhibition in Venice (until 24th November 2024).

The Colorado Inter-Tribal Dancers and the Oklahoma Fancy Dancers activated the striking sculpture outside the pavilion, interacting with eager visitors.

Some paused to capture moments with the performers in their remarkable attires, while others engaged in conversations.

While the multi-level platform inspired by classical architectures outside the pavilion is painted in bright red, the pavilion is instead covered in hand-painted murals bursting with Gibson's distinctive blend of color, pattern, and text.

Two phrases adorn the facades: the exhibition's title on the left and "We hold these truths to be self-evident" on the right, a nod to the United States' Declaration of Independence, and a hint to the integration of American documents in the artworks in the exhibition.

Eight flags, each characterized by its own unique design and mounted on twenty-foot teepee poles, surround the exterior facade.

Flags, a recurring motif in Gibson's work, symbolize here inclusivity, inviting visitors to explore a space that honors collective memory and individual experience.

Inside the pavilion, commissioned by Kathleen Ash-Milby (Curator of Native American Art, Portland Art Museum and the first Native curator to organize a U.S. Pavilion), Louis Grachos (Phillips Executive Director, SITE Santa Fe), and Abigail Winograd (Independent Curator), Gibson's art with its textures, geometries, and beadwork, exudes vibrancy and depth, while celebrating intertribal aesthetics through sculpture, multimedia paintings and video. 

Throughout the pavilion, the artist also honors writers, poets, and songwriters: Gibson is indeed influenced by Oglala Lakota poet Layli Long Soldier's work - the title of the pavilion is indeed taken from Long Soldier's poem Ȟe Sápa.

A member of the Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, Gibson is the first Native American to represent the US solo at the Biennale.

"The Space in Which to Place Me," is an embodiment of Gibson's vision of radical inclusivity, that embraces Indigenous identities and cultural expressions, a space where the multidisciplinary artist considers his own American identity as a queer, Indigenous person.

Stepping into the first gallery of the pavilion, visitors are greeted by two imposing figures, "The Enforcer" (2024) and "WE WANT TO BE FREE" (2024).

Crafted from beads, ribbons, fringes, and tin jingles, the figures draw inspiration from traditional Native regalia.

Their glazed ceramic heads, intentionally imperfect and asymmetrical, point at Mississippian effigy pots, an ancient art form from the American Southeast.

Adorning their bodies are beaded texts: "The Enforcer"'s chest references the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments of the U.S. Constitution, known as the "Reconstruction Amendments," which abolished slavery and aimed to safeguard the civil rights of Black American citizens. There is also another reference to the Enforcement Act of 1870, which penalized interference with voting rights.

The phrase "WE WANT TO BE FREE" appears on the other figure, accompanied by references to the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, granting basic rights to Indigenous people within U.S. borders, and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the first federal law to define citizenship and declare all citizens equal under the law.

A mural behind the figures with the words "We are made by history," echoes Martin Luther King Jr.'s call for active engagement in shaping the future, underscoring Gibson's theme of how the past shapes our present reality.

In the second gallery, Gibson continues to explore these themes with two beaded bird sculptures, "We are the witnesses" (2024) and "If there is no struggle there is no progress" (2024), perched atop stone pedestals.

The colorful sculptures are inspired in part by Victorian-era Native-made "whimsies," objects created to appeal the taste of the time, but considered as kitsch.

In the paintings in the next gallery, Gibson integrated other types of objects: sourcing traditional Native beadwork by uknown Columbia River Plateau, Northern Plains or Western Great lakes artists (mainly bags, belts, and medallions) from websites and garage sales, Gibson attached them to felt bases and then to painted cotton rag paper.

This method allows for easy removal if a viewer identifies the object and maker. If claimed, Gibson commits to returning the work and commissioning an Indigenous artist for a replacement.

These objects add a tangible dimension to the works on paper: "ACTION NOW ACTION IS ELOQUENCE" (2024), features for example a vintage beaded belt or sash by a Columbia River Plateau or Crow artist, retaining its original curved shape.

The next room of the exhibition, the rotunda, is the heart of the pavilion, that's why the artist opted to paint it red.

Suspended at the center is one of Gibson's iconic punching bags, entitled "WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT" (2024). The beaded bag features cascading multi-colored fringes, illuminated against the dimly lit room, offering a space for contemplation.

The next gallery explores the theme of hybridity through three busts on marble bases, "I'M A NATURAL MAN" (2024), "Be Some Body" (2024), and Treat Me Right (2024).

The ambiguous figures with their colorful beaded skin and intricate hair, blend various cultural and aesthetic influence.

Vintage pinback buttons with advocacy slogans (such as the slogan "If we settle for what they're giving us, we deserve what we get!") are integrated into the beadwork, blurring historical boundaries.

Surrounding the busts are related works on paper and large-scale paintings, including "THE RETURNED MALE STUDENT FAR TOO FREQUENTLY GOES BACK TO THE RESERVATION AND FALLS INTO THE OLD CUSTOM OF LETTING HIS HAIR GROW LONG" (2024), referencing a 1902 directive from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Superintendent of the school district of Round Valley, California, in which a directive is given for male Indians to cut their hair to "hasten their progress towards civilization."

The busts, with their long hair made with ribbons and beads in vibrant colors, symbolize dissidents as they reject the assimilationist directive.

In the final gallery of the exhibition, Gibson envelops viewers in an immersive video installation.

"She Never Dances Alone" (2020), originally showcased in New York's Times Square, unfolds across nine screens, projecting the performance of artist and dancer Sarah Ortegon HighWalking (enrolled Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho) as she executes the Jingle Dress Dance, a powwow tradition originating from the Ojibwe tribe.

This centuries-old dance, primarily performed by women, invokes ancestral strength, protection, and healing. Accompanied by the rhythms of First Nations electronic group The Halluci Nation (the track, in case you're wondering, is "Sisters" featuring Northern Voice), Ortegon HighWalking moves gracefully in her dresses adorned with jingles or rows of ziibaaska'iganan (metal cones).

As the dance unfolds, her image multiplies across screens, symbolizing the enduring presence of Indigenous women throughout generations and their resilience for the years ahead.

Within the pavilion, there's ample space for contemplation and introspection, yet there's also a palpable sense of hope as Gibson's invites visitors to take in all his kaleidoscopic geometries characterised by their ultra-bright eye-popping colours, consider the quotes and think about a future shaped by acceptance and healing, something that the cathartic and mesmerizing dance of Sarah Ortegon HighWalking makes you feel it is not just conceivable, but entirely achievable.

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Graphically quick yet impactful, Gibson's art lends itself perfectly to fashion as well: last year the artist took part in the eighth edition of Dior's Lady Art project that commissions to artists and creative minds limited editions of the iconic Lady Dior handbag. For that occasion Gibson adorned Dior's iconic bag with his beaded patterns.

You can bet more fashion houses will ask Gibson for a collaboration after this colorful yet deeply intense and educational pavilion celebrating the resilience of Native people. And if that happens you can expect he will embrace it with integrity: as U.S. Pavilion Commissioner and Curator Kathleen Ash-Milby states in a press release, Gibson follows a fundamental idea - that we can choose to express ourselves differently and still remain true to our values and our identity.

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Image credits for this post

Image 2. Exterior view of "the space in which to place me", Jeffrey Gibson's exhibition for the United States Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, until November 24th, 2024. Forecourt sculpture. Photograph by Timothy Schenck.

All other images, Jeffrey Gibson's exhibition for the United States Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Photographs by Anna Battista.

Indigenous Heritage with a Queer Flair: La Chola Poblete's "Vírgenes Chola" @ The 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia

Queer artists are prominently featured throughout the 60th International Art Exhibition in Venice (until 24th November 2024): they are the focus of a section dedicated to queer abstraction in the Giardini's Central Pavilion and are also showcased in a significant section inside the Corderie at the Arsenale. Among them there is also transdisciplinary artist La Chola Poblete.

Hailing from Argentina, La Chola Poblete made waves in Berlin last year with an exhibition at the Palais Populaire, the cultural space of Deutsche Bank, that awarded her the Artist of the Year 2023 prize.

La Chola Poblete was the first artist from Argentina and Latin America to receive this prestigious award from Deutsche Bank, and, last week, she made history again as the first queer artist to get a special mention at the Venice Art Biennale.

Born in 1989 in Guaymallén, Mendoza, Argentina, as Mauricio Poblete, the artist grew up as a non-binary indigenous teenager and began exploring art and pop culture, as well as experimenting with her queer identity. Initially, La Chola was Mauricio's alter ego, suspended between biography and fiction, but, over time, she fully embraced this identity.

In some Latin American countries, particularly in Peru, Bolivia, and parts of Mexico and Central America, "chola" refers to a woman of indigenous or mestizo (mixed indigenous and European) descent, often associated with a particular urban subculture. However, in other contexts, it may have negative or derogatory implications, particularly when used to stereotype or stigmatize individuals based on their appearance or socioeconomic status.

In the context of La Chola Poblete's artwork and identity, the term carries complex layers of cultural and personal significance, reflecting her exploration of indigenous and mestizo heritage, as well as her engagement with themes of identity, gender, social justice and marginalization.

Besides, Poblete's works also examine the repercussions of colonialism and white supremacy in Argentina, spanning various mediums such as watercolors, paintings, sculptures, installations, and performances.

While exploring her indigenous and queer heritage, challenging stereotypes and the exoticization of indigenous culture, La Chola Poblete also sheds light on the historical struggles of women, transvestites, and transsexuals within religious and patriarchal ideologies.

At the Corderie, there is a selection of La Chola Poblete's watercolors on display, along with a photograph from her 2014 performance "Il Martirio di Chola," addressing the social marginalization of the Bolivian community in Argentina and the use of evangelization as a form of emotional and physical torture.

Her watercolor series on display - Purple María, Pachamama, Virgen de la Misericordia, La Virgen Mulata, María y el Cóndor and Immaculado corazón de Travo - are all part of the "Vírgenes Chola" series (Chola Virgins) in which the artist creates a sophisticated queer imagery, a tapestry of references incorporating a wide range of iconic symbols like the Virgin Mary, embodying syncretism between Western and indigenous cultures, interwoven with references to Andean culture and to La Chola Poblete's own mythologies.

According to Poblete, the Virgin is an iconic symbol, standing for the mother, the woman, the whore and the Pachamama (the Mother Earth to the Andean Communities), an image of fear and respect for the artist.

Around her, Poblete builds an entire imagery, made of pop motifs, abstract symbols, organic forms and hybrid beings, creatures with penises and high-heeled shoes, logos of bands and brands that hint at mass culture, or slightly altered logos ("Fame", from the '80s American musical film and television series gets transformed into "inFame"...), mixed with symbols of the Andes and references to the Incas.

It can take time to decode the symbolisms behind each of these works, but knowing her oeuvre may help you detecting in the watercolors references to her artworks or to objects and symbols that have turned into trademarks of her identity, such as from bread masks to potatoes.

According to the artist, her "Chola Virgins" are like songs: in these artworks each element conveys multiple meanings, referencing the everyday life and experiences, these symbols (or mythograms as she calls them), generate a narrative that is also interspersed with slogans, as such as "Basta de travesticidios" (Stop transicides), "En un mundo de gusanos capitalistas hay que tener coraje para ser una mariposa" (In a world of capitalist worms, one must have courage to be a butterfly) and "¿Dónde está Tehuel?" (Where is Tehuel?), shouted by Quino's iconic Mafalda, a reference to Tehuel de la Torre, a young trans man from Argentina who disappeared in March 2021.

"Qué hace un artista como yo en un lugar como este?" La Chola Poblete wonders in one of the artworks on display in the Arsenale. However, she appears to have discovered the answer to that question within her paintings, which serve as both political critique and as sophisticated exploration of queer imagery challenging cultural norms and traditional gender classifications.

This critical engagement earned La Chola Poblete a special mention from the jury at the Venice Biennal with the following motivation: "La Chola Poblete engages in critical play with histories of colonial representation from a trans Indigenous perspective. Her multivalent art - including watercolor, fabric, and photography - resists the exoticization of Indigenous women while she insists on the power of sexuality. She approaches Western religious iconography and indigenous spiritual practices with a trans and queer flair, inverting power relations with pieces that refer to ancestral knowledge from South America."

Image credits for this post

1 - 9. La Chola Poblete, "Vírgenes Chola". Installation views, The 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photographer: Anna Battista.

10. La Chola Poblete, The 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, Award Ceremony, 20th April 2024, Photo: Andrea Avezzù, Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.

Luminous Woven Structures, Intricate Traditional Patterns: Mataaho Collective's "Takapau" @ The 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia

There's a significant presence of textile artists or of artists inspired by textiles and weaving at the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, such as the Mataaho Collective.

Established in Aotearoa, New Zealand, in 2012, the collective comprises four Māori women artists - Bridget Reweti, Erena Arapere-Baker, Sarah Hudson, and Terri Te Tau. Over the past decade, they've honed their craft, creating large-scale fiber-based installations that look at the complexities of Māori life and knowledge systems, pushing the boundaries of weaving in innovative ways.

At the Arsenale, the collective presented "Takapau" (2022), a recreation of an installation originally showcased at the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.

The piece explores the weaving techniques of the takapau within Te Papa's collection alongside the whariki designed by Kura Te Waru Rewiri in Rongomaraeroa, created in the 1990s. 

The whariki takapau, intricately woven mats traditionally crafted with plants like harakeke or kiekie, elevate and add mana to significant events such as weddings, births and funerals.

The finely woven mats dictate therefore the space, transforming it from mundane to ceremonial, imbuing significance into every corner and delineating spaces within different ceremonial occasions. 

At the Arsenale, "Takapau" boasts perfect symmetry, its multiple perspectives offering viewers a diverse experience.

As stated above, "Takapau" is installed in the first room of the building, in a dialogue also with Yinka Shonibare's "Refugee Astronaut VIII" (2924) that, standing near the main door, looks as if it were heading towards the space station-like futuristic structure created by the Mataaho Collective.

The original ceremonial mats that inspired the installation are reinterpreted here as an architectural structure, dividing the space and forming intricate canopies over visitors' heads, casting light and shadow patterns on the floor and walls, symbolizing the transition between light and darkness and the duality of the Te Ao Marama (the realm of light) and Te Ao Atua (the realm of the gods). 

The woven structure is also a threshold between the outside world and the world of the biennale, almost a portal introducing to a chaos of colors and mediums that overwhelms the senses.

One key element of the installation is the material: constructed using polyester hi-vis tie-downs, stainless steel buckles, and j-hooks, "Takapau" layers industrial materials with cultural symbolism.

Indeed, these tie-downs, typically used for securing cargo, pay homage to laborers while underscoring themes of interdependence and legacy.

Fashion and textile designers can draw lessons from the collective's approach to materials, patterns, and space. Reflective straps and buckles serve as vital materials, intricately woven to create patterns and forming a very resistant roof that looks as if it were made of metal or aluminum, while space defines the installation's essence.

Besides, the collective shows how traditional art can be a starting point, something that can enrich the vision of a creative mind and turn into an inspiration rather than into mere appropriation.

Another important aspect of this installation is the hands-on approach: Archie Moore at the Australian Pavilion spent a couple of months hand-writing of the walls of the pavilion a monumental family tree; in this case the women behind the collective prefer a hands-on approach that involves weaving the installation by themselves.

Yesterday, at the 60th International Art Exhibition awarding ceremony, the collective won the Golden Lion for the Best Artist (marking the first time a New Zealand artwork has won the award), with the following motivation: "The Maori Mataaho Collective has created a luminous woven structure of straps that poetically crisscross the gallery space. Referring to matrilinear traditions of textiles with its womb-like cradle, the installation is both a cosmology and a shelter. Its impressive scale is a feat of engineering that was only made possibly by the collective strength and creativity of the group. The dazzling pattern of shadows cast on the walls and floor harks back to ancestral techniques and gestures to future uses of such techniques."

Will the Mataaho Collective ever be invited to collaborate with a fashion house at some point in future? Probably yes. They could indeed create site-specific artwork for a runway show or come up with a product collaboration. Maybe it is to early to say it, but I'm betting on Dior and Bottega Veneta.    

Image credits for this post

1 - 3. and 9. "Takapau" by the Mataaho Collective, Installation views, The 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Photographer: Marco Zorzanello. 

4 - 8. "Takapau" by the Mataaho Collective, Installation views, The 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photographer: Anna Battista.

10. The Mataaho Collective receives the Golden Lion for Best participation, The 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, Award Ceremony, 20th April 2024, Photo: Andrea Avezzù, Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.