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.
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