June Crespo and Teresa Solar, on their way to the Venice Biennale

Write the names of frizzy June It is Teresa Solar Abboud because they are the only two contemporary Spanish artists who are among the 213 creators who will travel this year to the 59th Venice Biennale. The event, which will take place from April 23rd to November 27th, is artistically directed by Cecilia Alemani, director of High Line Art, who “intends to give artists a voice to create unique projects that reflect their visions and our society,” he said. at a press conference.

With this objective, the two sculptors are preparing the works with which they will arrive in the Italian city. Furthermore, four other artists, now deceased, expand the list of Spanish women participating in the central exhibition: the surrealist painters Maruja Mallo (Creche, 1912 – Madrid, 1995) and varus remedies (English, 1908 – Mexico City, 1963) and the artists and mediums Josefa Tolra (Cabrils, 1880-1959) and Georgina Houghton (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1814 – London, 1884).

June Crespo (Pamplona, ​​​​​​1982) experimented with all types of materials in her sculptures. He melted, altered, folded and mixed them with scraps of fabric (jeans, shirts and backpacks included), flowers, magazines and, lately, his own photos. At the end of 2020, the Artium Museum in Vitória organized his most ambitious solo exhibition to date and the María José Jove Foundation published the first monograph dedicated to his work.

Teresa Solar Abboud (Madrid, 1985) has deserved the applause of national critics since her work stood out in the now distant edition of Generations 2012, and outside Spain, by curator Chus Martínez with an exhibition at Der Tank, in Basel, and at TBA21. He also participated in the SkülpturenPark in Cologne and the 2020 Liverpool Biennial, curated by Manuela Moscoso. With a work that oscillates between the audiovisual and the sculptural, Solar challenges the viewer with new questions.

Between the dream and the human

The Venetian event, which had to be postponed due to the coronavirus, is planned as a journey between the human and the dreamlike and, according to Alemani, will have a hybrid format, will feature 213 artists from 58 countries and there will be 1,433 works and objects on display.

The central exhibition will take place in the Central Pavilion and the Arsenale, where 180 of the creators are participating for the first time. The Milk of Dreams is the title that Alemani borrowed from a book by Leonora Carrington for this exhibition. In it, “the surrealist artist describes a magical world where life is constantly rethought through the prism of imagination. It is a world where everyone can change, transform, become something or someone else. In this sense, the exhibition “takes Carrington's supernatural creatures, along with other figures, as companions on an imaginary journey through the metamorphoses of the body and definitions of humanity”, points out Alemani.

The idea for this exhibition came from many conversations with different artists over the last few years. The questions that arose were related to a time like this when survival is threatened. How is the definition of human changing? What constitutes life and what differentiates plants and animals, humans and non-humans? What are our responsibilities to the planet, other people and other life forms? And what would life be like without us? These were some of the questions that Alemani raised for artists to use as a reference or source of inspiration.

The relationship with technology

Among the themes that invite reflection is that of the relationship between people and technologiesand whether machines can supplant men, a debate that “intensified with the pandemic, when societies were caged behind screens of electronic devices”, argued the Italian commissioner.

Alemani also stated that when visitors visit the exhibition in the Central Pavilion and the Corderie, they find five historical sections the smallest: miniature constellations of artworks, found objects and documents, grouped together to explore some key themes. “Conceived as time capsules, these shows within shows provide additional tools of investigation and introspection, weaving a web of references and echoes that link works of art from the past, including major museum loans and unconventional selections, with the pieces of artists contemporary in the surrounding space”.

In this sense, this “transhistorical approach traces the relationships and affinities between artistic methods and practices, even across generations, to create new layers of meaning and unite the present and the past. What emerges is a historical narrative that is not built around systems of direct inheritance or conflict, but rather around forms of symbiosis, solidarity and fraternity”.

The president of the Venice Biennale, Roberto Cicutto, indicated that the Alemani exhibition “imagine new harmonies, hitherto unthinkable coexistences and surprising solutions precisely because they move away from anthropocentrism. A journey at the end of which there are no losers, but where new alliances are created, generated by a dialogue between different beings with all the natural elements that our planet presents to us”. Thus, “artists’ traveling companions come from very different worlds. Cecília tells us that there is a majority of female artists and non-binary subjects, a choice that I support because it reflects the richness of the creative force of our time”, he concluded.

On the other hand, Cicutto emphasized that the Republic of Cameroon, Namibia, Nepal, Oman and Uganda will participate for the first time, while Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will have their own pavilion, something that has never happened before.

Furthermore, in 2021, the Venice Biennale launched a plan to reconsider all its activities around recognized and established principles of environmental sustainability. Until 2022, the objective is to extend the achievement of the “carbon neutrality” certification obtained in 2021.

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