CONCILIO
Stefano Cagol
54th International Art Exhibition -
la Biennale di Venezia
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CONCILIO
Stefano Cagol
Collateral Event
of the 54th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia
Chiesa di San
Gallo (San Gallo Church)
San Marco 1103,
Campo San Gallo, Venice
May 31 – November
27, 2011
Opening: May 31, 6
pm
Curated by: Gregor
Jansen
Scientific
Direction: Gabriella Belli, Andrea Viliani
Mart – Museum of
Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto and Fondazione
Galleria Civica-Center of Research on Contemporaneity of Trento as
promoting institutions are proud to announce Stefano Cagol’s
participation at 54th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di
Venezia with the solo show CONCILIO at San Gallo Church.
“Between
the pyramids as symbol for eternity and power and borders as a symbol
for inclusion/exclusion and power, the interior of the Church of San
Gallo in Venice becomes a perfect context for religious background and
intellectual power. In the world—between the terrestrial, the political
and the religious—spiritual power is not enough.” Gregor Jansen
In Stefano Cagol’s solo show curated
by Gregor Jansen, new oxymorons are triggered – through video and
installation – by signaling and dialoging actions that hit political
borders, natural borders, mental borders.
Developed through the joining of
opposites, the splitting of like entities, through “parallel
convergences” that generate a liminal landscape and a territory on
borders, the solo show CONCILIO ideally starts from Stefano Cagol’s
place of birth, “a territory marking the passage between South and
North, Rome and Wittenberg, between Italy and Germany: Trento, Trentino
South Tyrol.” The very first reference to his city of origin is to be
found in the title which draws back immediately to the Concilio di
Trento, the Council of Trient. So sense of belonging, identity and
history correspond to a site and to an historical landmark, to what is
nowadays defined as a “highly unpredictable event” – i.e. an event with
a controversial influence reaching our daily complexities from a very
distant past – that brings also the opposite idea of tension towards
the unknown and the unforeseen.
Within the frame of San Gallo Church
of the 15th century, a symbolic presence, a complex pyramidical
structure connects different faces to a unique apex. In this way, it
evokes the idea of synergy, of coincidence, of “parallel
convergences,” the not univocal idea of “council,” and refers
also to the public art intervention just realised by Cagol for the new
A22 gate of Trento: a permanent monumental installation of 16 tons of
steel.
In the video installation, other
oppositions are protagonists – atmospheres of ice and snow, wind and
water, of ethereal flames and light. The artist has gone beyond the
Artctic Polar Circle, to a place characterized by a series of
convergences of dissonances: it is the Barents region, the meeting
point of the Norwegian, Finnish, and Russian borders. Chosen in the
moment in which the short sun becomes pallid like the snow of the
mountains that it licks. There, the artist has given life to a series
of “actions on the border:” signals that underline a border, different
borders, but at the same time they shake it, they cross it. Actions of
signaling and communicating, of control and passage.
On the occasion of CONCILIO solo show
at Venice Biennale, a mid-career monograph dedicated to Stefano Cagol
is launched: it is titled PUBLIC OPINION. It contains essays by
Iara Boubnova, Gregor Jansen, Michele Robecchi, Andrea Viliani, and
contributions by Andreas F. Beitin, Francesco Bernardelli, Stefan
Bidner, Cis Bierinckx, Shane Brennan, Achille Bonito Oliva, Alfredo
Cramerotti, Blanca de la Torre, Giacinto di Pietrantonio, Bruce Elder,
David Elliott, Micaela Giovannotti, Luba Kuzovnikova, Veit Loers,
Esther Lu, Trevor Smith, Pier Luigi Tazzi, Nicola Trezzi, Kamila
Wielebska, June Yap, Raúl Zamudio. The monograph – curated by
Andera Viliani – has been realized by Fondazione Galleria Civica-Center
of Research on Contemporaneity of Trento in the context of the project
Opera Civica (TN), for the years 2010-11, which has been made thanks to
the support of the Provincia autonoma di Trento. The book (232 pages,
paperback, 30 x 23 cm, ISBN 978-88-8158-820-6) is bilingual
(Italian/English), is published by CHARTA, Milan, while its graphic
design is by Thomas Desmet, Ghent.
CONCILIO
Stefano Cagol
Chiesa di San Gallo
San Marco 1103, Campo San Gallo,
Venice
May 31 – November 27, 2011
Opening hours: 10 am – 6 pm
Monday closed. Free entrance
Curated by: Gregor Jansen
Scientific Direction: Gabriella
Belli, Andrea Viliani
Opening: May 31, 6 – 8:30 pm
Preview: May 31, 10 am – 6 pm
Stefano Cagol was born in Trento,
Italy and lives and works in Trento and in Brussels, Belgium. He just
ended an artist in residence at International Studio and Curatorial
Program (ISCP) in New York and an artist in residence by BAR
International of Pikene på Broen in Kirkenes, beyond Arctic
Circle in Norway.
Gregor Jansen is director of
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and former head of department at ZKM |
Museum of Contemporary Art Karlsruhe.
Promoting institutions:
Mart – Museum of Modern and
Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto
Fondazione Galleria Civica-Center of
Research on Contemporaneity of Trento
Press Contact: press@concilio-biennalevenezia.org
CONCILIO Stefano Cagol . 54th
International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia . Curated by: Gregor Jansen . Scientific Direction: Gabriella
Belli, Andrea Viliani
Chiesa di San Gallo (San Gallo
Church), San Marco, Venice . 10 am – 6 pm . Free entrance . Monday
closed . May
31 – November 27, 2011
Promoting
Institutions: Mart – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento
and Rovereto . Fondazione
Galleria Civica – Center of Research on Contemporaneity of Trento
info@concilio-biennalevenezia.org
. press@concilio-biennalevenezia.org .
www.concilio-biennalevenezia.org