biennale di venezia news
Biennale events in 2007: anticipations
The board of directors of the Venice Biennale has chosen the dates for the 2007 events. The Venice Film Festival (Mostra del Cinema di Venezia) will take place from 29 August to 8 September,
the Visual Arts Biennale (Biennale Arti Visive) from 10 June to 21 November,
the Dance Biennale (Biennale Danza) from 14 to 29 June,
the Theatre Biennale (Biennale Teatro) from 18 to 29 July, and Music from 4 to 13 October.
The Venice Biennale's director Davide Croff also said a few words about the "competition" between the two film festivals - Rome and Venice - saying that "our festival isn't and doesn't want be a national-popular feast like the one in Rome. We are an International Presentation of the Art of Cinema, the oldest in the world, and we want to maintain our identity. We aren't afraid of anybody." Marco Muller, president of the Venice Film Festival, made the first announcements about the 65th edition, whose retrospective will be dedicated to the "spaghetti western"; for the first time, some of the screenings will take place in historic locations, such as the Arsenale, the Doge's Palace, and the Fenice Theatre.
Upcoming! 52nd International Art Exhibition, June 10 to November 21, 2007
a CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The 52nd International Art Exhibition will run in Venice from June 10 to November 21, 2007 in the African Pavilion.
As an integral part of the Exhibition, a space has been opened up in the core of the international exhibition area and set aside for a special African Pavilion. La Biennale di Venezia invited proposals for such an exhibition, from any interested parties with expertise and a broad view of contemporary art in Africa. The goal is an exhibition that will offer an informed and distinctive perspective on current work being made on the African continent, and, at the discretion of the curators, in the African diaspora. It is not intended that this pavilion be constituted as an amalgam of national or regional pavilions. The call for paper closed on October 31, 2006.
As its contribution to the project, La Biennale di Venezia will make the space available for free, in the Artiglierie building at the Arsenale, and will provide basic security and electricity during the run of the show (exceptional needs with regard to the latter will be the responsibility of the organizers.)
Archive
16 January 2004 - The Venetian manager Davide Croff is the new president of La Biennale di Venezia -- which will become a cultural foundation. The aim of Giuliano Urbani, the Italian minister for Culture, is to give new impulse and a dramatic change in the management of La Biennale. Mr. Croff, born in 1947, has a wide experience in banking and finance -- he has been also vice general director and managing director at Banca Nazionale del Lavoro -- and is a renown manager, one of the most influencing people in Italy. He declared that he is going to relaunch La Biennale internationally, opening its door to private sponsorships.
The innovations promoted by Minister Urbani raised controversies in Venice, as the city fears a loss of power and does not want the cultural policies to be planned by the capital Rome; the choice of such a skilled -- and Venetian -- manager may... calm the waters down.
2002 - peter brook in venice. and more
Carolyn Carlson, Giorgio Barberio Corsetti and Bruno Canino (the directors of Dance, Theater and Music sectors respectively) are at their Biennale's offices yet and they have organized a good 2002 program even though they have been confirmed only a month ago. From may 2nd to September 29th the shows of Venice Biennale will be 88 and then Venetians and tourists will have only to take their pick during the best months of the year. First to start, the Dance sector that's directed by the American dancer and choreographer Carolyn Carlson, will propose 20 shows at the traditional spaces (Piccolo Arsenale and Verde Theater in San Giorgio island) but this season also at Fondamenta Nuove Theater. The Theater sector of Giorgio Barberio Corsetti will open with Peter Brook in Venice. The English myth will speak on a conference with the Italian critic Franco Quadri on May 28th but during the 2002 Biennale there will be also a drama ("La tragédie d'Hamlet" at Tese Theater from May 29th to June 1st) directed by Brook. A great privilege. Bruno Canino has organized his Music Sector under the sign of the 20th Century. New music played by 19 composers: famous artists like Bruno Maderna and new musicians like Luca Mosca or Claudio Ambrosini.
About Peter Brook:
Born in 1925 in London, Peter Brook is the modern stage's greatest inventor. For over fifty years he has held audiences spellbound with his critically acclaimed productions. Brook is especially known for his experimental theatrical productions wherein he has explored the relationship between the audience and the stage performance, through the conveyance of realism and the inner truth of the piece. At twenty-one Brook became the enfant terrible of British theatre directing major post-war productions of Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon, opera at Covent Garden and new plays in London's West End. In 1964 he produced Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade for the Royal Shakespeare Company and his whole approach to theatre became radicalised. In 1970, he moved to France and co-founded the International Center for Theatre Research where he still works today, an entity dedicated to experiment with the medium. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Brook began exploring the roots of non-Western theatre which once again changed his view of what theatre could be for actors and audiences. His masterpiece is "The Mahabarata" (1989), a monumental work (nine hours) on the epic Sanskrit poem. Peter Brook made also some films ("The Beggar's Opera" (1953), starring Laurence Olivier; "King Lear" (1971), starring Paul Scofield) and he wrote some books ("The empty space" and "Threads of time").