06 May 2011

THE PAVILION OF AZERBAIJAN 54th International Art Exhibition la Biennale di Venezia

THE PAVILION OF AZERBAIJAN
54th International Art Exhibition
la Biennale di Venezia

June-September 2011 presents

RELATIONAL, OF BAKÛ

MIKAYIL ABDURAHMANOV, ZEIGAM AZIZOV, KHANLAR GASIMOV,
AGA OUSSEINOV, ALTAI SADIGHZADEH, AIDAN SALAKHOVA

distinguished artists from Azerbaijan will present their works in the Azerbaijan Pavilion, in the 54th International Art Exhibition la Biennale di Venezia, in Palazzo Benzon .

The paintings of Mikayil Abdurahmanov and Altai Sadighzadeh, the sculptures of Aidan Salakhova and Khanlar Gasimov, the multidisciplinary installations of Zeigam Azizov and Aga Ousseinov were conceived in accordance to 'Illuminations', the concept of the biennale and will be installed with dialectical arrangement to the abundantly decorated rooms of Palazzo Benzon. The works of these artists markedly advocate an inspiring culture of Baku, but the content and aesthetics of their work is extremely relational, intricate and complex and need to be perceived within the current common discourse of global art. Their current environmental context might be diverse, but their imaginary and hypothetical horizon, which opens to inter-cultural and inter-human relations, is common. Like many other of their generation, these artists have witnessed and experienced the political and economical transformation of the last four decades; all of them had a strong modernist inheritance, even if it was determined by Soviet ideology; and later all of them have experienced the rise of culture as symbolic capital. For all of them, Baku is the nucleus of the fire that has ignited their creativity, but they all had a desire to break through the borders of that officially programmed art and culture.

In current cultural environments in South Caucasus, Middle-East and the East Mediterranean there is a fusion of tradition, modernism, post-modernism and relational aesthetics, over and above a quest for subjectivity within the democratization processes. The works of these artists strongly reflect this fusion and subjectivity. However, this fusion and quest for subjectivity distinguishes itself from the Western model. In one perspective it strikingly embodies a 20th century rupture and unity of contradictory forms and concepts under the influence of Eurocentrism, Orientalism, Nationalism, Utopia and Chaos; in the other it includes the general reification of human relationship under the restraints of market economy. Yet, despite all these challenges the artistic praxis is pursuing globally widespread interests, effective and convincing opinions and enriching imaginary that come to existence in visual productions.

The tradition in Azerbaijan, as deep as Prehistory, is intentionally displayed in the graphic identity of the pavilion with an ornamental double-gondola, a picture inscribed onto the Gobustan rocks, southwest of Baku. The double-gondola from Baku, transported to the Grand Canale in Venice represents the universal cultural relations based on visual expression and production.

The Azerbaijan Pavilion is realized under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The exhibition is curated by curator and comissar of the Pavilion Cinghiz Farzaliev and curator Beral Madra (BM Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul) with the contributions of co-commissioner Vittorio Urbani (Nuova Icona, Venice).

The team of the Pavilion respectively consists of; Assistant Curator: Amina Melikova; Editor: Togrul Afandiyev; Coordinator: Mila Askarova; Coordinator: Suad Garayeva: Photographer & Designer: Farhad Farzaliev; and Exhibition Architect and Designer: Vincenzo Casali. The venue of the Pavilion of the Republic of Azerbaijan is Palazzo Benzon on Canale Grande (Vaporetto Station Sant'Angelo).