There's something Dysfunctional at the Venice Biennale

2019-04-16T18:19:00-04:00

The Venice Art Biennale is regarded as the most significant art exhibitions in the world. With artists and designers from across the globe showcasing their work, co-founders of the Carpenters Workshop Gallery were moved to wonder "What defines an artwork?" "Why can artworks not be functional?" and "When does design become art?" For Julien Lombrail and Loic Le Gaillard these questions led them to stage their immersive exhibition called DYSFUNCTIONAL. The collaborative exhibition will feature 17 artists from their gallery roster to participate in a collaborative dialogue between the artists' works and the mesmerizing architecture of Ca'd'Oro. Also known as the Palazzo Santa Sofia, this 589-year old palace sits along the Grand Canal in Venice. Using the palace as a counterpart to the featured works, the exhibition allows for rising and established artists to intersect the boundaries of art, architecture and design.

Ca’ d’Oro. Image Courtesy of Ministero dei beni e delle attività cultur...

Ghana to debut at Venice Biennale with David Adjaye-designed pavilion

2019-02-25T13:33:00-05:00

Works by artists such as John Akomfrah, El Anatsui and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye will go on show in Ghana’s first national pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale this spring (11 May-24 November). The Ghanaian pavilion, located in the Artiglierie of the historic Arsenale, will be designed by the prominent UK-Ghanaian architect David Adjaye, who is working on a number of cultural initiatives aimed at boosting the profile of the west African country.

"Titled ‘Ghana Freedom’, after the song composed by E.T. Mensah on the eve of the birth of the new nation in 1957, the pavilion curated by Nana Oforiatta Ayim examines the legacies and trajectories of that freedom by six artists, across three generations, rooted both in Ghana and its Diasporas: through archives of objects in large-scale installations by El Anatsui and Ibrahim Mahama; representation and portraiture, both in the studio work of Ghana's first known female photographer Felicia Abban and imagined by painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye; and the relativities of loss and restitution in a 3-channel film by John Akomfrah and in a film sculpture by Selasi Awusi Sosu. The elliptically-shaped design of the pavilion by Sir David Adjaye explores the intersection of ideas linking the works." (Project description via Ghana Pavilion Venice Biennale 2019)

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There's something Dysfunctional at the Venice Biennale

Ghana to debut at Venice Biennale with David Adjaye-designed pavilion