Mabel Palacin: 180° / Catalonia and Balearic Islands at Venice Art Biennale

Mabel Palacin: 180° courtesy the artist and Institu Ramon Llull, 54th Venice Art Biennale

Mabel Palacín: 180º is the title of a project which, curated by David G. Torres and promoted by the Institut Ramon Llull, will represent Catalonia and the Balearic Islands in their first joint participation in the Venice Art Biennale, the world’s most important contemporary arts show. It is a video-art installation in line with earlier works by Mabel Palacín, which have all won unanimous plaudits from the international critics. In her proposal, Palacín reflects on the crisis in the status of the image and the change in its relations with reality.

The project was first presented at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Barcelona, with the attendance of the Minister of Culture in the Catalan government, Ferran Mascarell, and the director of the Institut Ramon Llull, Vicenç Villaltoro, who spoke of the importance of the presence of Catalonia and the Balearics at the Venice Biennale. For their part, David G. Torres and Mabel Palacín explained what  Mabel Palacín 180º will consist of.

The starting point of Mabel Palacín: 180º is an image of an indeterminate place in Venice, photographed with extraordinary precision and detail. Subsequently, the same view is shot in video, so that this image is split into multiple points of view and different micronarratives. In this way, a series of contrasts is produced between the still image and the image in movement. In the words of the curator, David G. Torres, “the two proposals, the still filmed image and the videos which are at the vanishing points, reflect on the city as a setting for collectivity and a backdrop on which to develop different visions or views”.

The title of Palacín’s project comes from what is known in cinema as the “180-degree rule”, which determines how characters must be positioned with respect to the camera to avoid confusing the viewer. Mabel Palacín: 180º is a response to the loss of the link that used to exist between a photograph and reality and centres on a change of the viewer’s position with respect to the images and their implications. Mabel Palacín’s work is not only a reflection on the image in the contemporary situation but also seeks to offer a working basis on which art could reconstruct a usage of images.

The Catalonia and Balearic Islands project can be seen at Magazzino del Sale number 2. It will be open from 4 June until 30 October this year.

In parallel with this, in the same building as the Mabel Palacín: 180º presentation, there will be a cycle of lectures organised by the Institut Ramon Llull and the Venetian Sale collective. There will be a series of talks on current issues by prominent people.

Selection process

The process to select the curator and the artist to represent Catalonia and the Balearic Islands in Venice was open and transparent. The choice was made by a jury, put forward by the board of the Institut Ramon Llull, made up of seven internationally-recognised professionals. This committee of experts was chaired by Vicent Todolí, who was director of the Tate Modern in London until last June, and also included Bartomeu Marí, director of the MACBA; Laurence Rassel, director of the Fundació Antoni Tàpies; Joan Fontcuberta, artist; Cristina Ros, director of the Museu Es Baluard; Joan Cortés Servera, artist; and Bestué-Vives, artists invited to the international Art Biennale 2009.

Twenty-eight projects were entered, a third of them from abroad. From all these, the jury selected five finalists, who were interviewed, and finally, last September the project by David G. Torres and Mabel Palacín was chosen.

The Institut Ramon Llull took part in the Biennale for the first time in 2009 with the project La comunitat inconfessable, curated by Valentín Roma, an exhibition that was seen by more than 45,000 visitors.

 

Exhibition title: Mabel Palacin: 180°

curator David G. Torres for Institut Ramon Llull
Location: Magazzino Del Sale 2
Dorsoduro 265 Venezia
Dates: From June 4th to October 30, 2011
54ma Venice Arte Biennial – Catalogna and Balearic Islands Pavillion

To reach Magazzino del Sale 2 from Piazzale Roma or Ferrovia (Santa Lucia Train station):

Ferry boat 61, direction Lido, stop Santo Spirito; ferry boat 2, direction Lido, stop Accademia; Ferry boat 1, direction Lido, stop Accademia or Salute.

To reach Magazzino del Sale 2 from Piazza San Marco:

Ferry boat 62, direction P. Roma, stop Santo Spirito; Ferry boat 2, direction P. Roma, stop Accademia; Ferry boat 1, direction P. Roma, stop Salute or Accademia.