Bard College Berlin at the Venice Biennale: Exploring Indigenous Art

Over fall break, a group of Bard College Berlin students from Prof. Dr. Dorothea von Hantelmann’s “Contemporary Art and the Politics of Exhibition Culture” course spent a week at the 60th Biennale di Venezia. The trip was made possible thanks to significant funding from the Bard Center for Indigenous Studies (CfIS).

A focal point of the study trip was attending the CfIS’s three-day convening in Venice with Bard Artist in Residence Jeffrey Gibson, who is representing United States at the Biennale. Gibson (Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee) is the first indigenous artist to do so. The conference, titled “if I read you/what I wrote bear/in mind I wrote it,” gathered Native and non-Native poets, academics, artists, musicians, curators, teachers, and students to address the interdisciplinary, transnational nature of Gibson’s work.
 
Students had the opportunity to tour the US Pavilion and meet directly with Gibson and Abigail Winograd, curator of the pavilion.
 
In addition, students toured the exhibitions "liminal" at Pinault Collection and "Monte di Pietà" at Fondazione Prada.
  

Throughout the semester leading up to the Biennale, students in von Hantelmann’s course addressed the history, conceptual agenda, and framework of the exhibition, considering individual artists and artworks with a focus on indigenous art.

After returning to Berlin, students are continuing their discussions of the Biennale and exhibition culture. They will meet online with Erëmirë Krasniqi, a Bard College Berlin alumna who curated the Biennale pavilion of the Republic of Kosovo, as well as with Kapwani Kiwanga, artist of the Canadian pavilion.

“For us,” von Hantelmann says, “this trip to the Venice Biennale was a great opportunity to see a lot of fantastic artworks, and, especially, to learn about and immerse ourselves in the diversity of indigenous art. Joining the convening with Jeffrey Gibson, Abigail Winograd, and Christian Crouch from the CfIS with so many incredible artists and thinkers was an inspiring experience, which truly expanded our horizon.”

Learn more about the Center for Indigenous Studies here.

Post Date: 11-19-2024