The Chile and Denmark Pavilions at the 2022 Venice Biennale
The Chile and Denmark Pavilions – on the occasion of the next Biennale Arte scheduled in Venice from 23 April to 27 November – will present two exhibitions that will address issues related to the climatic and environmental urgency and the relationship between human beings and nature.
The picture of national participation in the next one is increasingly delineated Venice International Art Exhibitionwhose 59th edition is scheduled from 23 April to 27 November 2022under the banner of The milk of dreamsthe theme around which the review curated by Cecilia Alemani. After the presentation of the awaited Italian Pavilion – which will see the artist as protagonist Gian Maria Tosatti with the project History of the night and fate of cometswith the curatorship of Eugenio Viola – to reveal the contents of their pavilions are also Chile and Denmark, with two exhibitions that will deal – albeit with different languages and styles – issues related to climatic and environmental urgency and the relationship between human beings and nature.
THE CHILE PAVILION AT THE VENICE BIENNALE 2022
Turba Tol Hol-Hol Tol is the title of the project that the Chile will present at the Arsenale, an exhibition curated by Camila Marambio that uses a multidisciplinary team of Chilean creatives, including the artist Ariel Bustamantethe art historian Carla Macchiavellothe director Dominga Sotomayorthe architect Alfredo Thiermannthe ecologist Barbara Saavedrathe writer Selk’nam Hema’ny Molina. The Selk’nam population – indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego, in Patagonia – is at the center of the Pavilion concept: Hol-Hol Tol in the language of the Selk’nam it means “heart of the bogs “whose history and the urgency of their protection and conservation are told. “The peat bogs”underline the organizers of the Chile Pavilion, “they play a crucial role in regulating the planet’s climate by absorbing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in deep layers of organic matter (peat). This makes these neglected areas among the most valuable ecosystems on Earth, but peatlands are neglected due to their buried structure. This condition increases their exposure to serious threats: mining, peat harvesting, and drainage. Once drained and destroyed, peatlands go from being carbon sinks to being sources of carbon emissions, releasing enormous quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere “.
THE DENMARK PAVILION AT THE VENICE BIENNALE
The artist Uffe Isolotto is the protagonist of the Denmark Pavilion at the Giardini, with an exhibition entitled We walked the earth: it is a large installation that immerses the public in a hyper-realistic world in which elements of the idyllic Danish peasant life of the past are merged with imaginative phenomena of the future “To create a disturbing image of an uncertain present”. We walked the earth tells the story of a family of three centaurs in a “transhuman” world: the public will be able to enter their home, cross the rooms containing objects, personal effects, food and work tools, all wrapped in an atmosphere that is difficult to decipher. Is it a tragic or an idyllic dimension in a world in constant evolution (and involution)?
– Desirée Maida