Church Plans Art Pavilion at Biennale
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Version 0 of 1. VATICAN CITY — It commissioned the Sistine Chapel, countless portraits of popes and even Matisse’s chapel in Vence, France. Now the Roman Catholic Church will sponsor its first pavilion at the Venice Biennale, featuring the Czech photographer Josef Koudelka, the Milan-based multimedia group Studio Azzurro and the artist Lawrence Carroll. The Vatican’s presence at the Biennale is the brainchild of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, an exuberant polymath who as president of the Pontifical Council for Culture since 2009 has tried to build bridges between the church and contemporary culture, two worlds that have often clashed. Rather than requiring the artists to create liturgical art, Cardinal Ravasi said he had asked them to explore the theme of “Creation, De-Creation and Re-Creation” for the 55th edition of the international art exhibition, which opens on June 1 and includes pavilions from more than 80 countries. “We want to create an atmosphere of dialogue between art and faith,” Cardinal Ravasi said at a news conference on Tuesday. In the past the church has fiercely criticized some works of contemporary art, especially those using religious symbols — most notably Andres Serrano’s 1987 “Piss Christ,” a photograph in which a crucifix is suspended in a vial of urine. But Paolo Baratta, president of the Venice Biennale, said he did not expect such controversies at this year’s show. “I’m not ready to say whether a priest or a cardinal will have a neutral reaction in the face of a sculpture or painting,” he said, referring to the other works that will be on display in Venice. “But this is a problem of theirs, not mine.” For the theme of “Creation,” Studio Azzurro will present an interactive video, “In Principle (and Beyond),” which includes images of deaf-mutes and female prison inmates who tell their family histories. The collective is known for its large-scale interactive videos, which often break down the wall between viewer and subject. Paolo Rosa, a founder of Studio Azzurro, said the group had been concerned that the Vatican would dictate what it should produce. “But there was no type of interference,” he said. On the theme of “De-creation,” Mr. Koudelka, a photographer with Magnum who is known for his rich black-and-white photographs, will display 18 large-scale images. Mr. Carroll engages the subject of “Re-Creation.” He will show five abstract multimedia paintings informed by the Italian movement Arte Povera. Mr. Carroll said that although he was raised as a Catholic, he had had no previous contacts with the Vatican. “They asked no questions about my religious belief,” he said on Tuesday. He said he had been working round-the-clock in a rented studio north of Rome to create the paintings that will be shown in Venice. The Vatican paid some of the expenses for the artists to create the works, but Mr. Carroll said he did not know who would ultimately own them after the Biennale ended. The artists were chosen by a small committee led by Cardinal Ravasi and Micol Forti, the director of contemporary art at the Vatican Museums. |