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AO On Site at the 54th Venice Biennale 2011: The Courtauld Institute’s “One of a Thousand Ways to Defeat Entropy,” through November 27, 2011

Saturday, June 18th, 2011


Alexander Ponomarev, Baffin Figure, 2006, Performance, Baffin Sea.

Currently on view at the Arsenale Novissima in Venice, Italy is “One of a Thousand Ways to Defeat Entropy.” Organized by the Courtauld Institute of Art, in collaboration with AVC Charity Foundation, the exhibition is one of the official collateral programs of the 54th Venice Biennale. Curated by Alexander Ponomarev and Nadim Samman, the exhibition comprises of  four contemporary artists have been commissioned to create a site-specific work engaging with the theme of entropy: Adrian Ghenie (London/Berlin), Hans Op de Beeck (Brussels), Ryoichi Kurokawa (Osaka/Berlin), and Ponomarev himself (Moscow).

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AO On Site at the 54th Venice Biennale 2011: Dasha Zukhova and The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture presents “Commercial Break” curated by Neville Wakefield

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Move over vaporetti — there’s a new barge in town. Slated to gracing the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice over the past five days was a project by The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, entitled “Commercial Break.” The exhibition is organized by Neville Wakefield, a contemporary art writer prolific curator globally. Powered by POST Magazine, “Commercial Break” considers itself to be a provocative architectural intervention in a city where no advertising is traditionally displayed. Unfortunately, as Artinfo reported, the city pulled permits a few days before and the videos were instead screened at the project’s Bauer Hotel party. The woman behind the “GCCC” is Dasha Zukhova, girlfriend of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich; it is the institution’s second project in Venice.  All videos are now viewable on the exhibition’s website.


Among videos featured is one by  Richard Phillips, starring Lindsey Lohan.

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