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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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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All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

“In Praise of Doubt” is the second half of two exhibitions currently staged by the Francois Pinault Foundation. It housed in the Punta della Dogana just a stone’s throw from Palazzo Grassi, where part one, “The World Belongs to You” can be found. The two exhibitions share a curator, Caroline Bourgeois, and both run in parallel with the Venice Biennale 2011.

The exhibition presents both historical pieces and new works, several of which are site-specific projects. The theme, as hinted by its title, is uncertainty, the questioning of identity, and revisiting intimate space in relation to the space of the artwork. The artists included are art world regulars Adel Abdesemed, Marcel Broodthaers, Maurizio Cattelan, Subodh Gupta, David Hammons, Roni Horn, Thomas Houseago, Donald Judd, Edward Keinholz, Jeff Koons, Paul McCarthy, Julie Mehretu, Bruce Nauman, Sigmar Polke, Thomas Schutte, Sturtevant, Tatiana Trouve, and Chen Zhen. Out of these twenty, a surprising half have never been exhibited before in an exhibition by the Francois Pinault Foundation.

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Marya Kazoun, They were there (2011). All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed unless otherwise noted.

Glasstress 2011 is an exhibition devoted solely to glass, featuring internationally renowned artists, architects, and designers such as Zaha Hadid, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Kiki Smith, Doug and Mike Starn, Fred Wilson, Marya Kazoun, Huan Zhang, and even musician Pharrell Williams. It is one of the official 37 collateral events of the biennale, and also includes a reinstallment of Doug and Mike Starn’s Big Bambú on the roof of the Dorsoduro, next door to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

The walkway of Doug and Mike Starn’s Big Bambú. Image courtesy NYT.

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I, Impostor. All images by Cristiano Corte, courtesy of the British Council, unless otherwise noted.

Mike Nelson, who has twice been short-listed for the Turner Prize, is the first installation artist to be invited by the British Council to create a new work in the UK’s Pavilion in the 2011 Venice Biennale. Nelson is known for site-specific large scale installations with enigmatic titles: The Deliverance and the Patience (2001), Triple Bluff Canyon (2004), To the Memory of HP Lovecraft (2008), and so on. Curated by Richard Riley, with Andrea Rose as Commissioner, this transformative pavilion is one of the most talked about at this year’s biennale.

British Pavilion. Photograph by John Riddy, courtesy of Matt’s Gallery London, Franco Noero Turin, and 303 Gallery New York.

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All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

Art Observed was on site for “The Heard and the Unheard,” a project by Soundscape Taiwan.  The installation, housed in the Taiwan Pavilion (in the Palazzo delle Prigioni), was curated by Amy Cheng with artists Hong-Kai Wu and Yu-Hsien Yu, in collaboration with the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. The inauguration of the installation kicked off with a party entitled “Sounds Edgy!” with performances by Fujui Wang and DJ @llen. In the background, the Sound Library/Bar provides a backdrop of Taiwan’s socio-historical context and the current impetus for change.

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Central “International” Pavilion, which partially houses the 54th International Art Exhibition. All images by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

Curated by Bice Curiger, The 54th International Art Exhibition opened today to the public. Displayed are works from newcomers and established artists including Maurizio Cattelan, Martin Creed, Trisha Donnelly, Urs Fischer, Fischli & Weiss, Klara Lidén, Christian Marclay, Philippe Parreno, Sigmar Polke, Pipilotti Rist, Cindy Sherman, and James Turrell. The exhibition’s title, and this year’s theme, is ILLUMInations, inspired in part by 16th century Venetian painter Tintoretto, whose works Curiger boldly included in the exhibition.

Earlier today, Biennale Director Paolo Baratta announced the winners of three official prizes decided on by the International Jury of the 54th International Art Exhibition.

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Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore, the site of Anish Kapoor’s “Ascension.” All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

Anish Kapoor‘s new project at the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice is “Ascension.” Backed by Galleria Continua (in collaboration with Fondazione Giorgio Cini and illycaffe), the project is curated by Lorenzo Fiaschi. In the site-specific installation, a column of white smoke rises from a circular base at the intersection between the transept and the nave of the basilica, making the immaterial tangible.

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All photos by Caroline Claisse.

Andrea Thal and Thomas Hirschhorn represent Switzerland in the 2011 Venice Biennale.  Previous representatives have included Silvia Bächli and Fabrice Gygi (2009), Ugo Rondinone (2007), and Pipilotti Rist (2005) whose work is visible in the Arsenale.

Hirschhorn is a Bern-born, Paris-based artist best known for large-scale “DIY” style installations using duct tape and tinfoil.  Thal’s practice is based in music and performance; she runs an artist-run gallery space in Zurich, Les Complices.* Hirschhorn has also created a special website for the project, which provides insight into his working process: Crystals of Resistance.

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All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

One of the biggest official collateral events of the 54th Venice Biennale is “Venice in Venice.” The exhibition’s fill title is “Venice in Venice: Glow & Reflection – Venice California Art from 1960 to the Present,” organized by Foundation 20 21 and taking place June 1st – July 31st at Palazzo Contarini Dagli Scrigni. Curated by Tim Nye and Jaqueline Miro, the exhibition include works by seminal Southern California artists Peter Alexander, John Altoon, Charles Arnoldi, Billy Al Bengston, Larry Bell, Tony Berlant, Wallace Berman, Vija Celmins, Bruce Conner, Ron Cooper, Mary Corse, Laddie John Dill, Joe Goode, Robert Graham, George Herms, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John McCracken, Ed Moses,Kenneth Price, Ed Ruscha, and James Turrell.

Curator Jacqueline Miro, Director of the Getty Image Research Institute Andrew Perchuk, and artists exhibiting in the Venice in Venice show.

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German pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale 2011. All images by Caroline Claisse.

The German pavilion is represented this year by the late artist Christoph Schlingensief. The pavilion is a lively homage to the artist, whose also worked as a director of film, theater, and opera. Schlingensief passed away last year from cancer during the planning phase of his contribution to the Biennale. Due to the difficulty of realizing a project without the artist’s presence, the pavilion’s organizers decided not to exhibit his latest project, “which existed in developmental, sketch-like form.” Less wunderkammer than spatial experience, the exhibition features existing works covering Schlingensief’s endeavors in film, theater, video, and Africa.

To complement the exhibition, the pavilion’s curator, Susanne Gaensheimer, has organized a publication and a virtual “scavenger hunt” on the pavilion’s web site. The artist is represented by Hauser & Wirth. Among the pavilion’s past representatives are Liam Gillick (2009), Isa Genzken (2007), Thomas Scheibitz and Tino Seghal (2005), Martin Kippenberger and Candida Höfer (2003). In 1993, German representatives Hans Haacke and Nam June Paik won the Golden Lion for Best Pavilion.

Inside the pavilion.

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All photos by Caroline Claisse unless otherwise noted.

Representing the United States in the Venice Biennale 2011 is artist duo Allora & Calzadilla. Based in Puerto Rico, the real-life couple Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla‘s work is deeply political, though they would have you think otherwise.

The exhibition, entitled “Gloria,” features six newly commissioned works. It is curated by Lisa Freiman, chair of the contemporary art department at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the institution the U.S. State Department entrusted with the selection. The organizing committee is the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. Previous representatives of the U.S. are Bruce Nauman (2009) who won the Golden Lion for his country, Felix Gonzalez-Torres (2007), Ed Ruscha (2005), and Fred Wilson (2003).

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All photos by Caroline Claisse.

Currently on view at the Punta della Dogana, housed in the magnificent Palazzo Grassi, is “The World Belongs to You.” Curated by Caroline Bourgeois, the exhibition brings together artists from different generations, geographical locations, and practices to explore history and current realities.

The Punta della Dogana became the official exhibition space of Francois Pinault‘s private collection in 2006, when he purchased the building from the city of Venice. It now houses works from internationally renowned contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons, Urs Fischer, Maurizio Cattelan, and Takashi Murakami.

Urs Fischer’s violet piano at Punta della Dogana.

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All photos by Caroline Claisse.

“Chance” is French artist Christian Boltanski‘s installation at the French Pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2011. Born in Paris in 1944, Boltanski is known for his sprawling, existential projects. The exhibition is curated by Jean-Hubert Martin, former director of the Centre Pompidou.

The artist sat down with Art Observed to talk about life, death, optimism, and Venetian cuisine.

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The Biennale’s Central Pavilion in the Giardini. Image by Giulio Squillacciotti, courtesy La Biennale di Venezia.

Art Observed will be on site this week for the 54th Venice Biennale. Since its creation in 1895, the festival has filled the city every two years with artists, curators, critics, and curious onlookers. The exhibition is housed over 50,000 square meters of exhibition space in the historical pavilions in the Giardini, and 38,000 square meters in the Arsenale, as well as other numerous locations around the city. The preview runs June 1st through 3rd (a preview program is available for download) and the Biennale opens to the public on June 4th, running through November 27th, 2011.

Expect updates and photo sets throughout the week, as well as on our Twitter.

Director of the 54th Biennale di Venezia, Paolo Baratta, and Artistic Director Bice Curiger. Photo by Giorgio Zucchiatti, courtesy Fondazione la Biennale di Venezia.

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Quiver of Arrows, 2010 by Mike Nelson    All images via 303 Gallery unless otherwise noted

Currently on view at 303 Gallery at 547 W 21 Street, New York is the exhibition of new works by a contemporary British installation artist Mike Nelson. Quiver of Arrows, an installation constructed of  four travel trailers from 1939- 1969 that form Nelson’s   extended labyrinths,  is the artist’s first solo show in the United States.

Video of the Installation via Art Observed

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