Antarctic Pavilion

In March 2017 an international group of artists, scientists, architects and philosophers left the port of Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina) bound for the Antarctic Circle – onboard the scientific research vessel Akademik Sergei Vavilov. They would make landfall at numerous sites on the world’s southernmost continent throughout the next two weeks. At each location, artworks, exhibitions and performances were realized. Mobility, site-specificity and ecological compatibility were key touchstones. Nothing was left behind and no audience was present, except the participants themselves and – of course – Antarctica’s native species. Actions included a landscape photography exhibition for penguins (they didn’t seem to get much out of it) and an underwater installation for whales.

In addition to onshore interventions, throughout the expedition, the vessel itself served as a floating studio, exhibition, installation and performance space; a photo lab, and conference facility. Onboard activities included symposia, debates, and a daily screening program featuring commissioned videos by international artists. Throughout, the focus was on the question ‘What potential does the Antarctic Imaginary hold?’– for exiting polarized identity politics, and ecological insensitivity in public culture. Also, on dialogues leading to future cross-disciplinary collaborations. For the project’s Commissioner, Alexander Ponomarev and the Organizing Committee, the enterprise was ventured in the belief that this remote region must be made more proximate; that the last continent is a fertile site for new beginnings.

This year, The Antarctic Pavilion presents documentation of this 1st Antarctic Biennale – a paradigm-shifting phenomenon in biennale culture: A hot-house in a frozen realm, without mobile phones, internet, ready audience, or escape to another cocktail party, throughout this biennale everyone was in the same boat. While its expedition is complete, its collaborative outcomes are just beginning.

In addition to documentation of the 1st Antarctic Biennale, this year’s Antarctic Pavilion debuts a series of newly commissioned works exploring the aesthetic, conceptual and mythic paramaters of the Antarctic Imaginary.

ANTARCTIC BIENNALE OPEN CALL ARTISTS-FINALISTS:

Andreas Lutz (Germany), ‘Hgdnt’, kinetic audio-visual installation

Ariel Spadari (Brazil) ‘We met in ANTARTIC’, sculpture and drawings

Banrei (USA), ‘Massa notification 2017’, multi-channel audio file, speakers

Bridget Steed (UK), ‘Sur’, rendered 3D reconstruction of iceberg

Jasmin Blasco (France), ‘In From the Cold’, antennae, FM transmitter and receiver

Louise Oates (UK), ‘via self-assembly’, installation

Matilde Solbiati (Italy), ‘The indigenous population of Antarctica’, mixed media

Meadhbh O'Connor (Ireland), ‘Climate Simulator’, single-channel video

Stefan Laxness (Iceland), ‘S4.E3_Prospects_of_Love’, film/animation/TV

Stephanie Roland (Belgium) ‘Deception Island’, video

Sybren Renema (Netherlands), ‘Great God! This is an awful place’, neon

Tomjo Blake (Australia), ‘One Hundred Words for an Empty Vessel’, participatory project

Valentine Siboni (France), ‘Ballad Antarctica: few ways to get there.’, video installation

Winston Chmielinski (USA), ‘Melting As a Model, That’s All’, flags, thread

ARTISTS-PARTICIPANTS (1ST ANTARCTIC BIENNALE):

Abdullah Al Saadi (UAE). ‘Antarctic Alphabets’, Expedition Diaries

Alexander Ponomarev (Russia). 'Alchemy of Antarctic Albedo (Or Washing Pale Moons)'. Underwater installations

Alexis Anastasiou (Brazil). ‘It ́s Cold out There’. Large scale projection

Andrey Kuzkin (Russia). 'The Phenomenon of Nature or 99 Landscapes with a Tree'. Series of performances

Eulalia Valldosera (Spain). ‘Penelope’s voice: communicating with animals’. Audio intervention on the ship that travels to Antarctica

Gustav Dusing (Germany). ‘The solid state of matter’. Tent made of frozen cotton

Joaquin Fargas (Argentina). ‘Glaciator’. Robotic & Solar, mixed techniques

Julian Charriere (France/Switzerland). ‘Silence’, Performance

Juliana Cerqueira Leite (Brazil). ‘Vestibule’. Video Installation

Julius von Bismarck (Germany). 'Space Fish (Raumfisch)'. Performance

Lou Sheppard (Canada). 'Requiem for the Antarctic Coast', Sound installation

Paul Rosero Contreras (Ecuador). 'Arriba!' site-specific intervention, film, photographs

Shama Rahman (Bangladesh/UK). 'Truth be told', Performance with sitar on ice

Sho Hasegawa (Japan). 'Winter Landscape (Antarctica Version)'

Tomas Saraceno (Argentina/Germany). ‘Aerocene’ Performance

Yasuaki Igarashi (Japan). 'Bundling Time', Performance

Yto Barrada (Morocco). ‘Abstract Geology’

Zhang Enli (China). 'Egg’

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS:

Adrian Balseca (Ecuador), Cinemateque de Tangiers (Morocco), Constant Dullaart (Netherlands), Eli Maria Lundgaard (Norway), Emile Brout and Maxine Marion (France), Emmy Skensved and Gregoire Blunt (Canada), Etienne de France (France), Eva and Franco Mattes (Italy), Hans Op de Beeck (Belgium), Jessica Sarah Rinland (UK), Julian Charriere (France / Switzerland), Karin Ferrari (Austria), Katya Kovaleva (Russia), Marcel Dinahet (France), Paul Rosero Contreras (Ecuador), Swetlana Heger (Sweden), Young Hae-Chang Heavy Industries (Korea), Yto Barrada (Morocco).

INTERDISCIPLINARY PARTICIPANTS:

Adrian Dannatt (UK), Alexander Sekatskii (Russia), Barbara Imhof (Austria), Carlo Rizzo (Italy/UK), Elizabeth Barry (USA), Jean de Pomereu (France), Hector Monsalve (Argentina), Lisen Schultz (Sweden), Miguel Petchkovsky (Angola/Portugal), Nicholas Shapiro (USA), Sergey Pisarev (Russia), Susmita Mohanty (India), Wakana Kono (Japan).