25/11-09   -   Press releases

Florence Biennale 2009

The seventh edition of the Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art will take place at the historic Fortezza da Basso from 5th - 13th December 2009. 650 artists coming from 78 countries will be exhibiting more than 2.000 artworks and there will be an extraordinary meeting of cultures, languages and diverse artistic styles. The Florence Biennale supports the United Nations program “Dialogue between civilizations", to which the Biennale has officially adhered since 2001.

The Biennale will also see the presence of important artists. In the 2007 edition, the “Lorenzo il Magnifico" career prize was conferred to Gilbert & George, for the 2005 edition to Christo and Jeanne-Claude and to Richard Anuszkiewicz and in 2003 to David Hockney. The 2009 Life Achievement award will be given to Marina Abramovic and Shu Yong for their contribution to the International Contemporary Art Scene.

The International Scientific Committee (I.S.C.), composed of 20 qualified members, categorizes the works in the categories of painting, sculpture, graphic, mixed media, installation, photography and digital art. The selection is done with no prejudice of style. Artists are selected based on the quality of their artwork and the cultural values their work represents.

The International Jury that assigns recognitions and awards to the invited artists is composed of distinguished figures such Elza Ajzenberg, exhibition curator of the MAC, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sao Paolo, Brazil; Dominique Edouard Bacheler, art history professor and art critic, Paris; Pang Bang Ben, artist and professor, China; R.B. Bhaskaran, past President of Lalit Kala Akademi, India; Francesco Buranelli, General Manager of the Pontifical Commission for the Church’s Cultural Beings; Pasquale Celona, President of the Biennale, Florence; Piero Celona, General Manager of the Biennale, Florence; Gregorio Luke, past Director of the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) Long Beach, California; Bianca Laura Petretto, Curator, journalist, expert on modern and Asian arts, Italy; Matty Roca member of AICA and President of the Arts Corporation in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico; Gerfried Stocker, Artistic Director of the Ars Electronica Center of Linz - Austria; Rosa Tejada, educator at the Metropolitan Museum, New York; and Stefano Francolini, Artistic Director of the Biennale, former Director of the C3 Super of the Ministry of the Cultural Activities, Florence, Italy.

The Florence Biennale is organized by Arte Studio.
Fortezza da Basso Florence - 5-13 Decembre 2009 - hours: 10-20 - info: + 39 0553249173
tickets 10 euro
for further information: www.florencebiennale.org

Lorenzo il Magnifico award to Marina Abramovic
The Biennale Internazionale dell´Arte Contemporanea in Florence dedicated, as is customary, the "Lorenzo il Magnifico career " award an international recognition of contemporary artistic culture to those particularly outstanding and that still continue to stand by their work.
The VII Biennale Internazionale dell´Arte Contemporanea of Florence awards the "Lorenzo il Magnifico career " award to Marina Abramovic, one of the most important and interesting contemporary performers.
Of Yugoslav origin, active from the 1970s with a series of memorable performances, in which the artist´s body is the matter and central part of the work of her research on the limits of human physicality, Marina Abramovic, the experiences through violence to the point of putting her own body at risk with the presence and use of dangerous items including "On the table there are seventy-two objects that can be used at will on me. I am the object "(Studio Morra, Naples, 1974), truly involving her public, for example, in the famous performance weightlessness (Galleria d´Arte Moderna, Bologna, 1977), made with the German artist Ulay ( Uwe Laysiepen), with whom she has an artistic partnership since 1976 and from which it split in 1989 upon completion of their performance ´Great Wall Walk´: their meeting in the middle of the Great Wall of China, 2000 kilometers long, after a journey that lasted ninety days.
Through the testing of physical and psychological limits of her existence, Marina Abramovic withstands pain, exhaustion, fear and danger in seeking conversion of their emotional and spiritual sphere.
Marina Abramovic has presented and presents her work with images, sounds and video in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Europe and the United States.
Since 1991 she has taught in Germany at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig. In 1997 the XLVII Venice Biennale has received the Golden Lion for ´Balkan Baroque´, eight hour performance, during which Marina Abramovic cleans one hundred cow femurs, an action that becomes the symbol to cancel the atrocities that her countrymen have committed in ethnic conflicts, the Balkan in the 90s.
This work, together with the performances ´The Hero´ (2001), ´Count On´, ´Nude with Skeleton´ (2003) and ´Balkan Erotic Epic´ (2005), was part of her exhibition entitled "Balkan Epic" held Hangar Bicocca in Milan in 2006.
In 2003 Marina Abramovic received the New York Dance and Performance Award The Bessies for ´The House with Ocean View´ a twelve-day performance at Sean Kelly Gallery in New York.
In 2005 she presented at the Guggenheim Museum in New York a series of performances entitled ´Seven Easy Pieces´.
The works of Marina Abramovic are present in the most important contemporary art collections in the world.

Stefano Francolini
Artistic Director VII Biennale

Collateral events

5 December 11:00am
Opening

5 December 5:00pm
Japanese Cinema: an insight into Japanese films
After Life by Hirokazu Koreeda
in collaboration with Kaori Watanabe

6 December 11:00am
An Artist and a Scientist: a common way
Lecture by Francesco Saverio Pavone and Dony Mac Manus
in collaboration with OpenLab Florence University

6 December 5:30pm
Living Arts of Contemporary India
Lecture by Sushma Bahl

7 December 11:00pm
Japanese Cinema: an insight into Japanese films
When The Last Sword Is Drawn by Takita Yojiro
in collaboration with Kaori Watanabe

7 December 5:30pm
Octavio Paz Art and thought
Lecture by Gregorio Luke

7 December 7:30pm
Saint James Church
Artists projects: Paul Lorenz, Barbro Eriksson, Danielle Lindsay

8 December 11:00am
Mathematics as an Art form
Lecture by Vanni Noferini
in collaboration with OpenLab Florence University

8 December 5:30pm
Marina Abramovic
Marina Abramovic meets Biennale´s artists
followed by the presentation of the award Lorenzo il Magnifico to Marina Abramovic

9 December 11:00am
Canvas, Paper, Plastic: Abstraction in 2-D
Lecture by Paul Lorenz

9 December 5:30pm
Rufino Tamayo master of light and color
Lecture by Gregorio Luke

10 December 11.00am
Art and Chemistry as reciprocal sources of inspiration
Lecture by Cristiana Lofrumento
in collaboration with OpenLab Florence University

10 December 5:00pm
Japanese Cinema: an insight into Japanese films
Tokyo Sonata by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
in collaboration with Kaori Watanabe

11 December 11:00am
Can Carbon-14 be a suitable dating tool even for contemporary art authentication?
Lecture by Mariaelena Fedi
in collaboration with OpenLab Florence University

11 December 5:30pm
Stone, Bronze, Wood: Abstraction in 3-D
Lecture by Paul Lorenz

12 December 11:00am
Art and symmetries
Lecture by Roberto Casalbuoni
in collaboration with OpenLab Florence University

12 December 4:00pm
Development of Art in China
Lecture by Zhang Hongbin
followed by the Lorenzo il Magnifico prize ceremony awarded to
Shu Yong

12 December 9:00pm
Gala Dinner

13 December 3:00pm
Awards ceremony