PAVILION OF MAURITIUS AT THE 56th INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION – La Biennale di Venezia
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PAVILION OF MAURITIUS AT THE 56th INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION – La Biennale di Venezia
(first official participation)
From One Citizen You Gather an Idea
Participants: Sultana Haukim, Nirmal Hurry, Alix Le Juge, Olga Jürgenson, Helge Leiberg, Krishna Luchoomun, Neermala Luckeenarain, Bik Van Der Pol, Vitaly Pushnitsky, Römer + Römer, Kavinash Thomoo, Tania Antoshina, Djuneid Dulloo
Commissioner: pARTage
Curators: Alfredo Cramerotti and Olga Jürgenson (Office for Roles & Responsibilities)
Venue: Palazzo Flangini, Campo San Geremia, Cannareggio 252, 30121 Venezia, Italy
Inauguration: 5 May 2015, 5pm
The first national Pavilion of the Republic of Mauritius at the Art Biennale 2015, 9th May – 22nd November 2015, is based on a dialogue between Mauritian and European artists. Mauritius is a fusion of cultures, languages and ethnicities, with its population made of Indian, African, Chinese and European descendants; the co-presence of temples, churches and mosques in every town of this island nation reveals this diversity.
Virtually uninhabited until the end of the 16th century, the island was then ruled by the Dutch, French and British, before gaining independence in 1968. The newly born state has managed to maintain close ties with their former rulers, and also to establish an economic relationship with the USSR. Since 2000 the Ibrahim Index of African Governance has consistently rated Mauritius as the best-governed African nation in terms of safety, economic development and human rights.
However in art and culture, different sets of assessments apply; there is a short distance to questioning the value and relevance of the contemporary cultural output of a region in relation to the global artworld. The Pavilion is not only a slice of the Mauritian artistic and cultural scene, but also a take on Western conventions when it comes to assessing the ‘art now’ and the canons and critical approaches to the issues of the day.
The Pavilion’s underlying assumption is that art has meaning when challenging its own structure and relationships. Consequently the participating artists from Europe, based in established art centres such as the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Russia, are each invited to present a work in response to the work by seven artists based in Mauritius, a remote island in the Indian Ocean. The artists are invited to challenge each other’s aesthetic and ideological canons, initiating discussions about art theory and practice, colonial heritage and postcolonial relations, education and politicisation of culture.
With this indirect approach to the idea of inclusiveness and difference, carried out by the work of thirteen prominent artists in their respective countries, the Pavilion of Mauritius aims to ‘take the temperature’ of the global art world, and possibly provide – besides a lot of questions – some answers.
The commissioning body and responsible for the Pavilion of Mauritius is pARTage Association of Contemporary Artists on behalf of the Mauritius National Gallery and the Ministry of Culture.
Project advisers: Alessio Antoniolli, Maria Arusoo, Pamela Auchincloss for Arts Management and Cultural Agency ELEVEN +, Giorgia Mis for ArtICE / Arts production, Dimitri Ozerkov, Georg Schöllhammer, Joanna Sokołowska, Olesya Turkina, Gabriella Uhl
Supporters: Ministry of Arts and Culture of the Republic of Mauritius, Mondriaan Fund, Prince Claus Fund, Galerie Vallois. With thanks to Fariba Derakhshani, Cédric Rabeyrolles Destailleur, Jean-Luc Maslin, Julie Penfold, Veronika Poptsova, John Prime, Aleksandra Smirnova, Robert Vallois, Nicola Wright, Eduard Piel, L’Orizzonte, Art-Events and Valorizzazioni Culturali.
Contingent Movements Symposium – Maldives Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale
Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 September 2013
Maldives Pavilion & Library of Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts – ASAC, Venice
The Contingent Movements Symposium forms part of the public program of the Maldives Pavilion, and provides critical input for the Contingent Movements Archive, a curatorial research project conducted over the period of the 55th Venice Biennale by Hanna Husberg and Laura McLean, and developed with Kalliopi Tsipni-Kolaza
http://www.contingentmovementsarchive.com
Contingent Movements Symposium locations
Maldives Pavillion at Gervasuti Foundation,
Fondamenta Sant’Anna (the continuation of Via Garibaldi),
Castello 995, Venice
Library of Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts (ASAC)
access from Calle del Paludo Sant’ Antonio (behind Giardini area),
Castello, Venice
The disappearance of the Maldives beneath the sea is a speculative hypothesis, though a likely and compelling one. The Earth’s average temperature appears set to rise beyond levels considered to have knowable outcomes, and today there is an emphasis on mitigation and adaptation, rather than prevention, in national and international law and policy relating to climate change.
But is dissolution, rather than disappearance, perhaps a more appropriate term to describe the changing state of the Maldives? Already the coral islands are being eroded by rising tides, which take beaches and palm trees with them, while salt water permeates the soil. In a material sense, the islands will not disappear, but they will retreat from human use as the archipelago dissolves into the Indian Ocean.
The former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, established a ‘sovereign wealth fund’ to purchase land abroad in anticipation of the displacement of his constituents, proposing Australia, India, and Sri Lanka as territories for relocation. A nation faces a constitutional crisis if all land is lost, and no sovereign territory can be established on foreign soil. The maintenance of territory is one of the key constituting elements of statehood, and should land not be maintained, the state of the Maldives could be legally dissolved.
The prospect of statelessness in this case is a real one. Under current international law there is no such thing as a ‘climate refugee’. Refugee status, and therefore the protection of human rights by host nations, is not currently afforded to individuals displaced by ‘natural’ forces. The acceptance of individuals displaced from low-lying islands into other nations as refugees is thus at present problematic.
Speculating on the contingent circumstances Maldivians may face as a permanently displaced population, and exploring these within a global context, the Contingent Movements Symposium addresses the potential humanitarian and cultural consequences of this situation. Contributors from a range of disciplines have been brought together to think through the effects of national and international law on human movements, and consider how mobile technology and the Internet might assist in preserving the culture of Maldives, while helping dispersed communities adapt and connect.
In financial terms, the role of speculators is to absorb excess risk that other participants do not want, and to provide liquidity in the market place. The Contingent Movements Symposium aims to provide liquidity in the market of ideas surrounding an unprecedented scenario with a not-yet-fixed outcome. Hosted in the archives of the Venice Biennale, on another island affected by floods and inundated by tourism, it seeks to open a dialogue on the future of the Maldives, and the complexity of global responsibility in the face of the world’s changing climate.
Symposium contributions by Alfredo Cramerotti (CPS Curator, Maldives Pavilion), Mariyam Shiuna (researcher), T.J. Demos (writer and theorist), Ravi Agarwal (artist and curator), Klaus Schafler (artist, Maldives Pavilion), Maren Richter (Associate Curator, Maldives Pavilion), Rosa Barba (artist and Film maker), Marianne Franklin (writer and researcher), Nabil Ahmed (artist and curator), Davor Vidas (writer and researcher), Suvendrini Perera (researcher), Irit Rogoff (writer and theorist), Stefano Boato (urbanist and political activist), Luca Zaggia (scientist), Dorian Batycka (writer and curator), Mike Watson (curator and theorist).
Part of the public program of the Maldives Pavilion, the Contingent Movements Symposium and Archive are curated by Hanna Husberg and Laura McLean, and developed with Kalliopi Tsipni-Kolaza.
The Maldives Pavilion is curated by Chamber of Public Secrets, a critical production unit of art and culture. Alfredo Cramerotti and Maren Richter, both curators of the Maldives Pavilion, are moderating discussions at the Contingent Movements Symposium.
Also in association with the Maldives Pavilion, Richter and artist Klaus Schafler and will take symposium participants on a boat trip to the lagoons of Venice, where they will discuss with Venetian urbanist and activist Stefano Boato and scientist Luca Zaggia the recent effects of the rising sea level in the region. Curator and writer Dorian Batycka and curator and theorist Mike Watson, currently in residence at the Gervasuti Foundation, will introduce the project Joan of Art: Towards a Free Education and present a course on art, politics and ecology to be delivered in November.
The Symposium has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. It is also supported by Frame Visual Art Finland, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, and Svenska Kulturfonden, Finland. It is partnered with Maldives Research.
Curatorview [Alfredo Cramerotti] 
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