Biennale Gherdëina 7

In this period of uncertainty, expectation and change, we are convinced that art can offer an important social contribution. By organising the seventh edition of the Biennale Gherdëina we wish to send a positive signal of hope. Contemporary art is a key element in a constantly evolving culture.

This edition of the Biennale Gherdëina, entitled ‘– a breath? a name? – the ways of worldmaking’, will address themes such as the meaning of belonging, community, responsibility, care and humility, and stage collective actions in relation to the social environment and nature.

The previously featured thematic fields relate to the significance of the cultural legacy, the research of historical strategic positioning, the praise of the communal, the omnipresence of the nature and its “industry” - will receive a social and political framing with no ignorance to the poetic, the spiritual and the existential, thus further unfolding the complexity of the vernacular language with an attention paid to the continuity and perseverance of tradition, its necessary rewriting and undoing as well as its transformative potential.

The Biennale will be focused on the importance and the awareness of a political gesture in an active process of worldmaking, on its dynamic factor that guarantees a resilience of culture and nature, shapes the emancipated vernacular uniqueness of a place and manifests a brave, mature vision of a future to come.

Three chapters on sociology of an encounter and the politics of the plural will constitute the core of „the ways of worldmaking“: ecology of others - on reinvigorating the relationality (following Philippe Descola’s reflection upon the nature-culture binary), in praise of hands - on the craft of touch (enhanced by Henri Focillon’s dream of art’s autonomy within the domains of materials, techniques and signs) and the cloud of possibles - on dissemination of enthusiasm and the power of differentiation (referring to Maurizio Lazzarato’s shift from capital-labour to capital-life). The notions of responsibility and humility connect all three chapters in an attempt to define the agencies of responsiveness and care, the main challenges in the active process of worldmaking.

The exhibition will be curated by Adam Budak (Prague), who was also responsible for the last two editions, From Here to Eternity (2016) and Writing the Mountains (2018). This year he will conclude his trilogy, again with contents that embrace the unique nature, culture and history of this Dolomite valley through contemporary artworks in public spaces.

The Biennale Gherdëina 7 consists of the main exhibition in public spaces in Ortisei in the Val Gardena, a specially adapted exhibition space in the centre of Ortisei in the Sala Trenker, some artistic interventions at Pilat, a panoramic terrace in the surroundings of Ortisei, and at Vallunga (Selva di Valgardena). There will also be a collateral program with a series of events, which will also be visible in live streaming online.

We wish to thank all our colleagues, artists, collaborators, partners and sponsors for their enthusiastic support for this project at such a particular moment in time.

Biennale Gherdëina is organised and supported by the “Zënza Sëida” association and funded by the Trentino-Alto Adige Autonomous Regional Authority, the Bolzano Autonomous Provincial Authority, the communes of the Val Gardena, the tourist associations of the Val Gardena, the Fondazione Sparkasse in Alto Adige, private enterprises and friends of the Biennale Gherdëina.

Biennale Gherdëina is part of BIENNIAL FOUNDATION.

The participating artists are:

Agnieszka Brzeżańska (POL), Brave New Alps (ITA), Carlos Bunga (PRT), Pavel Büchler (CZE/UK), Josef Dabernig (AUT), Aron Demetz (ITA), Habima Fuchs (CZE), Henrik Håkansson (SWE), Petrit Halilaj and Alvaro Urbano (RKS - ES), Ingrid Hora (ITA), Paolo Icaro (ITA), Hans Josephsohn (CH), Lang/Baumann (CH), Tonico Lemos Auad (BRA), Kris Lemsalu (EST), Sharon Lockhart (USA), Myfanwy MacLeod (CAN),

Antje Majewski (GER) (with Paweł Althamer (POL), Agnieszka Brzeżańska (POL), Alioune Diouf (SN), Cecilia Edefalk (SWE), Paweł Freisler (SWE), Gregor Prugger (ITA)), Marcello Maloberti (ITA), Franz Josef Noflaner (ITA), Paulina Ołowska (POL), Pakui Hardware (LIT),

Maria Papadimitriou (GR), Nicolas Party (CH), Stefan Rinck (GER), Hermann Josef Runggaldier (ITA), Marinella Senatore (ITA), Paloma Varga Weisz (GER)