5:50. Firmitas Utilitas Venustas. A New Paradigm
National Pavilion of Congo. Lithium. Bienal de Venecia
18.04.2024 - 20.04.2024
FIRMITAS UTILITAS VENUSTAS. A NEW PARADIGM is the programme of actions and performances that will take place from 18 to 20 April within the programme of the Pavilion of Congo at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2024.
The event, curated by Federica Forti and coordinated by Changbei Wu, features the participation of the following artists: Primož Bizjak (Slovenia, 1976. Lives and works in Madrid), Alessandro Librio (Italy, Sicily, 1982. Lives and works in Paris), Francesco Lauretta (Italy, Ragusa, 1964. Lives and works in Florence) and Luigi Presicce (Italy, Lecce, 1976. Lives and works in Florence) founders of the Scuola di Santa Rosa, Tao Qiu (China, 1980), Kay Zevallos Villegas (KAY) (Lima, Peru. Lives and works in Paris), Stephan Zimmerli (Paris, France, Swiss-Vietnamese).
The performances will be held at the Gervasuti Foundation London Venice - Palazzo Canova, venue of the Congo Pavilion, and the actions at Cafè Lavena, in Piazza San Marco.
"Starting from the concept of Foreigners Everywhere, a theme launched by the curator of 60th, Adriano Pedrosa, the project focuses on the city of Venice. Mass tourism imposes an economic dependence and at the same time a cultural slavery. Venice becomes authentic again at 5:50 in the morning (hence the title), then the machine wakes up and forgets everything.
FIRMITAS UTILITAS VENUSTAS. A NEW PARADIGM reflects on 'Venice Foreign Everywhere', a city that does not recognise itself, and at the same time is no longer understood. The rediscovery of the three values on which the city is founded: firmitas, utilitas, venustas, as a new paradigm, invokes the reconstruction of a community of conscious persons.
At the Gervasuti Foundation, venue of the Congo Pavilion, a site-specific performance and installation by artists Kay Zevallos Villegas (KAY), Alessandro Librio and Stephan Zimmerli opens on Thursday 18 April at 10 pm.
The programme continues on Thursday 18, Friday 19 and Saturday 20 April, from 4.30 to 8.30 p.m., at the historic Cafè Lavena. Primož Bizjak with his view camera, an instrument favoured by the artist, will show a vision of an upside-down city (as it could be if everything went back to the way it was) to be observed slowly. Meanwhile, at three tables in the Lavena, right on St Mark's Square, the other invited artists will work.
The Scuola di Santa Rosa (Francesco Lauretta and Luigi Presicce) presents a Venetian phase of the project of the same name conceived by Lauretta and Presicce to rediscover a sense of community and the pleasure of sharing the practice of drawing: it will be possible to participate by drawing freely in the company of other people. The other two tables are conceived as an intimate and individual conversation with the artist: Tao Qiu will invite people to participate in his time capsules 'tracing the objects', which will contain information on who was in the same place at the same time in St. Mark's Square. The capsules will then be hidden in remote corners of Venice and left for posterity as future archaeology. Stephan Zimmerli will draw live a psychogeography of mental maps of Venice, based on participants' oral stories.
