Pavilion of the Republic of Angola
55th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
Edson Chagas
Luanda, Encyclopedic City
Curated by Paula Nascimento and Stefano Rabolli Pansera
Golden Lion for Best National Participation
Palazzo Cini in San Vio, Dorsoduro 864 Venezia
1 June - 24 November 2013
- Golden Lion for Best National Participation to Angola at the 55th International Art Exhibition- La Biennale di Venezia on its debut
- The photographic work of Edson Chagas as urban encyclopedia of Luanda
- An Installation open to the interaction with the public invited to create his own urban encyclopedia in
comparison with the Collection of Ancient Art of the Galleria di Palazzo Cini
Golden Lion for the Best National Participation to Luanda, Encyclopedic City, the first pavilion of
Angola at the International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
. The International Jury assigned
the prestigious award “for the curators and artist who together reflect on the irreconcilability and
complexity of site”. The Pavilion – commissioned and supported by the Ministry of Culture of
Angola - hosts the photographic works by the Angolan artist Edson Chagas with an installation
and a graphic project curated by Paula Nascimento and Stefano Rabolli Pansera (Beyond Entropy
Ltd) in collaboration with Thankboys. The Pavilion is sponsored by Bai, Banco Privado Atlantico,
and Ensa.
Through Luanda, Encyclopedic City continues the research initiated by Beyond Entropy at the
13th International Architecture Exhibition 2012 and develops a reflection on the theme of
"Encyclopedic Palace" through the work of Edson Chagas.
The Encyclopedic Palace has been given an impossible task: no building can contain a universal
multiplicity of spaces, possibilities, and objects. When a building tends towards the encyclopedic, it
becomes a city. The city includes multiple conditions in the coherence of form— even though this
is an urban, conflict-ridden form. Edson Chagas focuses on the complexity of Angola’s capital,
Luanda, which derives from the presence of unpredictable spaces and the coexistence of
irreconcilable programs: city and country, infrastructure and habitations, garbage tips and public
spaces. Luanda is an encyclopedic city. How can the knowledge of a city be organized through
the taxonomy of its spaces?
Central to Edson Chagas’ work is a reflection on the ways in which images are used to give form to
the way the city is experienced. Edson Chagas’s Found Not Taken series – which has been
partially selected for the Angola Pavilion by the curators Paula Nascimento and Stefano Rabolli
Pansera- concentrates on the systematic cataloguing of abandoned objects that are repositioned
within an urban context to create new relationships between the objects and their context, form and
its codification. What relationship is created between spaces and their images? What role are
imagination and creativity allowed to play in this urban taxonomy? In the ambiguity of a vision which uncovers and nonetheless reconstructs, what is delineated is an urban cartography mixing documentary-like precision and poetic reconstruction: a new way of
observing the encyclopedic wealth of spaces around us and, perhaps, a new way of inhabiting
these spaces.
Luanda, Encyclopedic City is exhibition and catalogue together curated by Paula Nascimento
and Stefano Rabolli Pansera (Beyond Entropy Ltd) with the collaboration of Thankboys as
designers and art directors. The show is composed by 23 photographic big format posters setting
up an installation open to the interaction with the audience. The exhibition is compared with the
collection of Ancient Art owned by Vittorio Cini hosted in Galleria di Palazzo Cini. The public is
invited to meditate on the theme of the Encyclopedic Palace through the exhibit and the graphic
project which gives the possibility to create one’s own urban encyclopedia and catalogue starting
from the unusual red hardcover placed at the beginning of the exhibition itinerary.
The Pavilion is open free of charge throughout the 55th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di
Venezia.
TECHNICAL INFO
Luanda, Encyclopedic City
Pavilion of the Republic of Angola at the 55th International Art Exhibition- La Biennale di Venezia
Golden Lion for Best National Participation
Curated by: Paula Nascimento and Stefano Rabolli Pansera
Artist: Edson Chagas
Art direction and design: Tankboys
Location: Palazzo Cini a San Vio, Dorsoduro 864, Venezia
Opening time: 1 June - 24 November 2013, Tuesday – Sunday, 2 pm -7 pm, free admission.
Location and transport: Palazzo Cini is located in Venice near the Accademia Bridge.
Accademia stop on Vaporetto ACTV line 1, 2
______________________________________________________________________________
Is possible to download Images and press kit on
www.beyondentropy.com after registration in the Press Area of the website (Name, e-mail, phone)
PHOTOS’ CAPTIONS: Press Area
www.beyondentropy.com
PHOTOS 1-2: Luanda, Encyclopedic City, Pavilion of the Republic of Angola at the 55th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Palazzo Cini. Credits: Paolo Utimperger
PHOTOS 3-15: Images from the series Found Not Taken, di Edson Chagas, Luanda, Encyclopedic City, Pavilion of the Republic of Angola, 55th International Art Exhibition- La Biennale di Venezia.
Courtesy Edson Chagas, APalazzo Gallery.
For further information, interviews, and images:
Beyond Entropy Press Office
PR and Communication:
Giovanna Tissi
Tel: +39 347 7971873 e-mail:
giovannatissi@beyondentropy.com
Italy: Valeria Frisolone
Tel: + 39 334 3523916 e-mail:
v.frisolone@beyondentropy.com
Press office: Lucia Pedrana
Tel: + 39 346 760 3386 e-mail:
press@beyondentropy.com
