Styrian delegation

Young artists explore the Venice Biennale

The Styrian delegation in front of the Austria Pavilion in Venice(Bild: UMJ/Teuschler)

The Province of Styria and the Universalmuseum Joanneum have traditionally invited Styrian art scholarship holders to visit the Venice Biennale. This year, too, the aim was to see as much as possible in a short space of time, to network and to exchange ideas with colleagues and journalists.

The Venice Biennale is the mother of international art exhibitions, so to speak. This year it is particularly exciting, with artistic director Adriano Pedrosa offering a look at unfamiliar art traditions, mainly from the global South, under the motto "Strangers everywhere".

Both in the large Arsenale and in the international pavilion in the Giardini, he stringently tells the story of colonialism, exploitation, flight, but also of upholding tradition and resistance. The works of Styrian-born Oliver Ressler and Susanne Wenger from Graz, who died in 2009 at the age of 94 in her adopted country of Nigeria, where she had become a high-ranking Yoruba priestess, fit in perfectly.

Adriano Pedrosa in front of the international pavilion in the Giardini(Bild: GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP / picturedesk.com)

Inspiration from the oversupply
The young Styrian artists - Maria Kanzler, Veronika Eberhart, Susanne Hofer, Anais Horn, Julian Palacz, Simon Reitmann, Tom Biela and Martin Guevara-Kunerth - were inspired by this oversupply of works, some of which also generated exciting discussions. Christiane Kada from the Province of Styria, who supports the scholarship holders far beyond what is necessary, put it in a nutshell. "Such excursions deepen the bond between the artists, enable new collaborations and sometimes lead to friendships that last far beyond these two days." And indeed, the first joint projects were already being considered on the bus ride home.

With Kunsthaus chief curator Katrin Bucher-Trantow, the two UMJ managing directors, Marko Mele and Josef Schrammel, provided a concentrated load of expertise to introduce the mega exhibition. Once again, it was a successful trip to the heart of the art world!

The trip took place at the invitation of the Universalmuseum Joanneum.