Not sure what there is, so lovable, about the rhetorical manifesto (Stateless1 Pavillion Biennale.jpg) of futile gestures, and the proposal to squat between the fascist monuments (german and italian pavilions) in the Giardini, if one were to travel to Italy, that would require a passport, no? and a Biennale ticket? when I became a stateless citizen of the State in Time (NSK issued the virtual passports in the mid 90s), i tried to enter the U.S. with it but no such luck. anyway, to those on the ground there, the pirates, my best wishes
regards Johannes >>> I absolutely love this! xl On Jun 8, 2011, at 8:37 AM, Ricardo Dominguez wrote: I will let the group that developed this gesture speak for itself (also a short manifesto as .jpg attached): On 5/27/11 3:35 AM, statelessimmigrantspavil...@riseup.net<mailto:statelessimmigrantspavil...@riseup.net> wrote: We, the Anonymous Stateless Immigrants, will construct a “Stateless Immigrant’s Pavilion” by occupying the Giardini during the Venice Biennale (June 5-15), pirate style, and we need your help! This is a call for participation to claim space for stateless immigrants in between the erected pavilions of all the nations for a sit-in with tents, bbq, music, dancing, etc. In solidarity with the Spanish Revolution and other emancipatory movements, our actions are closely aligned with our brothers and sisters all over the world who are struggling against the suffocating encroachment of capitalism in all its manifestations and forms. Advocating nomad-ism, autonomy and anonymity as alternatives to the representational border politics inherent within the structure of the biennale itself, this is a call for artists, activists and local people of Venice to join us! You could do so by replying to this email for further organizational support or forward it to relevant people in your network. More information about our statement can be found attached, but please do not hesitate to contact us directly for more info etc! statelessimmigrantspavilion[at]riseup.net Ps: This is not a mass email! our and your anonymity is important for us! I did not attend VB and have only considered the event via this gesture and this union strike: "Italian unions certainly know how to get a point across. At the last Venice Bienale, in 2009, workers at the international exhibition went on strike<http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/moma-preview9-29-09.asp>, protesting the degeneration of working conditions and picketing the Giardini in August. This time around it was the vaporetto operators who called the “manifestazione,” meaning that service on the affordable water buses had been shut down for 24 hours in protest of labor conditions. This being Venice, where private water taxis run a cool €60, and where the only other alternative to vaporetti is walking miles of twisty, staircase-ridden calli (narrow streets), there were a lot of blisters and missed art at the Biennale today. Chalk one up for the vaporetto union. (Some of the tonier exhibitions fought back, however — the Prada Foundation and François Pinault both supplied water transport to ferry press and VIPs to their shows.)? But I do think the questions you asking about the performative matrix playing out at VB in terms of routing around the question of the "Global Citizen" and transborder_bodies in terms of presence - even as a frame of a question is definitely out of the question for the state-driven definition of art that state's internal crisis (as in the case of the tactic that you mention for Mexico etc.,) - but perhaps this has always been the case for VB specifically (since Hitler came by and probably before) and the problem for most most Biennales in general. But to be clear this is all from a distance. Best, Ricardo On 6/8/11 7:58 AM, Timothy Murray wrote: Thanks, Ricardo, for letting us know about this action. I'm wondering if you would mind saying a bit more about the context of the action : "In order to maximize impact and attempt to gain visibility for nameless, anonymous, stateless, non-represented global citizens at theVenice Biennal." In thinking about this month's discussion topic, Renate and I were hoping that the list would address precisely this kind of disparity between the (non)-representation of "global citizens" at the Venice Biennale and those endorsed by state-sponsored representation. It's also interesting to note that some national pavilions seem this year to be engaging in an end run around this thorny issue (i.e. Mexico) by featuring non-national artists in national pavilions. Best, Tim <Stateless1.jpg> _______________________________________________ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au<mailto:empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au> http://www.subtle.net/empyre _______________________________________________ empyre forum empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au http://www.subtle.net/empyre
