49th Venice Biennale, 2001
Platea dell' Umanita; Plateau of Humankind, Plateau d'Humanite, Plateau der Menschheit curated by Harold Szeemann
Two senses of representation: Part 2
' "The Plateau of Humankind is not a theme as such but rather a declaration of responsibility - to history, to the events of the present day. It opens up a dimension...." Artists look at the world and address the world, searchig out and recounting all the multiple dimensions of contemporary humanity. ' (2001, Venice Biennale official press release)
'In the reaction of artists now one can see a clear difference to that of ten years ago: there is no longer the intense affirmation of one's own identity, but rather an appeal to what is eternal within humankind - an appeal that is only valid if it draws on what is local and "rooted". (Harold Szeemann, 2001 Venice Biennale official press statement)
"people still expect me to think up a common denominator..That's not the case, nor does the exhibition illustrate a particular sort of "plateau of humankind".That's why I brought up Edward Steichen's Family of Man by way of comparison. That tremendous optimism after the Second World War, whereby he presented all these different portraits as one big family, is no longer the issue today. Today's artists are much more interested in the physiognomy and behaviour of people. In addition, the focus is not so much on the individual as on the outside world"
(Harold Szeemann interview with Jan Winkelmann Metropolis M (Holland), Second edition, Summer 2001 p.24)
Why has the percentage of women artists dropped in 2001, especially in an exhibition which lays claim to bring together a platform for humanity? Did Szeemann's selection of themes for "humankind" reproduce a male-centred account of the issues facing "humanity"? What did this exhibition represent as a current view of human concerns and what it means to be human? Were women artists marginalised because of a false idea that they cannot produce knowledge about what it means to be fully human, only ideas about femininity and womanhood ?
Chantal Akerman, Vanessa Beecroft, Tania Brughera, Rineke Dijkstra, Regina Galindo, Cristina Rodero Garcia, Laura Horelli, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Susan Kleinberg, Christiane Lohr, Eva Marisaldi, Marisa Merz, Chantal Michel, Priscilla Monge, Tanja Ostojic, Alexandra Ranner, Heli Rekula, Tracey Rose, Ene-Liis Semper, Georgina Starr, Fiona Tan, Alessandra Tesi, Salla Tykka, Eulalia Validossera, Minnette Vari, Maaria Wikkala
Copyright © : n.paradoxa, July/September 2001
N.Paradoxa : Issue No. 15, 2001