Federal Councillor Alain Berset will open the «Moving Backwards» exhibition at the Swiss Pavilion on Thursday 9 May during the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Curator Charlotte Laubard, responsible for the 2019 Swiss Pavilion, has invited artists Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz to present a new cinematic installation.

An inescapable point of reference in the international contemporary art world, the Venice Biennale attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to the lagoon every year. The national contributions can be discovered in the Giardini della Biennale and in the historic centre of Venice.

Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council, which is responsible for organising the Swiss contribution to the Venice Art Biennale, has appointed Charlotte Laubard as curator of the exhibition at the 2019 Swiss Pavilion. Ms Laubard has invited artists Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz to present a new cinematic installation at the pavilion. Entitled «Moving Backwards», the exhibition reflects on the current political situation, with its regressive and reactionary forces of closure towards the other and towards everything that is different. Facing the scale of these recent regressions, the artists, rather than rushing into confrontation, suggest considering these «backward movements» as a means of producing other forms of resistance and action.

Also organised by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, the 8th edition of the Salon Suisse will run parallel to the exhibition at the Swiss Pavilion as one of the 2019 Biennale’s official accompanying events. This year’s Swiss Exhibition programme has been developed by Céline Eidenbenz, director of the Musée d’art du Valais. Entitled «s l o w», her programme engages in a dialogue on slowness and art by addressing themes such as impatience, disconnection or hypnosis and the creative process. The programme consists of a series of readings, conversations and cultural events and will serve as a meeting point throughout the Biennale on different weekends.

The main exhibition of the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, entitled «May You Live In Interesting Times», to be shown at the Arsenale and the main Giardini Pavilion, is under the artistic direction of curator Ralph Rugoff. This year, Pro Helvetia is supporting the contributions of Swiss artists Christoph Büchel and Christian Marclay to the main exhibition. The Venice Biennale will be open to the public from 11 May to 24 November 2019.

Media enquiries

Lisa Stadler, Communications,
Tel. +41 44 267 71 51, lstadler@prohelvetia.ch

Further information and images: www.biennials.ch

Press Release, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia
8 May 2019