53rd Venice Biennale

June 7 to November 22, 2009

Commissioner Laura Rutkutė, Curator Laima Kreivytė

Curatorial assistant Aušra Trakšelytė

Commisioned by Galerija Vartai, Vilnius

This year for the first time, visitors to the International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia - will be able to enter the majestic building of Scuola Grande della Misericordia and experience the installation TUBE by Žilvinas Kempinas. This Renaissance building dating back to the 16 century and designed by the famous Venetian architect Jacopo Sansovino is located in Cannaregio, northwest of Venice, and will house the Lithuanian pavilion.

Žilvinas Kempinas is widely recognized for his bold use of videotape as a sculptural medium. This large-scale installation, TUBE (created at the Atelier Calder, Saché, France), resonates with the environment of the floating city and creates a space where vision and movement are linked by means of the body. TUBE addresses the physical and optical experiences of the viewer, and the passage of time, while creating the feeling of being inside and outside simultaneously.

One can describe TUBE metaphorically or geometrically but to be appreciated it must be experienced directly. No image can convey the gradual accumulation of sensory experiences awaiting visitors who pass through the translucent tunnel of parallel lines. Kempinas changes the function of magnetic tape from an information carrier to a linear map of time and space. Spectators can explore this ambiguity of vision by walking through TUBE as well as around it.

Žilvinas Kempinas was born in 1969 in Plungė, Lithuania. He lives and works in New York. Solo exhibitions: Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2008); Le Grand Café, Saint-Nazaire, France (2008); Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (2007); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2006); P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2003); Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York (2004, 2006, 2007). Selected group shows: Espéces d'espaces, Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York, The Immediate Future, Lunds Konsthall, Lund, Sweden (2009), Now Jump, Nam June Paik Art Center, Yongin/Seoul, (2008), Manifesta 7, Bolzano, Italy (2008); New Work: Zilvinas Kempinas, Alyson Shotz, Mary Temple, SFMOMA, San Francisco (2008); Go East, Museum of Modern Art, Luxembourg (2008).

In 2007 Žilvinas Kempinas was awarded the Calder Prize and was the resident artist at the Atelier Calder in Saché, France, from January to June of 2008.

The Lithuanian Pavilion is accompanied by a catalogue published by DuMont Buchverlag. Contributing authors: Professor at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Alfonsas Andriuškevičius, Curator of the Lithuanian Pavilion, Laima Kreivytė, Curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Veronica Roberts, and Professor at the University of Plymouth (UK), Malcolm Miles.

Patron of the Pavilion is the Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Andrius Kubilius.

The Lithuanian Pavilion is principally funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania and supported by Danutė and Alain Mallart, Sutkienė ir partneriai, TEO LT, Logotipas, Libra Vitalis and Lietuvos Rytas.

Pavilion opening reception: 5 June, 2009 5 pm