Canada Pavilion
53rd International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia
Mark Lewis: Cold Morning
Commissioner: Barbara Fischer
Exclusive Vernissage / Press Preview: June 3 - June 6, 2009
Public Exhibition: June 7 - November 22, 2009
Mark Lewis: Untitled, 2009. Locaction photograph, TD Centre, 54th Fllor (Courtesy of the Artist)
Mark Lewis will represent Canada at the 53rd International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia 2009. The exhibition is curated by Barbara Fischer, Director/Curator of Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto.
Lewis has received international recognition for his short, visually evocative, silent films that parse the techniques of cinema while focusing on incidental places encountered in everyday life. Highlighting the mechanical vision of the camera, his work consistently draws attention to the spatial and temporal incongruities associated with past visions of the future embedded in present urban modernity. In many of his nuanced depictions of the contemporary city, subtle allusions relating to the complex social and visual forces at play within certain types of architectural spaces gradually take hold as seemingly quotidian activities are transformed into profound observations. Further exploring the relationship between place, time, and representation, the installation developed by Wasiuta Leung Design for Canada Pavilion will involve reconfiguring the space for cinematic presentation.
Lewis’s exhibition on view at the Canada Pavilion, titled “Cold Morning”, features several new films,
including works that examine and foreground the legacy of rear projection. Pioneered in the early 1920s, Lewis considers rear projection to be one of Hollywood’s most stunning visual inventions. Playing between illusion and visible montage, it is a part of a larger fascination with the history and techniques of film that have conceptually informed the artist’s work throughout his 15-year career.
By presenting rear-projection’s potential of containing two or more distinct places and durations within a given filmic image from the vantage point of digital cinema, Lewis’ project for the Canada Pavilion aptly reflects on the current critical juncture within contemporary filmmaking involving advancing technologies simultaneously eclipsing this modernist form of montage while re-inventing the archive of analog cinema.
“Cold Morning” is accompanied by a catalogue, co-published with the Vancouver Art Gallery, with essays by Grant Arnold, David Campany, Barbara Fischer, Laura Mulvey, and an interview between Mark Lewis and Klaus Biesenbach.
Canada Pavilion, Venice Biennale Giardini, 2007
Selected in a nationwide competition to represent Canada, The Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at Hart House (University of Toronto) proposed internationally-acclaimed Canadian artist Mark Lewis, who will be Canada’s official representative at the 53rd International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.
Official Canadian participation at the Venice Biennale is coordinated by the Canada Council for the Arts with support from Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and the Canadian Embassy in Rome.
The Public Gardens (Giardini Publicci), in the east of Venice have been the traditional venue for the International Art Exhibition since 1895. The Giardini hosts 30 national pavilions, including the Canada Pavilion, built at various periods by the participating countries. 60 temporary national pavilions are exhibited in venues throughout the islands of Venice. The Canada Pavilion was built in 1958 by renowned Milanese architecture firm BBPR of glass and wood surrounding an oak tree, its shape seemingly informed by both the wigwam and nautilus shell.
Canada Gala Party:
June 4, 2009 / 7:00 - 11:00 pm
Rialto Fish Market, Venice
Rialto Fish Market: Location of Canada Gala Party
In celebration of Canada’s presentation at the Venice Biennale, the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery is hosting a Gala Party for over 1,000 sponsors, donors, and Canadian and international guests at the Rialto Fish Market, featuring internationally-acclaimed Canadian bands and DJs.
On the web:
www.canadapavilionvenicebiennale.ca
www.marklewisstudio.com
www.monteclarkgallery.com
www.sergeleborgne.com
www.labiennale.org
The official Canadian participation at the Venice Biennale is made possible through the financial and administrative support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, and the Canadian Embassy in Rome. Mark Lewis’s new work is produced in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada. The exhibition is supported by Aeroplan, Christie, DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art, the Ontario Arts Council, Fondation Hermès, BMO Financial Group, Rogers, Prime Focus London, Hal Jackman Foundation, Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, University of the Arts London, and many others.
The Canada Pavilion website is organized by the Blackwood Gallery at the University of Toronto, Mississauga.
