The 1st Antarctic Biennale International Art Project 2017

35 Pages·2012·2.6 MB·English

THE 1ST ANTARCTIC BIENNALE 1
The 1st Antarctic
Biennale
International
Art Project
2017
THE 1ST ANTARCTIC BIENNALE 2
I INVITE YOU TO BOARD MY SHIP
AND SET OUT ON AN ADVENTURE
TO THE NEW SHORES OF ART!

I AM ORGANIZING
A TOPSY-TURVY BIENNALE

AN UPSIDE-DOWN BIENNALE,
A HEAD-OVER-HEELS BIENNALE,
A MOBILE BIENNALE,
IN THE ANTARCTIC
CLOSE TO THE SOUTH POLE

Alexander Ponomarev
Сommissioner
The 1st Antarctic Biennale
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CONCEPT
Antarctica is the last truly free space, and a model for the future.

According to the Antarctic Treaty (1959) and related international agreements it is intended
exclusively for creative activities and scientific research in the interests of all of humanity.

Antarctica is the continent that can encourage people to think about the future of humanity and
culture and give an opportunity to create new ways of approaching and seeing life on our planet.

This white continent resembles a pure sheet of paper, on which artists from different countries might
draft new visions for life in the 21st Century.
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AGENDA
The Antarctic Biennale project is an international
sociocultural phenomenon, that incorporates artistic,
The Antarctic Biennale
scientific, and philosophical methodologies to address
turns traditional art events
upside down
“shared spaces”, such as Antarctica, the Ocean, and Outer
Space.
Initiated and commissioned by the artist Alexander
Ponomarev.

The expedition on the research ship Akademik Ioffe will
culminate these inspiring interdisciplinary activities.
The vessel will become a vehicle for art and idea
generation; a travelling platform for dialogue between
artists, researchers, and thinkers., coordinated by the
Antarctic Biennale Vision Club.

The Antarctic Biennale do not start or end with the
expedition on March 17, 2017. This is a ‘biennale in
process’ of constant building the space for productive
cooperation and meaning creation.
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BIENNALE PRINCIPLES
SUPRANATIONALITY
Developing Antarctica’s potential as a cultural
INTERCULTURAL EXPLORATION
space belonging to no specific nation –
Re-imagining the function of culture in the
international voices, imagining the future of
21st Century
global community

INTERDISCIPLINARITY
MOBILIS IN MOBILI!
The Antarctic Biennale as a visionary
A biennale in process. One that creates a
collective effort to find new approaches to solve
new ‘mobilis in mobili’ art concept,
the problems the humanity is facing using the
following the motto of Captain Nemo.
achievements of numerous academic
disciplines
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BIENNALE GOALS
- To search for new forms of art which exist in interconnection
ARTISTIC
with science, technology and environment
DEVELOPMENT
- To extend boundaries and a role of art in the society
- To create a supranational platform dedicated to the common
INTERNATIONAL
future of humankind
DEVELOPMENT
- To find ways to unite humanity and consolidate international
cooperation (Global warming of human relationship)
-  Enhance society awareness of key environmental problems
ECOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT - Foster the development of eco-friendly technologies
- Shift public conscience from resource consumption to
environmental friendliness and resource conservation, and
rethink the development of new spaces
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ANTARCTIC BIENNALE VISION CLUB
A crucial element to the Biennale is the Antarctic Biennale
Vision Club, an initiative which unites key representatives
from the cultural sphere (artists, critics and journalists),
members of the academic community (from the fields of
glaciology, oceanography, climatology, futurology and more)
and entrepreneurs experienced in new technology
development.

The ABVC is a platform for discussing productive and
scalable solutions which will act as a catalyst in the
transformation of our civilization towards an eco-friendly
and healthy society. It will discuss long-term scenarios for
humanity and its relationship with our planet, focusing on
three “shared spaces”: Antarctica, the depths of our oceans,
and Outer Space. By creating environmentally sustainable
models of living in “shared spaces”, we can collectively
formulate a paradigm for a non-invasive, non-destructive
alternative way of life, in which we would still thrive. The
Club sees Antarctica as a symbol and manifestation of such
a way of living.
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COMMISSIONER
ALEXANDER PONOMAREV

Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France; Member of the Russian Academy of Art; Global
Thinker (named by Foreign Policy magazine).

Alexander was born in Dnepropetrovsk (USSR, Ukraine) in 1957. In 1979, he graduated from the Odessa
Higher Engineering Marine School. Worked as a naval officer on submarines and ships. After
retirement from service he devoted himself to art.

Over 30 years, he has organized more than 100 artistic projects, exhibitions, and events. His projects
have taken place in some of the world’s most remote oceans, the Arctic, the Antarctic and the Sahara
desert. In 2007, he represented Russia at the 52nd Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art. In 2009, he
entered the Grand Canal in an artistic submarine and moored it near Ca’ Foscari University (the 53rd
Venice Biennale). In 2011, he was the Commissioner and a participating artist in ‘One of a Thousand
Ways to Defeat Entropy’, (the 54th Venice Biennale). In 2012, as a manager and participant, he
implemented the project of the Pavilion of Ukraine at the 13th Venice Biennale of Architecture.
In 2014, with support of the AVC Charity Foundation Alexander Ponomarev established the first
supranational pavilion – The Antarctic Pavilion – in Venice.

Ponomarev’s artworks are in the permanent collections of the Louvre Museum (France), the New
National Museum of Monaco, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Georges Pompidou (France),
Zimmerli Museum (USA), the National Museum of Singapore, the Louise T Blouin Foundation (Great
Britain), the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Grand Duke (Luxembourg), the State Tretyakov
Gallery (Russia), the State Russian Museum (Russia), etc.
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COMMISSIONER
ALEXANDER PONOMAREV ALEXANDER PONOMAREV
Vindtruvian man A Voice in the Wilderness, 2014,
Arctic Circle The 5th Marrakech Biennale
2014 of Contemporary Art
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES
The Chair of the Board of Trustees DMITRY ZOGRAF
ANNA SOMERS COCKS Entrepreneur, philanthropist, scientist
Founder & CEO of the Art Newspaper Group  
EKATERINA ANISIMOVA
ALFRED PACQUEMENT Philanthropist, social activist
Eminent art historian, ex-director of The Pompidou
Centre EKATERINA & VLADIMIR SEMENIKHIN
  art collectors, Honorary Consuls of Russia and
ANDREY CHEGLAKOV Kazakhstan
Collector, philanthropist, scientist, entrepreneur. in Monaco, founders of Ekaterina Cultural
President of AVC Charity foundation Foundation

BORIS BOBROVNIKOV FEDOR KONYUKHOV
President of CROC company Survivalist, traveler, writer and artist

DANIEL SIGAUD FRAM KITAGAWA
Entrepreneur, philanthropist, collector General Director of Echigo-Tsumari and Setouchi
  Triennale