26 November 2013

Fiona Hall AO to represent Australia at the 2015 Venice Biennale

The Australia Council for the Arts today announced Fiona Hall AO has been selected to represent Australia at the 56th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale 2015.
The Adelaide-based artist, who works across a broad range of media, will be the sole artist exhibiting at the newly constructed Australian Pavilion in the Giardini from May 2015. The exhibition will be curated by Linda Michael. Venice Biennale 2015 Commissioner Simon Mordant AM said he was delighted Fiona Hall had agreed to represent Australia at the most prestigious, international contemporary art exposition. Fiona Hall is one of Australias foremost contemporary artists, Mr Mordant said. Her work is deeply thoughtful, insightful and engaging. I cant wait to see the new works she will create for the exhibition in Venice. Ms Hall said she was thrilled to be invited to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale in 2015. It is a great honour to be offered this opportunity to create the first exhibition in the new Australian Pavilion, Ms Hall said. Fiona Hall first emerged in the 1970s as a photographer and during the 1980s she began working in a diverse range of artforms. The core theme throughout her work has been the relationship between nature and culture. A major retrospective of her work was held at Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane and toured to the Art Gallery of South Australia (both 2005) and the survey exhibition Fiona Hall: Force Field at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in partnership with City Gallery Wellington (2008) toured to Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand and Newcastle Art Gallery. She has been included in many important group exhibitions and biennales, such as dOCUMENTA 13 (2012), the Third Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2009), The Biennale of Sydney (2000 and 2010), and Prism: Contemporary Australian Art at the Bridgestone Museum, Tokyo (2006). Her work has been collected by all major Australian State galleries as well as the National Gallery of Australia. Australia Council Chair Rupert Myer AM said the Council was extremely pleased to have one of Australias most prominent contemporary artists exhibiting at the pavilion. The Venice Biennale is the most important and prestigious event on the international contemporary arts calendar and the Council considers our involvement to be an important part of the way we promote Australian artists to international audiences, Mr Myer said. At this years biennale, about 200,000 people visited the Australian Pavilion to see Simryn Gills work and I have no doubt Fiona Halls exhibition will also attract an impressive number. The 2015 Venice Biennale is a particularly exciting one for Australia, as it will be the first year the new pavilion, designed by Denton Corker Marshall, will be open. Melbourne-based curator Linda Michael will return to the Venice Biennale after curating Australias 2003 exhibition of Patricia Piccininis work. She is the Deputy Director and Senior Curator at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne and is also a respected editor and writer. Fiona Hall was selected by a seven-member expert panel comprising: Simon Mordant AM, Australian Commissioner for the Venice Biennale 2015, Chair of the Selection Advisory Panel and Chair, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia; Danie Mellor, artist and Chair Australia Council Visual Arts Strategy Panel; Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Curator, Rome and New York; Max Delany, Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Rachel Kent, Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia; Suhanya Raffel, Director of Collections, Art Gallery of NSW; and Leigh Robb, Curator, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Mr Mordant said he was delighted to announce the continued support of The Balnaves Foundation as the Major Partner and Maddocks, The University of Melbourne and White Rabbit Gallery as Supporting Partners. Their long-term support, as well as the contribution of the Commissioners Council and many individual donors, ensures our presence in Venice is maximised to provide international opportunities for the Australian contemporary visual arts sector. The Commissioners Council helps position Australia in Venice with its national membership, comprising Simon Mordant AM, Charles Green, Deputy Commissioner for Australia at the 2015 Venice Biennale, Hamish Balnaves, Anita Belgiorno-Nettis, Adrian Fini, Mark Henry, Ross Nielson, Roslyn Oxley, Lisa Paulsen and Nick Tobias.

FACT SHEET Founded in 1895, the Venice Biennale is the oldest and largest established biennale in the world. Australia has been represented at the Venice Biennale since 1954 with Sidney Nolan, Russell Drysdale and William Dobell the first to exhibit. Since then 36 Australian visual artists have exhibited, including luminaries such as Arthur Boyd, Rosalie Gascoigne and Albert Tucker. More recent artists have included Judy Watson and Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1997), Ricky Swallow (2005) and Shaun Gladwell (2009), Hany Armanlous (2011) and Simryn Gill (2013). Nearly 90 countries exhibit at the Venice Biennale and Australia is one of 29 granted a site in the historic Biennale Gardens. More than 30,000 of the worlds leading curators, collectors, critics and media attend the three-day Vernissage (preview) period and more than 440,000 people visit the exhibition over six months. The 2015 Venice Biennale will be held from 9 May to 22 November 2015. More than $1 million is raised for each Venice Biennale from sponsors, philanthropic foundations and private individuals. Continuing on from 2013, the 2015 Venice Biennale will be supported by Major Partner The Balnaves Foundation, and Supporting Partners Maddocks, The University of Melbourne and White Rabbit Gallery. The project is also supported by many individuals, including members of the Commissioner's Council, being Simon Mordant AM, Charles Green, Hamish Balnaves, Anita Belgiorno-Nettis, Adrian Fini, Mark Henry, Ross Nielson, Roslyn Oxley, Lisa Paulsen and Nick Tobias. At the opening of the Australian exhibition at the 2011 Venice Biennale, the Council announced it would build a new pavilion to replace the current structure, which was designed by Australian architect Philip Cox and opened in 1988. The new pavilion, designed by architects Denton Corker Marshall, will be complete in early 2015 in time for the opening of the Venice Biennale. Work will start on the new pavilion in early 2014. The redevelopment of the Australian Pavilion project is a public private partnership, with the Australian Government contributing $1 million through the Australia Council for the Arts and the balance raised from philanthropic support.

Media contact Karen Smith 02 9215 9030 | 0498 123 541 k.smith@australiacouncil.gov.au

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The Australia Council for the Arts is the Australian Governments arts funding and advisory body