Written by By Dana Wulfe , for CNN
Volk-Hanna Nölf Berg, student at the Bildklikinstitut, Berlin
I liked the dynamic one man project. It was spread over several days and you could stand outside and watch the work. It was similar to a documentary.
Andrew Verret, a sculptor with the Contemporary Art Collection at the Louvre
The five-piece “Elephant Legs” by Iván Calvo looks similar to a classical bronze, but it’s by an Argentinian and it’s modern and extremely strong.
At one point you could sit down and have a drink and connect it to a contemporary piece.
James Westbrook, director of the Old-Suit Ancient Monuments Association, and Ornella Huntley, chair of the Old-Suit Ancient Monuments Association
“Blood Dioramas” by Bruce Nauman was a thoughtful attempt to remove oneself from the installations and have a conversation with the viewer.
Francoise Baumann, curatorial assistant, Biennale Museum
“The Distraction” by the Old-Suit Ancient Monuments Association focuses on the first half of the 19th century, post-Vienna agrarian revival, when technique and clarity were critical. And this is the same aesthetic that we are experiencing in contemporary art.
Riccardo Cerruti, director and head of installation, Biennale
“Crap Show 2013” by Jörg Altstenfaller was the last show at the Old-Suit Ancient Monuments Association, and it perfectly fits the Biennale title: a glance back at those who straddled the divide between documentary and exploration.
Cerruti and his team strive to maintain a mix of documentary and form, “The Old-Suit Antiquities Association does not produce an exhibition where the viewer gets to explore, according to the logic of the group itself.”
He said they preferred a human approach, instead of pieces that were too virtual. It turned out to be one of the last shows before the group was disbanded.
Jeanne-Marie Meyer, the winner of the Biennale Surya Prize
“The Cleaner” by Joe Cutrufo from Long Island shows dead animals in a no-frills environment. “It’s almost a clinic that you can enter without so much visitor pleasure,” Meyer said.
Patrick Gandossier, architect and co-director of Architecture Works, Hamburg
“The Insects” by Wolfgang Frank Friedrich has a long lineage with the religious sides of art, though the current exhibition under the title “Jesus by Extraction: Into the Environment of Christ” functions like a religion of the modern world. “It was a unique summer exhibition for me,” he said.
“Jesus by Extraction: Into the Environment of Christ” by Wolfgang Frank Friedrich, from his current exhibition in Galway, Ireland.
“Dancing Men” by Guy Petit
“Their thing is formal — high-tech objects that are idealistic about the future. When you think they are very simple and represent the ideal of life but their progress is a classic scientific experiment,” Gandossier added.
“The Step Sisters” by Fabien Riggall, from his exhibition in Woollom
During his visit, the curators described the work in terms of opera and ballet. “But like opera, it should be seen as seeing a cut of the whole film,” he said. “The ballet is the expression of the point of view of the artist.”
“The Step Sisters” is being performed at the Galway Contemporary Art Festival from October 5th to 8th.