Artists

58th Venice Biennale

Maria Loboda
Venice Biennale
11.05.1924.11.19
Press
Press
Press release

The 58th International Art Exhibition, titled May You Live In Interesting Times, took place from 11th May to 24th November 2019. The title is a phrase of English invention that has long been mistakenly cited as an ancient Chinese curse that invokes periods of uncertainty, crisis and turmoil; “interesting times”, exactly as the ones we live in today.

The 58th Exhibition is curated by Ralph Rugoff, currently the director of the Hayward Gallery in London. Between 1985 and 2002 he wrote art and cultural criticism for numerous periodicals, publishing widely in art magazines as well as newspapers, and published a collection of essays, Circus Americanus (1995). During the same period he began working as an independent curator. Ralph Rugoff has declared: «May You Live in Interesting Times will no doubt include artworks that reflect upon precarious aspects of existence today, including different threats to key traditions, institutions and relationships of the “post-war order.” But let us acknowledge at the outset that art does not exercise its forces in the domain of politics. Art cannot stem the rise of nationalist movements and authoritarian governments in different parts of the world, for instance, nor can it alleviate the tragic fate of displaced peoples across the globe (whose numbers now represent almost one percent of the world’s entire population).»

Maria Loboda creates puzzling enigmatic spaces that lead deep into layers of rich historical narratives and refer to the current state of things. She channels poetic, historical and philosophical research into formal equations of language and materiality, examining how they act and interact and what can they express beyond common readings.

 

Lord of Abandoned Success, 2019
58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times
Photo by: Italo Rondinella
Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
Maria Loboda. Lord of abandoned success V, 2019.
Mineral powder glue acrylic resin pigments textiles plastic and wood.
158 x 68 x 32 cm
Maria Loboda. Lord of abandoned success V, 2019.
Mineral powder glue acrylic resin pigments textiles plastic and wood.
158 x 68 x 32 cm (detail)
Egyptian Tumbler, 2017
58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times
Photo by: Francesco Galli
Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
Young Warrior in the Landscape Watching the Birds Go By, 2017
58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times
Photo by: Francesco Galli
Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
Maria Loboda, Zero Dynasty, 2017. Digital print on Hahnemühle cotton paper. 120 x 84 cm