Fernando Prats will represent Chile at the 54 Venetian Biennial 2011
The Venetian Biennial will count with an internationally renowned Chilean representative once again. In it’s 54 version, the oldest and most important artistic of the planet will have Fernando Prats in its pavilions, a notorious national artist, who currently resides in Barcelona. The creator was chosen by a new Biennial Committee, an initiative launched by the Cultural Counsil, which is made up of three representatives who add themselves to three others who come from the Dirección de Asuntos Culturales (DIRAC) of the Cancillería and one specialist from the Fundación Imagen de Chile.
Thos who had the responsibility of choosing Prats highlight that the creator in this moment is the best representative for our country. The fundamental criteria of his election are due to the fact that they decided to choose an artist whose career is at a stage of ascending recognition, and who has an public/private alliance with a consolidated gallery at the international level, as is the case with Pratt, who is part of the staff at the Joan Prats gallery in Barcelona.
Chile will again be represented by an artist with a outstanding trajectory in this important artistic event. The Spanish curator Fernando Castro was chosen to accompany Prats and the commissary of the national pabellón will be Antonio Arévalo, who resides in Italy.
When he found out he had been elected, Fernando Prats stated that “[his] work is closely tied to Chile, its territory is the medullar geography that has occupied me for some time: The cover of Antofagasta, the Geisers del Tatio, el Salar de Atacama, the mines in Chuiquicamata and Lota. In this way, speaking through the cartography of my country, I have constructed a seismographic map of my work, and I take this challenge as an opportunity to give thanks to the Ministers of Culture and the Committee for having thought about my work”.
Pratt’s career has key aspects that make him stand out from other artists. In 2007 he was awarded the Guggenheim scholarship, and he has been supported by important European curators, including Fernando Castro Florez, Jorge Díez and Paul Ardenne. His work is identified, according to the committee, for having extraordinary rigor, and for reflecting the Chilean reality conditioned by the different geographic aspects that make it up, through art, videos, photography, planos, etc., aspects that turn him into a transcendental card to represent Chile in this important art event.
The Consejo de la Cultura along with the DIRAC, has strengthened the politics of investing in different international encounters that allow the world to meet Chile through different manifestations, as occurs in this case, counting with the fundamental support of the Fundación Imagen de Chile and Pro Chile de la Cancillería.
This collaborative work has had good results, as evidenced by the Version 54 of the Venetian Biennial, where Chile had an important place by being represented by Iván Navarro, who brought to the Italian city the montage "Threshold", composed by the installations "Death Row", "Resistance, and "Bed", which included sculptures, videos, and objects such as doors and mirrors, as well as electric systems.
