STARA - 01.09.2015, Síða 37

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In 2013 The Icelandic Art Center, IAC, called
for ideas for an Icelandic project intended for
the Venice Biennale 2015. Artists who applied to
participate were required to list collaborators and
ideas about funding for the project. IAC´s coun-
cil of specialists deliberated the applications. A
concept by Christoph Büchel with his partner
Nina Magnusdottir as curator, was chosen which
in short entailed that Roma people would live
in the garden, the “Giardini” at the center of the
Biennial and stay there during the course of the
exhibition. The garden hosts pavilions from the
largest nations, mostly Western nations, as well
as being a historical site and is fragile as such.
The administrators of the Venice Biennale did
not think IAC‘s proposal was workable and it was
rejected. Apparently the IAC‘s council of special-
ist didn‘t anticipate that.
When this situation arose the council did not
reevaluate the already submitted ideas of other
artists but instead chose to ask Christoph Büchel
to submit another proposal, which was not
deemed workable either, and then yet another,
until the idea to install a mosque in Venice was
chosen for implementation.
There was no exhibition space and the process
of finding such a space proved complicated and
expensive. After a great deal of preparation and
search for a suitable accommodation the exhibit
Mosque opened in a deconsecrated church. After
two weeks The Mosque was closed by city officials
in Venice as various media has reported. In a way,
the limits of the Biennial were apparent and the
work Mosque marks the edge of those limitations.
Subsequently IAC filed an appeal to the authori-
ties of the city of Venice to reopen the Mosque. A
request to have a “fast-track” procedure was de-
nied. A regular court case takes at least a year, but
since the biennale closes next November, IAC has
withdrawn the appeal.
The Icelandic Art Center is run on public fund-
ing which in recent years has been so meager
that its resources have been limited. IAC has lit-
tle capacity for other projects beside the Venice
Biennale. IAC’s current transfer contract with the
ministry stipulates that 15% of the center’s work-
ing capital is earmarked for visual art grants. For
the past two years this provision has not been ful-
filled. According to the 2014 financial statement
the grants allocated to artists in 2013 were a little
over 2,8 million ISK or around 11% of the state’s
current transfer to IAC and in 2014 these grants
were just over 1,8 million ISK or roughly 8% of
the state’s current transfer to IAC. In its operat-
ing budget for this year the aim is to increase the
grants to 3.5 million ISK.
IAC must be financially able to competently in-
crease the visibility of Icelandic visual art in the
international field, where participation in the
Venice Biennale is a decisive factor. We must re-
evaluate the selection process for the next one in
2017. And we must be economically realistic. The
cost of participating in the Biennale is at least 50
million ISK, or twice as much as the funding for
it – similar to the production cost of staging one
play at the National Theater. Few artists have ac-
cess to that kind of money and probably none in
Iceland.
The prerequisite for the selection of the Icelan-
dic representative to the Venice Biennale 2015
was an open call, no set exhibition space and the
cost of the show only funded by half. Addition-
ally, IAC had the deficit of the Venice Biennale
2013 to deal with. These are not great precondi-
tions. IAC ’s wish that those artists who applied
to represent Iceland in the Venice Biennale speci-
fied collaborators and additional funding in their
application was a new one. Where was the money
supposed to come from? Abroad? From corpo-
rate sponsors? Wishes fulfilled … ?
The best solution would be a ready access to an
exhibition- and presentation space in Venice. The
idea is that such a house could be utilized for par-
ticipation in other cultural events, like the Venice
Film Festival, the Architectural Biennale, dance-
and theater festivals – all the things we wish to
participate in as contributors to the world cul-
ture. Long-term rent of accommodation is easier
to organize and much more economical but it
calls for cooperation between artistic disciplines
and ministry departments, organization and al-
liance. Iceland is marginalized, both geographi-
cally and at the Biennale, but original creation
takes place in various forms of arts, which are of
interest, also internationally. Let’s work with that
as positive energy.