6 June 2024, 10:00 – 12:00

The concept of world-building, which originated in literature and later in film and immersive video games, is increasingly discussed in the field of contemporary art. Using digital image and video production technologies, 3D models and game engines, artists create unique and complex fictional universes. Through this creative process, critical discourses are developed that address socio-political and historical issues, as well as themes related to ecology, the impact of technology on society, and questions of gender and identity. A selection of recent artists and their works are analysed to present different strategies of world-building, and to contextualise Josèfa Ntjam's installation.

Boris Magrini is Senior Curator at LAS Art Foundation in Berlin. Previously, he was Head of Programme and Curator at HEK (House of Electronic Arts) in Basel. He studied art history at the University of Geneva and holds a PhD from the University of Zurich. He has curated group exhibitions on ecology, artificial intelligence, art games, blockchain and counter-cartography, and is a regular contributor to art magazines and exhibition catalogues.

10 June 2024, 10:00–12:00

In recent decades, artistic research has adopted decolonial and ecosystemic perspectives to decentralise the human gaze towards other forms of life and matter. Museums, biennials and art centres have incorporated these practices within their institutions, composing real ecosystems and experimenting with possible interspecies alliances. In a time of ecological crises at a global and local level, exhibition spaces have thus become places for the creation of myths, rituals and practices of care. By analysing some of this research and retracing the most recent history, we intend to outline the common lines that have shaped artistic, curatorial and institutional practices through transdisciplinary and participatory approaches.

Alice Labor is a curator and researcher at MUSE - Science Museum of Trento where she develops transdisciplinary projects between art and ecology. In 2020, she obtained a PhD from the IMT School for Advanced Studies in Lucca. She collaborated with various institutions, including Biennale Gherdëina, MACTE Museum of Contemporary Art in Termoli, Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan, Center for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci in Prato, Castello di Rivoli in Turin, and co-founded the curatorial collective CampoBase.

13 June 2024, 10:00 – 12:00

This talk and screening examines the façade of stability and the confiscation of collective memory in relation to Italian colonial history and ancestral forms of knowledge production. Artist films, documentary works and examples from the 60th Biennale Arte expand this presentation which intends to share resistance practices that question the stability of the formally recognised archive and render evident those defence mechanisms put into place by institutions and individuals as a means for dismissing notions of a collective responsibility in the erasure of coloniality from national memory. The event is a choral meditation on forms of commemoration and a critical engagement with a legacy of monumentality and those marked and unmarked sites of colonial retention.

Justin Randolph Thompson is an artist, cultural facilitator and educator born in Peekskill, New York. Based in Italy since 1999, Thompson is Co-Founder and Director of Black History Month Florence and of The Recovery Plan. His life and work seek to deepen the discussions around socio-cultural stratification and the arrogance of permanence by employing fleeting temporary communities as monuments and fostering projects that connect academic discourse , social activism and DIY networking strategies in annual and biennial gathering, sharing and gestures of collectivity.

The Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia is the city’s leading site of learning and experimentation in the arts. As an institution, LAS and Accademia share an investment in the future of art and ideas. LAS is an itinerant, non-profit arts organisation, and it is important to LAS and to the artist to root this project in the environment of Venice by engaging local audiences and finding affinity organisations within the city. We’re honoured to partner with the Accademia and therefore offer students opportunities for closer engagement in the exhibition and the work of LAS through curator tours and a lecture series. It is important to LAS to engage with local partners, and for this project LAS works with partners including ISMAR and Ocean Space.

It is important to LAS to create immersive experiences, which engage all our senses and “world-build” through art. This was best achieved through carefully designing our own pavilion. In addition, there is no exhibition space at the Accademia that could be adapted, so we decided to build a structure to house the installation onsite. We were connected with the award-winning, Venice-based studio UNA / UNLESS, which is part architecture studio, part social agency. The pavilion is constructed so that it can be disassembled and remounted for future use.

The shell of the pavilion is 100% non-toxic and recyclable polymer and the majority of the pavilion is made with wood from a local provider. When the exhibition is completed, LAS would like to offer the materials to the students and faculty for reuse, and those not taken on by the school are intended to be recycled.

LAS offers a programme for students and faculty to engage with the exhibition and ideas it contends with. We also wish to have the exhibition be as non-disruptive as possible and have made the visitor journey come through the courtyard only. The project itself was discussed and approved by the board of the Accademia, which includes representation from faculty and students, and presented to the students of the Accademia on 28 February 2024.

Please feel free to contact us with any queries or concerns at our email dedicated to this project, [email protected]. We have several Italian speakers within our team who are glad to answer you.

Due to the open nature of the pavilion, security cameras and motion sensors are installed to ensure that the artworks and pavilion are safe and secure, especially at times in which the building is closed after opening hours. The security footage is held up to a maximum of 72 hours; after that time period, the footage is deleted from the system.

The pavilion and exhibition are open to viewing by the public from Thursday to Sunday; it is closed to the public from Monday to Wednesday. More specifically:

Open from 12:00 - 18:00 Thursday to Sunday (including public holidays)
Closed Monday to Wednesday (except 22 April, 17 June, 22 July, 2 September, 30 September and 18 November)