Zimbabwe to Participate in the 54th International 2011 Venice Biennale in Italy

Zimbabwe Tue 29-03-2011

Zimbabwe to Participate in the 54th International 2011 Venice Biennale in Italy
By a Correspondent

“SEEING OURSELVES" is the exhibition that will showcase at the never before done, Zimbabwean Pavilion and will tell the untold story of four Zimbabwean artists experiencing their emotions and uncovering their journeys, the creation of their identity, their legacies and the power of their art.’

Four Zimbabwean artists have been selected to represent Zimbabwe at the first-ever National Pavilion of Zimbabwe at the Venice Biennale. The Biennale opens on 1 June and runs until the end of November.

^{Disputed seats by Misheck Masamvu | Oil on canvas | 113 by 94cm | 2008 | Image from}^{noudanou5.blogspot.com}

The Venice Biennale is the world’s most prestigious international forum for contemporary art. Held every two years in the city of Venice, it draws an international audience of approximately 500,000, and showcases the latest developments in contemporary art from around the world.

Until now, the individual countries of Sub-Saharan Africa have been under represented at the Venice Biennale, with South Africa being the only country from the region to have ever had an individual stand.

The National Gallery of Zimbabwe, working with Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture and the British Council, and supported by the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, the Monaco Development Corporation and Zimbabwe Embassy in Rome, will present an exhibition at the Church of Santa Maria della Pietà, (Castello 3701 Calle della Pieta 30122 Venice). With Zimbabwe included as an official participant in the Venice Biennale, the exhibition will give a long overdue focus on the creativity of Africa’s sovereign nations.

The exhibition will be commissioned by Doreen Sibanda, Director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, and curated by Raphael Chikukwa, Curator at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. It features the work of four artists: Berry Bickle; Calvin Dondo; Misheck Masamvu and Tapfuma Gutsa and works will be presented in the mediums of painting, photography, video installation and sculpture.

“The Zimbabwe Pavilion at the Venice Biennale is pivotal in establishing a platform after the isolation of many years. The Zimbabwean pavilion will provide a rare opportunity to spark discussions about the role of artists in a society.
Zimbabwe has become a “Zone of Silence” with little access to the platforms of exchange through which it can communicate. It is in this view that a Zimbabwean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale will break the silence.” - Raphael Chikukwa, Curator .

Artist Profiles

Berry Bickle

Zimbabwean artist Berry Bickle Bickle was born in Zimbabwe and works in Mozambique and Bulawayo. She has participated in numerous exhibitions within Zimbabwe and internationally, including the Havana Biennale, 1994; Africa Remix, Dakar Biennale, 2002; the first Johannesburg Biennale, 1995; Africus, Barcelona, 2001; Face to Face, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, 2003 and the Bamako Biennale, 2010.

Since the 1980s Bickle has constantly refined her visual imagery from large-scale colourful drawings to multimedia installations and most recently video art. Bickle was awarded a prize at the 2010 Bamako Biennale for her work in video. http://web.me.com/berrybickle

Calvin Dondo

Zimbabwean artist Calvin Dondo Dondo is a photographer based in Harare and the founder and curator of Gwanza, a month of photography in Zimbabwe. He studied photography at Harare Polytechnic from 1985 to 1988 and his work as a freelance photographer has been published in various local and international publications.

His passion for storytelling through images earned Dondo the overall Bamako Photographic Encounter Award in 2007. Dondo has exhibited widely in Zimbabwe and internationally – including Visions of Zimbabwe, curated by Raphael Chikukwa at the Manchester Art Gallery in 2004. Other significant exhibitions include Siyaphambili, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, 2000; Havana Biennale, 2003 and Photo–Fiesta, Mozambique, 2002. Dondo has been very influential in the development of photography within Zimbabwe.

Tapfuma Gutsa

Sculptor Tapfuma Gutsa Born in Zimbabwe, Gutsa began his career as a sculptor at Drienfontein Mission. He is a former BAT art school student and he was the first Zimbabwean to be awarded a British Council Scholarship to study at the London School of Art from 1982-1985. During his studies in London Gutsa graduated with a Diploma in Sculpture and his return to Zimbabwe changed the practice of sculpture.

Gutsa has won several awards that include the presidential award of honour in 1995. Major exhibitions include Uncomfortable Truth, Victoria & Albert Museum, 2007; Visions of Zimbabwe, Manchester Art Gallery and Dakar Biennale, Senegal, 2004. He has exhibited widely in Africa and in Europe and his work has been exhibited in a group show at the Venice Biennale in 1991.

Gutsa worked as the Deputy Director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe for almost a year before returning to his studio work. www.octobergallery.co.uk/artists/gutsa/index.shtml

Misheck Masamvu

Zimbabwean artist Misheck Masamvu Masamvu, who has studied in Harare and Germany, is an exciting, emerging voice within Zimbabwe. His skills have developed under the watchful eye of one of Zimbabwe’s veteran artists, Helen Liros of Gallery Delta and also at the Kunstacademie in Munich. Despite his youth, the artist has a significant roster of prizes and has participated in exhibitions in Germany, France, South Africa, Senegal, Netherlands, Italy, Zimbabwe, and the United Kingdom. Masamvu exhibited at the Dakar Biennale in 2006 and received an award at the Live and Direct exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, 2010.

Curator's Profile

Independent Curator Raphael Chikukwa Raphael Chikukwa is born in Zimbabwe and has worked mainly as an independent curator for the past ten years before joining the National Gallery of Zimbabwe as its curator of Contemporary Art. His qualifications and international experience earned him this position at the national institution, where he hopes to change the visual arts landscape of Zimbabwe. Chikukwa who was awarded the 2006 - 2007 Chevening Scholarship now holds an MA Curating Contemporary Design from Kingston University London.

He is currently conducting his PhD with Kingston University, London. The second Johannesburg Biennale in 1997 provided an impetus for Raphael’s curatorial career, after he worked as a volunteer guide. Chikukwa has curated a number of exhibitions, chiefly in the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe and has participated in significant forums at the Dakar Biennale between 2004 and 2008.

Notable exhibitions include Visions of Zimbabwe, Manchester Art Gallery, 2004; African Heroes, Imperial War Museum North, 2006/2007; Face to Face, HIFA, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, 2004; Siyaphambili, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, 2000.

Chikukwa has also taken part in a number of International Contemporary Art forums in Austria, Botswana, Egypt, France, Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal, South Africa, Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom, United States of America, and in his home country Zimbabwe. Chikukwa has also been part of the Africa Remix talk at the Centre Pompidou 2005 in Paris France.

Commissioner Profile

Doreen Sibanda has been working in the Visual Arts sector in Zimbabwe for thirty years beginning in 1981 as the Education Officer at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe where she was appointed to set up an educational unit in the Gallery. She has been an influential figure in the new dictates arising from the birth of a newly independent Zimbabwe. Sibanda is a critical thinker and a proponent of the role of education in art; her various formal and informal platforms include as an art critic, newspaper columnist, published author, artist and curator.

Career highlights include being invited to curate the Zimbabwe Pavilion at the first Johannesburg Biennale and participating in numerous exhibitions in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Germany, Czech Republic, South Korea, Russia and Mali.

Sibanda has been the Executive Director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe since 2004 and has navigated the institution through its most difficult times, managing through her positive outlook to maintain a vibrant exhibition programme showing over twenty shows each year.

Sibanda has served on a number of corporate and organisational boards. She is the author of and co-author of The National Gallery of Zimbabwe: Celebrating 50 Years, 1957-2007. She has occupied a unique position in the development of Zimbabwe’s art history, which she had been able to influence and direct with wide-reaching consequences.

Your Comments

Charakupa Murwira: Weldone Zimbabwe weldone Africa and it is a great job you have done chikukwa just for the short time you have been at the Gallery. Less than a year you have realized a grand project and forget about what other people say. You are a great son of the soil, you deserve a big hug. Zimbabwe needs curators like you at this point in time and we hope the art in Zim will be noticed by the rest of the world.

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