Antarctic Art & Science Expedition
March 2017
Quo Artis Foundation is the producer of the Antarctic Art & Science Expedition a supranational and intercultural art project that brought together leading artists from around the world to explore the future of Antarctica and deep oceans through artistic means. The art expedition started in Ushuaia, the southernmost city of our planet, on March 17 2017.
The expedition visited numerous working scientific bases in Antarctica, as well as historic and natural sites. Throughout the biennale, there were actions, performances, and debates on board the expedition vessel, the research ship Akademik Sergey Vavilov, which was conceived as a floating studio, conference and exhibition space.
In addition, during landings at various Antarctic locations, artists temporarily installed works of art, or engaged in performances. Mobility, site specificity, ecological compatibility, artistic expressiveness and conceptual acuity were the condition for these interventions. All installations created during the expedition were dismantled and loaded back on the ship, for their lives to continue in the world’s leading museums and art centers.
The expedition was documented and filmed. After the journey several exhibitions are to be staged at Russian and European museums.
The Antarctic Biennale Ship: the Akademik Sergey Vavilov. © Frederick Bernas
©2017. Antarctic Biennale.
Comissioner
Alexander Ponomarev is a multidisciplinary artist; nautical engineer and experienced submariner; Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France; Member of the Russian Academy of Art, and Global Thinker (so named by Foreign Policy magazine).
Alexander was born in Dnepropetrovsk (USSR, Ukraine) in 1957. In 1979, he graduated from the Odessa Higher Engineering Marine School. Worked as a naval officer on submarines and ships. After that he devoted himself to art.
Over 30 years, he has organized more than 100 artistic projects, exhibitions, and events. His projects have taken place in some of the world’s most remote oceans, the Arctic, the Antarctica and the Sahara desert.
In 2014, with support of the AVC Charity Foundation, Alexander Ponomarev established the first supranational pavilion — The Antarctic Pavilion — in Venice.
Ponomarev’s artworks are in the permanent collections of the Louvre Museum (France), the New National Museum of Monaco, the National Museum of Contemporary Art Georges Pompidou (France), Zimmerli Museum (USA), the National Museum of Singapore, the Louise T Blouin Foundation (Great Britain), the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Grand Duke (Luxembourg), the State Tretyakov Gallery (Russia), the State Russian Museum (Russia), etc.
Alexander Ponomarev © Antarctic Biennale
Alexander Ponomarev during the installation of “Alchemy of Antarctic Albedo (Or Washing Pale Moons)”. © Frederick Bernas
Participating Artists
Participating ArtistsAbdullah Al Saadi
Alexander Ponomarev
Alexis Anastasiou
Andrey Kuzkin
Gustav Düsing
Joaquin Fargas
Juliana Cerqueira Leite
Julian Charriere
Julius von Bismarck
Paul Rosero Contreras
Shama Rahman
Sho Hasegawa
Tomas Saraceno
Yto Barrada
Zhang Enli
“Abstract Geology” by Yto Barrada © Antarctic Biennale.
Biennale Principales
SUPRANATIONALITY
Developing Antarctica’s potential as a cultural space belonging to no specific nation – international voices, imagining the future of global community
INTERDISCIPLINARITY
The Antarctic Biennale as a visionary collective effort to find new approaches to solve the problems the humanity is facing using the achievements of numerous academic disciplines
INTERCULTURAL EXPLORATION
Re-imagining the function of culture in the 21st Century
MOBILIS IN MOBILI!
A biennale in process. One that creates a new ‘mobilis in mobili’ art concept, following the motto of Captain Nemo.
Board of trustees
The Chair of the Board of Trustees
Anna Somers Cocks
Founder & CEO of the Art Newspaper Group
Alfred Pacquement
Eminent art historian, ex-director of The Pompidou Centre
Andrey Cheglakov
Collector, philanthropist, scientist, entrepreneur.
President of AVC Charity foundation
Boris Bobrovnikov
President of CROC company
Daniel Sigaud
Entrepreneur, philanthropist, collector
Dmitry Zograf
Entrepreneur, philanthropist, scientist
Ekaterina Anisimova
Philanthropist, social activist
Ekaterina & Vladimir Semenikhin
art collectors, Honorary Consuls of Russia and Kazakhstan
in Monaco, founders of Ekaterina Cultural Foundation
Fedor Konyukhov
Survivalist, traveler, writer and artist
Fram Kitagawa
General Director of Echigo-Tsumari and Setouchi Triennale
Inna Bazhenova
Collector & Patron of the Arts.
Owner of The Art Newspaper
Eugene Kaspersky
Chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab
Leonid Strunin
Patron of Arts, Philanthropist, Art collector, Owner of the Auction house Phillips
Leonid Friedland
Patron of Arts, Philanthropist, Art collector, Owner of the Auction house Phillips
Marina Abramović
Performance artist, founder of
Marina Abramović Institute
Marina Loshak
Director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts
Nicolas Iljine
Advisor to the General Director of the State Hermitage Museum, culture consultant
Roman Trotsenko
Entrepreneur, philanthropist, collector
Sam Keller
Director of the Foundation Beyeler
Vanessa Branson
Collector & Patron of the Arts. Founding President of
the Marrakech Biennale
Artistic Advisory Board
Alexander Ponomarev
Commissioner of the 1st Antarctic Biennale
Hani Rashid
Architect, co-founder of Asymptote Architecture, USA
Hans-Ulrich Obrist
Art curator, critic, historian of art. Artistic Director at the Serpentine Galleries, UK
Nadim Samman
Curator, historian of art, co-director of Import Projects, Germany
Sam Keller
Director of the Foundation Beyeler, Switzerland
Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi
Practicing artist, president and director of the Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE
Captain's Dream - Antarctic Art & Science Expedition documentary
Captain's Dream - Official Trailer (A Film by Denis Delestrac) from Quo Artis on Vimeo.
Antarctic Pavilion
Established in 2014 as an international interface of the Antarctic Biennale (with the support of the AVC Charity Foundation), the Antarctic Pavilion is the first ever supranational pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
In 2017, during 57th Biennale d’Arte in Venice in the Antarctic Pavilion presented the group exhibition of the Antarctic Biennale international Open Call finalists:
• Abdullah Al Saadi (UAE)
• Alexis Anastasiou (Brazil)
• Andrey Kuzkin (Russia)
• Andreas Lutz (Germany)
• Ariel Spadari (Brazil)
• Banrei (United States)
• Bridget Steed (United Kingdom)
• Gustav Düsing (Germany)
• Jasmin Blasco (France)
• Joaquin Fargas (Argentina)
• Juliana Cerqueira Leite (Brazil)
• Julian Charriere (France/Switzerland)
• Julius von Bismarck (Germany)
• Lou Sheppard (Canada)
• Louise Oates (United Kingdom)
• Matilde Solbiati (Italy)
• Meadhbh O’Connor (Ireland)
• Paul Rosero Contreras (Ecuador)
• Stefan Laxness & Graham Baldwin (Iceland)
• Stephanie Roland (Belgium)
• Sybren Renema (Netherlands)
• Shama Rahman (UAE)
• Sho Hasegawa (Japan)
• Tomas Saraceno (Argentina)
• Tom Blake (Australia)
• Valentine Siboni (France)
• Winston Chmielinski (United States)
• Yto Barrada (Morocco)
• Zhang Enli (China)
General partner
Partners
Institutional partners
Media partners
