May You Live In Interesting Times by Arthur Jafa. 2019 Golden Lion

13/05/2019. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia [VEN] Italy 11.05>31.10.2019
metalocus, RODRIGO GARCÍA

The Jury of the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, comprising Stephanie Rosenthal (President of the Jury, Germany), Defne Ayas (Turkey/The Netherlands), Cristiana Collu (Italy), Sunjung Kim (Korea), and Hamza Walker (USA), has decided to present the following awards:

Golden Lion for the Best Participant in the International Exhibition "May You Live In Interesting Times" to: Arthur Jafa (b. 1960 USA, lives and works in Los Angeles)

Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant in the International Exhibition "May You Live In Interesting Times" to: Haris Epaminonda (b. 1980 Republic of Cyprus, lives and works in Berlin)

The Jury has decided to award two special mentions to the following participants:

Teresa Margolles (b. 1963 Mexico, lives and works in Mexico City and Madrid).
Otobong Nkanga (b. 1974 Nigeria, lives and works in Antwerp).

Golden Lion. Arthur Jafa.Various works, 2018. Mixed media. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Andrea Avezzù, courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.

Golden Lion. Arthur Jafa.Various works, 2018. Mixed media. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Andrea Avezzù, courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.

Golden Lion. Arthur Jafa.Various works, 2018. Mixed media. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Italo Rondinella, courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.

Golden Lion. Arthur Jafa, The White Album, 2019. Single channel video projection, colour, sound. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Francesco Galli

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Jimmie Durham (USA). Various works, 2017. Mixed media. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Andrea Avezzù

Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Jimmie Durham (USA). Black Serpentine, 2019. Serpentinite stone, steel, ink on paper, glass. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Francesco Galli

Silver Lion to Haris Epaminond (Republic of Cypru). VOL. XXVII, 2019 Mixed media installation. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Andrea Avezzù

Silver Lion to Haris Epaminond (Republic of Cypru). Chimera, 2019. Digitised super 8 film, colour, sound. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Francesco Galli

Special mention to Otobong Nkanga. Various works, 2018. Mixed media. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Andrea Avezzù

Special mention to Otobong Nkanga. Various works, 2009-2018, Round stickers, acrylic and crayon on paper. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Andrea Avezzù

Special mention to Teresa Margolles (Mexico). La Búsqueda (2), 2014 Intervention with sound frequency on three glass panels. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Andrea Avezzù

Special mention to Teresa Margolles (Mexico). Muro Ciudad Juarez, 2010 Concrete blocks. 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times. Photograph by Andrea Avezzù

Upon recommendation of the Curator of the 58th Exhibition Ralph Rugoff, the board of La Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, also awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Jimmie Durham (USA).

The Jury motivations are:

Golden Lion for the Best Participant in the International Exhibition "May You Live In Interesting Times" to Arthur Jafa for his 2019 film The White Album (venue: Central Pavilion, Giardini), which, in equal measure, is an essay, a poem and portraiture. Jafa uses appropriated and original footage to reflect upon the issue of race. Just as the film critiques a moment fraught with violence, in tenderly portraying the artist’s friends and family, it also speaks to our capacity for love.

Silver Lion for a Promising Young Participant in the International Exhibition "May You Live In Interesting Times" to Haris Epaminonda for her carefully constructed constellations of images, objects, text, forms, and colours that are built out of fragmented memories, histories and imagined connections; for showing us that the personal and the historical can be compressed into a powerful yet loose web of multiple meanings.

This year, there are two Special Mentions awarded to the following participants:

Teresa Margolles for her sharp and poignant works that deal with the plight of women grossly affected by the narcotics trade in her native Mexico, and for creating powerful testimonies by shifting existing structures from the real world into the Exhibition halls.

Otobong Nkanga for her ongoing and inspired exploration across media into the politics of land, body and time.