The Venice Questionnaire #6: Joana Vasconcelos
ArtReview sent a questionnaire to a selection of the artists exhibiting in various national pavilions of the Venice Biennale, the responses to which will be published over the coming days. Joana Vasconcelos is representing Portugal. The pavilion is moored in front of the Giardini.
What can you tell us about your plans for Venice?
My project establishes a connection between Lisbon and Venice, based upon their shared historical relationship with the sea and fundamental importance in the past of linking the West with the East.
Are you approaching the show in a different way to how you would with a ‘normal’ exhibition?
This is what I designate as a total, all-encompassing artwork/floating pavilion/ship - a Noah’s Ark of Portugueseness. It takes the form of a typical working Lisbon ferry-boat featuring artistic interventions both inside and out, Trafaria Praia also features a stage for concerts and conferences and will be moored at the entrance to the Giardini, except when it navigates in the Venice Lagoon, which will happen twice a day.
Trafaria Praia, 2013. Photo by Luís Vasconcelos / ©Unidade Infinita Projectos.
