Uruguayan Pavilion – 55th Biennale di Venezia. June 1st – November 24th 2013

The Pavilion of Uruguay in the 55th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia is composed of six works produced between 1984 and 2004 by artist Wifredo Díaz Valdéz and selected by curators Carlos Capelán and Veronica Cordeiro in tune with this year’s Biennale theme, “The Encyclopaedic Palace.” 

Díaz Valdéz’s works consist of wooden objects that reflect an unquestionable mastery of the constructive process, reaching extremely refined levels of detail that result in works characterised by a high formal resonance. His works provide an aesthetic experience of the world that has been justifiably recognised both inside and outside Uruguay. 

However, it’s important to add that limiting his work solely to a formal, expressive or technical experience –in view of the emotional quality of the metaphor– would imply a severe minimisation of its scope. His work possesses another important dimension that must be highlighted. Díaz Valdéz’s artistic activity is a linguistic activity. His works are a form of representation of “reality” and, as such, the consideration of language takes on a prevalent role in its interpretation. Formal and cognitive experiences must not be opposed. In the artist’s work the dichotomy between formal and cognitive isn’t relevant; nonetheless, his works constitute forms of knowledge of the world and as such, they don’t culminate in its description, but rather construct it. In our recognised artist’s work, emotions function cognitively. Much like other symbolic systems, in this case his artistic activity produces new forms of knowledge. 

At a time of great changes, Díaz Valdéz’s work attempts to shorten the distance that grows between information culture and the culture of values, thus adding to it a strong ethical component. His works seek to condemn social problems and political instances close to his sensibility, and to rescue and build a world in the subtlest of counterfactual formal expressions.

Under the ontological aim to build a world while rooted in this culture of values, Diaz Valdéz's work reaches an epistemological reflection through its sophisticated formal expression, situating it amongst the highest contributory sayings, particularly in regards to the issues of time and identity, faded notions in an era of drastic change and uncertainty. 

Ricardo Pascale

Commissioner