Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Stan Douglas are featured in La Biennale di Venezia, 58th International Art Exhibition, May You Live In Interesting Times

The 58th International Art Exhibition is curated by Ralph Rugoff and is open to the public from 11 May to 24 November 2019.

In his introduction to the exhibition, Rugoff comments:

'In a speech given in the late 1930s, British MP Sir Austen Chamberlain invoked an ancient Chinese curse that he had learned of from a British diplomat who had served in Asia, and which took the curious form of saying, "May you live in interesting times." "There is no doubt that the curse has fallen on us," Chamberlain observed. "We move from one crisis to another. We suffer one disturbance and shock after another." This summary sounds uncannily familiar today as the news cycle spins from crisis to crisis. Yet at a moment when the digital dissemination of fake news and "alternative facts" is corroding political discourse and the trust on which it depends, it is worth pausing whenever possible to reassess our terms of reference. In this case it turns out that there never was any such "ancient Chinese curse," despite the fact that Western politicians have made reference to it in speeches for over a hundred years. It is an ersatz cultural relic, and yet for all its fictional status it has had real rhetorical effects in significant public exchanges. At once suspect and rich in meaning, this kind of uncertain artefact suggests potential lines of exploration that are worth pursuing at present, especially when the "interesting times" it evokes seem to be with us once again. Hence the 58thInternational Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia will be titled after a counterfeit curse.'

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Images

1. Stan Douglas, installation view, 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times curated by Ralph Rugoff

11 May - 24 November 2019

© Stan Douglas

Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner

2. Njideka Akunyili Crosby, installation view, 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, May You Live In Interesting Times

11 May - 24 November 2019

© Njideka Akunyili Crosby

Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner