Beatriz Cortés, an art professor at the University of California, Davis, has been invited to attend the prestigious Venice Biennale, a showcase of arts and culture that is often referred to as the art world's version of the Olympics. (Contributed photo/UCD News Service)
It's been 40 years since UC Davis faculty were invited to participate in the prestigious Venice Biennale, an exhibition of arts and culture that can be considered the art world's version of the Olympics.
Art professor Beatriz Cortés' work will also be on display, continuing the school's important legacy of previous recipients.
An interdisciplinary artist and sculptor, Mr. Cortés' selection for the exhibition brings him in line with UCD art professors William T. Wiley (1972 and 1980) and Roy de Forest (1980). Following in the footsteps of 2011, I will be exhibiting my work at a world-famous exhibition. Through his performances, sculptures, and installations, he focuses on themes of politics and contemporary cultural and social issues.
This year's 60th exhibition, which runs from April 20 to November 24, will further focus on marginalized identities.
Cortés' work explores the nature of things happening at the same time, or simultaneity. Life in relation to time and temporality. and the “imagination” of the future, particularly in relation to postwar memory, loss, and the experience of migration.
Her recent solo exhibition at the Storm King Art Center in New York, “Beatriz Cortez: Volcanoes Left Behind,” featured imaginative reconstructions of ancient volcanoes made of hammered and welded steel. She has received numerous awards and honors, including her 2023 Latinx Artist Fellowship from the US Latinx Art Forum.
“I am very happy and honored to be the first artist from El Salvador to participate in the international art exhibition at the Venice Biennale, and to be one of the few Latinx artists invited to be based in the United States,” said Cortés. Told. Press statement released by the university. “This is a beautiful representation of the communities and individuals whose voices and ministry are reflected in my work and who have supported and inspired me in so many ways over the years.”
Mr. Cortés, a native of El Salvador's capital San Salvador, joined the UCD faculty as an associate professor in the fall of 2023 after serving as a visiting professor at the California Studio Manetti Shrem Artist Residency.
The studio's visiting artists interact with students at the undergraduate and graduate levels through seminars, critiques, and public lectures in educationally focused residencies. The program was established in 2021 by the Ministry of Arts and Art History and is underwritten by arts philanthropists Jan Schrem and Maria Manetti Schrem. Prior to his residency, Cortes gave a lecture in April 2020 as part of the Art Studio Visiting Artist Lecture Series.
In Fall 2024, the University community and the Sacramento region will be presenting a four-person exhibition at the Jan Schrem & Maria Manetti Schrem Museum of Art, along with fellow artists Kang Soon Lee, Candace Lin, and Philip Byrne. You will have the opportunity to experience Cortés' sculptures. (MFA, 2022). Mr. Lee will also participate in the Biennale and will give a public lecture by visiting artists hosted by the Faculty of Art and Art History on March 7th.
“This remarkable accomplishment is a testament to the level of talent that Beatriz brings to UC Davis,” Estela Atekwana, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said in a prepared statement. “Beatrice is already playing a strong role in strengthening arts programs and collaboration across departments, and raising the national and international profile of the arts community as a whole.”
In addition to Cortez and Lee, the exhibition will include multimedia artist Jeffrey Gibson. Working out of a studio in New York's Hudson River Valley, he explores questions of identity by fusing American Indian, queer, and American history and perspectives with pop culture themes. A member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, he was one of the first Native American artists to represent the United States at the Biennial. Additionally, the show's co-curator, Kathleen Ash Milby of the Portland Art Museum, is a member of the Navajo Nation.
The title of the 60th Biennale is “Stranieri Ovunque,” or “Foreigners Everywhere.” Its title is taken from a series of neon sculptures by the Paris-born, Palermo-based collective Claire Fontaine, which display in a growing number of languages the words: There are foreigners everywhere. ” The phrase itself comes from the name of a Turin collective that fought against racism and xenophobia in Italy in the early 2000s.
The artists for the Biennale, which this year will include more than 330 participants, are selected by the Venice Biennale's board of directors, following suggestions from the curator (this year Adriano Pedrosa). On the recommendation of curators, the Biennale has appointed five members of the international jury who will be responsible for awarding awards to national pavilions. The 2024 exhibition will be held in the Central Pavilion (Giardini) and the Arsenale.
Approximately 200,000 people visited the first international art exhibition in Venice, which has a 129-year history. It was later named the Biennale because it was held every two years. Approximately 800,000 people will visit in 2022.
