The Art of SeeingStates of Astronomy – Announcements – E-Flux

The Georgian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennaleis happy to present Art of SeeingStates of Astronomy, a collaborative project presented by a team of Georgian and French curators and artists.

The Art of SeeingStates of Astronomyshowcases 65 Maximiliana or the Illegal Practice of Astronomy, a 1964 work by Georgian artist, poet and editor Ilia Zdanevich (18941975) and Max Ernst (18911976), along with its related archives. The art book is dedicated to Wilhelm Ernst Tempel (18211889), a German astronomer and lithographer, known for his unconventional, sensual approach to astronomy, who was overlooked by contemporaries due to his lack of academic training.

Zdanevich traced his own history back to Tbilisi, where his publishing house, named 41 degrees after the latitude Tbilisi shares with Rome, Madrid, New York and other cities, promoted a futurist poetic language known as ZAUM. He adopted the name Iliazd soon after emigrating to Paris in 1921 and brought out several major books, including Maximiliana, a landmark project that spans four countries and three languages, merging poetry and astronomy to highlight the experience of exiles in both physical and metaphysical senses.

In this context, the exhibition held at Palazzo Palumbo Fossati aligns with the theme of the current Venice Biennale, Foreigners Everywhere. It spins around Maximiliana, along with materials from Iliazds archive, that document Iliazds journey to Venice and Marseille and his persistent efforts to recover Wilhelm Ernst Tempels biography.

In response to the Venice Biennales programme Global Modernisms, curator Julia Marchand (France) and research curator Davit Koroshinadze (Georgia) have crafted an original concept for a living archive, initiating the audience to Iliazds experiments, who brought his ideas from the Global South and transformed it into a cosmopolitan discourse. Maximiliana remains a perfect example of how, through typography and painting, the language of the cosmos was brought to life. French artists Rodrigue De Ferluc and Juliette George have created unique furniture inspired by Iliazds typography in Maximiliana to establish a visual and spatial identity for the exhibition. Georgian artist Nika Koplatadze reinterprets Maximiliana through a contemporary art lens in a series of artistic books informed by his readings of star maps and other cosmic matters. In addition, Grigol Nodias video art, titled Lonely Planet,turns the theme of migration into a broader, cosmic exile in search of the other and eros.

Wilhelm Ernst Tempels lithographs from the Arcetri Observatory Archives, included in the exhibition, provide a unique context for understanding the history behind Maximiliana and Iliazds journey.

Artists: Nikoloz Koplatadze, Grigol Nodia, Juliette George, Rodrigue De Ferluc, Iliazd, Max Ernst, Wilhelm Ernst Tempel Curator: Julia Marchand Research curator: Davit Koroshinadze Commissioner: Magda Guruli Institution: Art-Villa Garikula Project Manager: Ana Jorjiashvili Furniture Production: Collaboration with Interior Designer Nestan De Limur Graphic Designer: Fabien Chaminade Set Designer: Levan Mekhuzla Composer: Ben Wheeler Film Producer & Production Designer: Lasha Zambakhidze

With the support of The Ministry of Culture and Sport of Georgia.

Press contacts International press enquiries: Nadia Fatnassi,nadia [at] closeencounters.fr,T +33 652 086 908 Italian press enquiries: Virginia Cucchi,virginiacucchi.com [at] gmail.com, T +39 333 4360901

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The Art of SeeingStates of Astronomy - Announcements - E-Flux