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_ cont ent s Hotf r om t heAr chi v es Ange l Or e ns a nzi nI t a l y
Angel Or ens anz ’ s Act i v i t y t h 54 Ve ni c eBi e nna l e , 2011
Wor l dCul t ur al News Di a neLe wi s : Re i nt e r pr e t i ngt he Ur ba nRubbl ef or Ci v i cAr c hi t e c t ur e
OnTV “ Ar t sf r omt heOr e ns a nz ”
Ange l Or e ns a nz ’ spe r f or mi ngunde rPont edi Ri a l t o, Ve ni c eBi e nna l e , 2001
Hot from the Archives Angel Orensanz in Italy
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or almost twenty years, Angel Orensanz has shared his creativity and artistic ventures with Italy. Although his chosen backdrop may vary as he travels from country to country, his long-lasting relationship with Italy remains constant. Beauty is more than just the art itself; it includes the full picture, the scenic background. Throughout the past twenty years Angel has formed a deep and impenetrable bond with Italy. Some love is fleeting, but Angel Orensanz’s love for Italy is seemingly eternal. There is an old saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, and right now Angel seems to be holding on to Italy tightly. It all began in 1994, perhaps as only a small crush. Orensanz picked the most iconic tourist sites of Rome to display his exhibitions. His milieus of choice were architectural wonders such as the Baths of Caracalla, romantic crevices such as the Fontana di Trevi, and historical preservations such as the Colosseum. In an attempt to contrast the stagnant nature of these ancient monuments, Orensanz created changeable sculptures of wood, steel, and aluminum. The ephemeral nature of his exhibition demonstrated the complex discourse between nature and its surroundings. Only four years later, Angel returned for a welldeserved reunion with his beloved Italy. Ca’ Rezzonico, an art gallery located right near the Grand Canal of Venice, asked to display Angel’s gouache paintings and bronze structures. The exhibition intended to last three months. Famous for his individuality and playful color choice, he was welcomed back to his lover with open arms. The opening day of the exhibition was monumental. There was a celebration over the Grand Canal with music, lights, and dance. The perfect way for two lovers to be reunited after a long separation.
In 2005, Angel Orensanz returned to his adored Venice, to the 17th century square located directly behind Ca’Rezzonico. He adorned the trees of Campo Santa Margherita with bright colored circles that made his re-appearance in Italy appreciated by the passersby. Although fervor and temperament are expected from any artist, Angel’s dedication to his art is unprecedented. In 1999 the Russians intended to destroy the Chechnyan city of Grozny. Being the politically aware person that he is, Orensanz commandeered a Florentine city bus, piled mounds of distorted suitcases and dilapidated furniture on the roof, and proceeded to drive his makeshift art exhibition, Peace Bus, through the city. His bus was an impromptu attempt to protest against the destruction of Grozny. Despite his sporadic behavior, the affair between Italy and Angel has continued to grow. One of Angel’s more charming qualities is his inquisitive nature. While most artists tweak their designs and change their formatting, Angel is more of a scientist. He constantly tests new materials and vocations to come up with ingenious and unprecedented work. Throughout his career he has tampered with many different materials. Every time Angel returns to Italy he comes forth bearing new and exciting gifts for his lover; a new form of art that has never been seen before. In 2000 Angel constructed Una Forest and The Angel of Vengeance, in Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, Rome. His desired location was no accident. Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza is the oldest school in Rome, a classic tourist site for tourists. The exhibition was organized
Angel Orensanz’s The Angel of Vengeance (Ssnt’Ivo alla Sapienza, Rome, 2000)
Installation in front of the Fontana di Trevi (Rome, 1994)
Burning Universe (Palazzo Malipero, 2005)
Angel’s performance in Piazza San Marco (Venice, 2001)
Angel Orensanz’s installation in Florence (1999)
by the Ministry for Cultural Affairs of Italy. Angel abandoned the typical cylindrical motif generally traceable in his work. The forests alluded to in the title are relayed through carefully constructed bronze sculptures placed in a variety of positions to convey the illusion of Angel’s metaphorical forest. Although bronze may be a typical medium for sculpture, when he returned to visit his long lost companion in 2001 he brought something new and stirring, plastic. Reaching deep into his Jewish roots, Angel took a quote from Kabbalah, an ancient Jewish mystical text, for inspiration. He created a giant plastic ball, and cultivated an interactive art exhibit. In 2001, his journey began in the Jewish Ghetto of Venice and from there he progressed to all the most famous tourist sites in Italy. In Kabbalah, a circle represents the origin of the world. As Angel, epitomizing his ancestry as a wandering Jew, roamed through each city, his plastic ball collected symbolic layers. Each person drew their own graphic contribution on his ball. At a time of evil, destruction, and hatred, Angel tried to unite the world through art. When two people are in love, they passionately want to give each other the world. Paolo de Grandis, a curator, conveyed a similar idea about Angel Orensanz’s 2003 exhibit Burning Universe. This exhibition contained photography, videography, and sculpture. Grandis said, “It is as though he wanted to bring the world to Venice.” The exhibition lasted three months, including live performances with his interactive artwork. Burning Universe received 45,000 visitors and an unprecedented amount of media attention. Soon after, John Spike presented Angel with the Award of Lorenzo II Magnifico, for his esteemed art. Later in 2003, Angel Orensanz was invited to return to Venice for a program called Wandering Library and Digital Diaries. The program intended to emulate the positive repercussions of technological advancements on modern art. A selective group of artists were asked to compile a small leaflet demonstrating the importance of technology in their work. Curated by Doron Polak, Angel was invited to participate in the event seeing as his exhibitions always include a vast collection of mediums. When Angel returned in 2005, he brought with him the magic of the wind. As if with a magical wand, Angel transformed the murky canals of his beloved country, into a living work of art. Wind tide sculptures were carefully arranged in the Venetian canals surrounding the University of Venice. His daedal ideas, and simplicity, were eye catching. Using lycra fabric, unconventional shapes, and bright colors, Angel enriched the already beautiful streetscape of Venice. His art is always interactive and exhilarating. Although Angel’s scenic backdrop varies often, he always returns to beautify his beloved Italy.
As with all fairy tale romances, there is a castle. In 2007 Angel Orensanz returned to Italy, yet again, for an art exhibition in an old medieval castle, Castello della Cuba, in Palermo. Achille Bonito Oliva, the curator of the demonstration, commented on his personal appeal to Angel’s work in The Joyous Instability of Art. Bonito Oliva felt that Angel’s greatest strength is his ability to bring art alive, to keep it fluid and open ended. The castle’s display consists of Angel’s drawings, sculptures, and fabric installations. Although Angel dabbles in a broad spectrum of materials, Bonito Oliva confirmed that each medium presented something new and exhilarating. In 2008, Angel returned for yet another rendezvous with his precious Italy. Angel entered a competition hosting thirteen countries from around the world. He received the Grand Award Open 08 in the 11th Open Exhibition in Venice for his sculpture. His work, Forest Park, was a seemingly unruly amalgamation of fabric haphazardly placed on the trees which stand along Lido’s waterfront. Although chaotic, it struck a chord with many of its viewers. After all these year, Angel and Italy have proven to be a match made in heaven. On June 1, 2011 Angel and his star crossed lover were reunited. Currently, Venice is holding a collective exhibition featuring a photograph of Angel Orensanz’s previous work Abyss of the Gulf. The simplicity of the photograph is essentially its beauty. Angel’s work has a tendency to be chaotic and overwhelming, making it difficult for viewers to focus and internalize the intricate details. By pulling apart a piece of the larger exhibition a new found appreciation is afforded. While love affairs are often forgotten as time wanes on, Angel’s photograph of Abyss of the Gulf in Venice celebrates close to twenty years of Orensanz precedence in Italy.
Alyx Rimberg
From top left, clockwise: Angel Orensanz’s The Tree of the Mediterranean (Gibellina, Sicily, 2008), Windtides (Venice, 2005), and Peace Bus (Florence, 1999)
World Cultural News Diane Lewis: Reinterpreting the Urban Rubble for Civic Architecture
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peaking in the round table that took place at the Angel Orensanz Foundation on May 8th 2011, New York based architect and critic Diane Lewis emphasized the importance of renewing the public interest towards historical Landmarks in the Lower East Side. The venue could not have been more perfect, as the Foundation itself stands as a cultural, and architectural landmark of the Lower East Side. In her intervention, Lewis conceptualizes the notion that architects need to envision the city as a living, breathing organism which, like a body, with its wrinkles and its beauty of age, constitutes the urban fabric as a constant work of art. Lewis proposes a reconfiguration of the city in which memory, structure and a great vision need to be highlighted. At the same time, New York sits at the crossroad between the old and the new, between the historical heritage and the commercialism that has plagued architectural practices. Furthermore, Lewis denies a reconfiguration in which the program of the building needs to be dependent on the real estate value, or the commercial success of designing urban planning. Lewis therefore champions for the responsibility that
architecture has within the urban fabric, in which the rubble of the old need not be dismembered out of the public realm, but rather it needs to be included, reinterpreted and disseminated for public intervention and assimilation. As an architect, Diane Lewis is interested in spatial sculpture and still life inherent in the city’s buildings. Lewis argues that a singular building can affect the form of an entire city. Central Park and the elevated highways at the edges of the city are some of the particular constructions that shape the urban fabric dynamic. One of her most interesting interventions pertaining the reconfiguration of the city as a civic space, is her idea of “rinnovare” , which means to breathe life into something. Architects as artists that work with the existing city to thus create a new work of art.
Andrés Valencia
The Cover of Diane Lewis’ book, Inside-Out: Architecture of New York City
Angel Orensanz’s Activity 54th Venice Biennale, 2011
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t the present moment, Venice is in the spotlight of the entire art world. With the prestigious Biennale di Venezia that opened with a preview on June 1, curated by Bice Curiger and hosting a record of 89 countries this year, numerous are the contemporary art exhibitions and events taking place in the Italian city coinciding with the Biennale dates. Among them, the cultural association Artlife for the World has put up the group show Mapping, the eighth and last exhibition in the Markers project series in honor of the Venice Biennale 2011, which is opened on June 1 as well. An itinerant art project curated by Doron Polak and Amir Cohen, Mapping brings together 66 artists from around the world, and deals with a topic usually associated with cartography; namely, a map is a compilation of agreed upon symbols that describe ideas. The artists participating in this exhibition have mapped their personal or social experiences, linked to the culture to which they belong. Featured in the collective show is the work of Angel Orensanz, the Abyss of the Gulf (2010), a photo of one of his seminal public art installations. Having performed and exhibited previously in Italy with highly acclaimed installations, Angel Orensanz has an special attachment with the richly cultural city of Venice, where in 2001 he initiated a key performance intervention that involved the rolling transportation of an enormous semi-transparent plastic sphere throughout emblematic Venetian spots. While this and other series of works from the last two decades were more committed to multiculturalism and pacifism, with The Abbys of the Gulf and its related
photo piece presented at Mapping, Orensanz tackled and reacted to a specific human and environmental catastrophic event occurred at the Gulf of Mexico, a tragic contamination and infection of the seacoasts. Last August, in a large tract of urban space in New York, close to his studio Foundation in the Lower East Side, the artist enacted a vision and dramatization of the apocalypse in the Gulf of Mexico through a sculptural, textile and video construction. Miles and miles of wreckage and debris filled the expansive yard where he unfolded his take on a continental catastrophe that is not explained but metaphorically reenacted. The Angel Orensanz Foundation proudly presents and invites the public to visit the group exhibition Mapping at Artlife for the World gallery, curated by Donor Polak and Amir Cohen and initiated by the International Artists’ Museum and 972ARTT. It is part of the project Markers, which has organized a wide range of successful exhibitions that have traveled to New York, Berlin, Lodz, Edinburgh, and more. Marta Arenal
Mapping (Mappe) – Markers (Segni) 1 June – 28 July 2011 Artlife for the World - eventi d’arte contemporanea Art Director: Simonetta Gorreri Cannaregio 6021 Venezia 30121 Italy +39 041 5209723 artlifefortheworld@libero.it
Angel Orensanz’s Geotag, presented in the collective show in Venice
On TV “Arts from the Orensanz” Art events recorded at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, New York City (2003-2011) A weekly TV program on Manhattan Neighborhood Network Every Tuesday at 7:30 PM Time Warner Channel 67 Producer: Al Orensanz Assistant Producer: Maria Neri Program Director: Klara Palotai
June 14, 2011. 7:30 pm Angel Orensanz in Italy (1992-2009) Installations, art actions and exhibitions For this week’s broadcast, we proudly present a bespoke TV program illustrating the fruitful, longlasting relationship of Angel Orensanz and the country of Italy. From his colorful and mesmerizing installation of lycra fabric sculptures placed at the mercy of the Venetian canals’ tides (2005), to the engaging performances in Florence (1999) and the Jewish Guetto of Venice (2001). For a preview of Angel’s work in Italy throughout his career, click here. Also on view this week will be Angel Orensanz’s engaging performance at the well-known Venetian cemetery of San Michele, where he paid homage to the musician Igor Stravinsky, buried there. June 21, 2011, 7:30 pm Selected Short Films by Angel Orensanz
Angel Orensanz’s Windtide Sculptures (Venice, 2005)
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