SPEECH MATTERS – THE DANISH PAVILION 54TH INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA

THE DANISH PAVILION 54TH INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
Professional Preview Opening:
Thursday, 2 June 2011, at 15.30
Giardini
Public Opening:
Saturday, 4 June 2011
The exhibition will remain on view through 27 November 2011

SPEECH MATTERS

For the 54th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, the Danish Pavilion will host an international group exhibition, curated by Katerina Gregos, which will explore the very timely and complex issue of freedom of speech. The question of freedom of speech is one that is being increasingly contested in light of transformations taking place globally, both in authoritarian regimes and in liberal democracies, where civil liberties seem to be increasingly under threat. Apart from the fact that it relates to Denmark specifically, it is also highly relevant in relation to much of what is happening in the world today from: press intimidation and censorship in Russia and elsewhere; to Google’s recent episode in China and the effects of the “Great Firewall of China”; current events in North Africa; changes to media law in Hungary and the new constitution; the WikiLeaks scandal; and other factors such as increased surveillance in the UK and the USA, and highly charged debates about the limits of freedom of speech in several European countries, such as the Netherlands. The notions of freedom of speech and freedom of expression are, perhaps, so global because the subjects they cover are so vast. They are fundamentally bound to broader questions of politics and culture, as well as social and personal issues. They also impact upon, and are interrelated with, other areas such as the freedom of the press, censorship and self-censorship, the internet, copyright, intel intellectual property, the privatisation of knowledge, protest and public order, public space, judicial and legal questions, pornography, sexual orientation, lifestyle preferences, and human rights issues in general.
Denmark has a longstanding reputation of freedom of speech and freedom of press. It has repeatedly ranked in the top ten of the Worldwide Press Freedom Index and has always been at the forefront of the public debate on a number of progressive issues in relation to freedom of speech, but it has also suffered the so-called ‘trauma of free speech’, making it even more appropriate to use the Danish Pavilion as a springboard from which to discuss these issues.

The context: Speech Matters
The exhibition in the Danish Pavilion at the 54th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia 2011 aims to provoke a considered debate and to complicate the issue of freedom of speech which seems, increasingly, to be used as an empty political slogan that is subjected to a very simplified, biased and populist debate. In reality, it is an extremely complex and often ambivalent issue that is contingent on subjective political, social, cultural, religious, and personal views. The discussion around free speech is, therefore, highly relative and open. This exhibition aims to highlight some of the intricacies, ambiguities and grey areas inherent to the subject, emphasising the fact that free speech cannot be exercised or applied in any programmatic or strictly prescribed manner, and its boundaries cannot be easily delimited.

The question of freedom of expression in general is also important as it relates not only to artistic and literary expression, freedom of the media and internet, but also to the way we inhabit and occupy public space, another site of increasing regulation. Furthermore, the internet adds yet another dimension to the discourse regarding the extents of freedom of expression and the ownership, control or dissemination of information.
Finally, the subject also touches on the essence of visual artistic practice per se, which fundamentally entails and depends on conditions of freedom.
Contemporary artists in a so-called free society operate under the de facto assumption that they can work in conditions of freedom, but to what extent? What about the nature of artistic freedom itself, at a time when the question of artistic autonomy is being compromised by corporate or private interests?

The Artists / The Exhibition
Agency (International, est. 1992) – Ayreen Anastas & Rene Gabri (Palestine & Iran) – Robert Crumb (USA, 1943) – Stelios Faitakis (Greece, 1976) – FOS (Denmark, 1971) – Sharon Hayes (USA, 1970) – Han Hoogerbrugge (the Netherlands, 1963) – Mikhail Karikis (Greece, 1975) – Thomas Kilpper (Germany, 1956) – Runo Lagomarsino (Argentina/Sweden, 1977) – Tala Madani (Iran, 1981) – Wendelien van Oldenborgh (the Netherlands, 1962) – Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen (Denmark, 1970) – Taryn Simon (USA, 1975) – Jan Švankmajer (Czech Republic, 1934) – Johannes af Tavsheden – Tilman Wendland (Germany, 1969) – Zhang Dali (China, 1963).

The exhibition Speech Matters in the Danish Pavilion features 18 international artists from 12 countries. There are artists from countries where freedom of speech is still contested and under threat like China and Iran; artists from countries where the issue is becoming increasingly contentious like the Netherlands, but also artists whose work has consistently engaged with the issue in one way or another. These artists come from different generations – the oldest artist was born in 1934, the youngest in 1981 – and work in diverse media: from photography, painting, and installation to cartoon and animation. For the Danish Pavilion 13 new installations and works have been commissioned.
The result is an exhibition with a lot of surprises, in which several complementary strands emerge rather than one curatorial narrative.

It is important to point out that the understanding of ‘freedom of speech’, in this context is not only in relation to the spoken word per se, but also to inextricably interrelated issues of freedom of artistic expression. The exhibition focuses on several areas of enquiry such as questions of intellectual property and copyright; language, speech and subjectivity; the relationship of free speech to history, politics, memory; the silenced speech of voiceless or marginalised communities or persons; censorship, the suppression of information and the fabrication of memory; self-censorship and personal free speech dilemmas; and, finally, free or revolutionary speech and the public sphere.

Works Extra Muros
Pavilion for Revolutionary Free Speech, Speakers’ Corner, Imposition Symphony, Osloo – a floating Pavilion.
Apart from the works exhibited inside the Danish Pavilion, the project aims to draw attention to some of the spaces outside the pavilion, thus challenging the somewhat more private character of the building, and opting to activate the space around it. Thus, three of the artists will create large outdoor commissions:

• The German artist Thomas Kilpper has constructed a Pavilion for Revolutionary Free Speech, an open structure built in, and beyond, the private garden of the Danish Pavilion; this ambitious project was created by the artist with a team of engineers, carpenters and builders, predominantly by using wood and material left over from the last edition of the Architecture Biennale in 2010.
The structure will also host Speakers’ Corner, an open balcony and public podium that extends towards the front side of the Danish Pavilion and is visible upon entering Giardini. On Speakers Corner a series of specially commissioned language-based performances and speech acts on the subject of free speech will take place during the opening days and beyond.
• Secondly, Greek artist Stelios Faitakis has on the Danish Pavilion’s neoclassical façade realised Imposition Symphony, an ambitious large-scale mural in six chapters whose main narrative involves around six episodes all relating to questions of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, censorship and oppression, from a contemporary as well as a historical perspective.
• Finally, the Danish Pavilion will extend its presence outside the Giardini and in the public urban fabric of Venice itself, through the work of the Danish artist
FOS, who will realise Osloo – a floating Pavilion, a space for public exchange, which incorporates a bar, a radio station and a stage for events such as concerts, talks and lectures. Entrance to Osloo is free for the public and a daily programme is offered throughout the first month of the Biennale. For location and programme updates please visit www.osloo.dk and www.danish-pavilion.org

The Publication
The exhibition publication will be designed and produced by Mousse. It will feature contributions by Katerina Gregos, Christopher Hitchens, Antonio Negri, and Raoul Vaneigem.
The artist Han Hoogebrugge has been commissioned to produce a bag, which will accompany the publication.

The Commissioner
The Danish Arts Council Committee for International Visual Arts serves as Commissioner for the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, where Denmark has taken part since 1895. In compliance with its intention to consider Danish art in an international perspective, it is the aim of the Danish Arts Council Committee for International Visual Arts that the Danish Pavilion, through innovative artistic and curatorial practices, reflects upon the position of contemporary art in a globalized art world as well as the position of the Venice Biennale in this ever-changing art world.

The Danish Arts Council Committee for International Visual Arts consists of Christine Buhl Andersen (Chairman), Eva Koch, Mikael Andersen, Jakob Jakobsen, Gitte Ørskou (1 April 2007 – 31 March 2011) and Rune Gade (Chairman), Jesper Elg, Mads Gamdrup, Lise Harlev, Anna Krogh (1 April 2011 – 31 March 2015).

The Curator
Katerina Gregos (GR) is a curator and writer based in Brussels, Belgium. She is currently co-curator of the 4. Fotofestival Mannheim_Ludwigshafen_ Heidelberg, in Germany (forthcoming, September 2011; various venues), part of the curatorial team for Manifesta 9 (forthcoming, June 2012, Province of Limburg, Belgium) and curator of Newtopia: The State of Human Rights (forthcoming, September 2012, Mechelen, Belgium, various venues). Previously, she served as artistic director of Argos – Centre for Art & Media, Brussels, and director of the Deste Foundation, Centre for Contemporary Art, Athens, where she organised numerous exhibitions. As an independent curator Gregos has also curated several exhibitions internationally including, among others, Hidden in Remembrance is the Silent Memory of Our Future, Contour 2009 – The 4th Biennial for Moving Image, Mechelen, Belgium (2009); Give(a)way: on Generosity, Giving, Sharing and Social Exchange, the 6th Biennial E V + A: Exhibition of Visual Art, Limerick, Ireland (2006). Other independent projects include Leaps of Faith: An International Arts Project for the Green Line and the City of Nicosia, Cyprus (2005), the first international contemporary art exhibition to take place on both sides of the divided city, and Channel Zero, for the Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam (2004). Katerina Gregos regularly publishes on art and artists in magazines, books and exhibition catalogues, and is a frequent speaker in international conferences.

Press Contact
For press image material and additional information
on the artists and the exhibition,
please visit: www.danish-pavilion.org
For Danish Press
Marianne Strøm Hansen, The Danish Arts Council
H.C. Andersens Boulevard 2,
DK-1553 Copenhagen V, Denmark
E: stroem@kunst.dk
T: +45 21452440
For International Press
Judith Eckstein, Goldmann Public Relations
Bruderstr. 5, D-80538 Munich, Germany
E: jeckstein@goldmannpr.de
T: +49 (0) 89 21116422
The project is funded by the Danish Arts Council.

PADIGLIONE DANESE
54. ESPOSIZIONE INTERNAZIONALE D’ARTE LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
Anteprima per i professionisti:
giovedì 2 giugno 2011, ore 15:30
Giardini
Apertura al pubblico:
sabato 4 giugno 2011
Sarà possibile visitare la mostra fino
al 27 novembre 2011

SPEECH MATTERS
In occasione della 54. Biennale di Venezia, il Padiglione Danese ospita una mostra collettiva di artisti internazionali, curata da Katerina Gregos, che esplora il tema estremamente attuale e complesso della libertà di parola. La questione della libertà di parola viene sempre più messa in discussione alla luce delle trasformazioni che stanno avendo luogo in tutto il mondo, sia nei regimi autoritari che nelle democrazie liberali, in cui le libertà civili sembrano essere oggetto di crescenti minacce. Oltre a riferirsi in modo specifico alla Danimarca, il tema scelto è di particolare rilevanza se si considera quanto sta accadendo attualmente nel mondo: intimazioni e censure nei confronti della stampa in Russia e altrove; il recente episodio che ha interessato Google in Cina e gli effetti del “Grande Firewall” cinese; gli eventi in corso in Nord Africa; le modifiche delle leggi sui media in Ungheria e la nuova costituzione; lo scandalo WikiLeaks; e altri fattori come l’aumento della sorveglianza nel Regno Unito e negli USA e dibattiti molto accesi sui limiti della libertà di parola in numerosi paesi europei come i Paesi Bassi. I concetti di libertà di parola e libertà di espressione sono, forse, così globali perché gli argomenti che essi coprono sono molto vasti. Sono fondamentalmente destinati ad ampliare tanto questioni politiche e culturali, quanto tematiche sociali e personali.
E hanno anche un impatto su altre aree con le quali sono correlati, come la libertà di stampa, la censura e l’autocensura, Internet, il copyright, la proprietà intellettuale, la privatizzazione della conoscenza, la protesta e l’ordine pubblico, lo spazio pubblico, aspetti giudiziari e legali, la pornografia, l’orientamento sessuale, le preferenze di stile di vita e i diritti umani in generale.

La Danimarca gode di una consolidata reputazione di libertà di parola e libertà di stampa. Più volte è stata inserita fra i primi dieci paesi nella classifica del Worldwide Press Freedom Index ed è sempre stata uno dei protagonisti del dibattito pubblico su una serie di tematiche progressiste che riguardano la libertà di parola; ma ha anche subito il cosiddetto ‘trauma della libertà di parola’, e proprio per questa ragione il Padiglione Danese sembra essere la sede più adatta per promuovere una discussione su questi temi.

Il Contesto: Speech Matters
L’obiettivo della mostra del Padiglione Danese in occasione della 54. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte – la Biennale di Venezia 2011 è provocare un dibattito ponderato e far emergere la complessità del tema della libertà di parola, che sembra essere utilizzato sempre maggiormente come vuoto slogan politico oggetto di un dibattito molto semplificato, parziale e populista. Si tratta in realtà di una questione estremamente complessa e spesso ambivalente che è condizionata da opinioni soggettive di carattere politico, sociale, culturale, religioso e personale.
Proprio per questo il dibattito sulla libertà di parola è particolarmente relativo e aperto. La mostra si propone di mettere in evidenza alcune delle caratteristiche intrinseche, ambiguità e zone d’ombra relative al tema, sottolineando il fatto che la libertà di parola non può essere esercitata o applicata in forma programmatica o rigidamente prestabilita, e che i suoi confini non possono essere facilmente delimitati.
Anche la questione della libertà di espressione in generale è importante, dal momento che si ricollega non solo all’espressione artistica e letteraria, alla libertà dei media e di Internet, ma anche al modo in cui abitiamo e occupiamo lo spazio pubblico, altro ambito nel quale assistiamo a una crescente regolamentazione. Internet di fatto contribuisce al dibattito con un’ulteriore dimensione: quella della portata della libertà di espressione e di problemi quali la proprietà, il controllo e la divulgazione delle informazioni. Infine, il tema riguarda anche l’essenza della pratica delle arti visive in quanto tali, che fondamentalmente comporta e dipende da condizioni di libertà. Gli artisti contemporanei, nella cosiddetta ‘libera società’, operano a partire dal presupposto de facto che essi stessi possano svolgere la loro opera in condizioni di libertà, ma fino a che punto? E quale natura ha la stessa libertà dell’arte, in un’epoca in cui il concetto dell’autonomia artistica scende a compromessi con interessi economici o privati?

Gli Artisti / La Mostra
Agency (internazionale, fondata nel 1992) – Ayreen Anastas & Rene Gabri (Palestina & Iran) – Robert Crumb (USA, 1943) – Stelios Faitakis (Grecia, 1976) – FOS (Danimarca, 1971) – Sharon Hayes (USA, 1970) – Han Hoogerbrugge (Paesi Bassi, 1963) – Mikhail Karikis (Grecia, 1975) – Thomas Kilpper (Germania, 1956) – Runo Lagomarsino (Argentina/ Svezia, 1977) – Tala Madani (Iran, 1981) – Wendelien van Oldenborgh (Paesi Bassi, 1962) – Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen (Danimarca, 1970) – Taryn Simon (USA, 1975) – Jan Švankmajer (Repubblica Ceca, 1934) – Johannes af Tavsheden – Tilman Wendland (Germania, 1969) – Zhang Dali (Cina, 1963).

La mostra Speech Matters presso il Padiglione Danese raggruppa 18 artisti internazionali provenienti da 12 paesi. Sono presenti artisti di paesi in cui la libertà di parola viene tuttora messa in discussione e minacciata, come Cina e Iran; artisti di paesi nei quali la questione sta diventando sempre più scottante, come i Paesi Bassi; ma anche artisti la cui opera ha costantemente riguardato questo tema in un modo o nell’altro. Artisti di generazioni diverse – il più anziano è nato nel 1934, il più giovane nel 1981 – che operano con media diversi: da fotografia, pittura e installazioni a fumetti e animazioni.
Per il Padiglione Danese sono state commissionate 13 nuove installazioni e opere. Il risultato è una mostra ricca di sorprese, nella quale emergono vari filoni complementari più che una singola narrazione scelta dalla curatrice.

Va precisato che il significato di ‘libertà di parola’ in questo contesto non si riferisce esclusivamente alla ‘parola parlata’ in sé stessa, ma anche a questioni inestricabilmente correlate che riguardano la libertà dell’espressione artistica. La mostra si concentra su numerose aree di ricerca, ponendo interrogativi su proprietà intellettuale e copyright; lingua, discorso e soggettività; il rapporto fra libertà di parola e storia, politica e memoria; la parola repressa di persone o comunità che non hanno voce per esprimerla o che sono emarginate; la censura, la soppressione delle informazioni e la falsificazione della memoria; l’autocensura e i dilemmi personali sulla libertà di parola; e, infine, il discorso libero o rivoluzionario e la sfera pubblica.

Opere Extra Muros
Pavilion for Revolutionary Free Speech, Speakers’ Corner, Imposition Symphony, Osloo – a floating Pavilion.
Oltre alle opere esibite all’interno del Padiglione Danese, il progetto si propone di rivolgere l’attenzione anche ad alcuni spazi esterni al padiglione stesso, mettendo così in discussione il carattere più privato dell’edificio e attivando invece lo spazio che lo circonda. A tal fine, tre artisti daranno forma a grandi opere all’aperto:
• L’artista tedesco Thomas Kilpper ha ideato il Pavilion for Revolutionary Free Speech, una struttura aperta costruita all’interno e all’esterno del giardino privato del Padiglione Danese; questo progetto ambizioso è stato creato dall’artista con un gruppo di tecnici, carpentieri e costruttori usando prevalentemente legno e materiale di recupero proveniente dall’ultima edizione della Biennale di Architettura del 2010. La struttura ospiterà anche lo Speakers’ Corner, una galleria aperta con un podio pubblico che si estende verso la facciata del Padiglione Danese e che è visibile dall’ingresso dei Giardini. Durante e oltre l’apertura della mostra, lo Speakers’ Corner ospiterà una serie di eventi organizzati per l’occasione incentrati sul linguaggio e sulla libertà di parola.
• In secondo luogo, l’artista greco Stelios Faitakis ha realizzato sulla facciata neoclassica del Padiglione Danese Imposition Symphony, un ambizioso murale
di grandi dimensioni in sei capitoli il cui principale filo narrativo si dipana attraverso sei episodi tutti relativi a questioni di libertà di parola, libertà di espressione, censura e oppressione, da una prospettiva sia contemporanea che storica.
• Infine, il Padiglione Danese sarà presente anche all’esterno dei Giardini, nel tessuto urbano pubblico della stessa Venezia, con l’opera dell’artista danese
FOS, che realizzerà Osloo – a floating Pavilion, uno spazio di pubblico scambio, che comprende un bar, una stazione radiofonica e un palco per eventi come concerti, dibattiti e conferenze. L’ingresso a Osloo è gratuito e durante il primo mese della Biennale saranno organizzati eventi tutti i giorni.

Ulteriori informazioni e aggiornamenti su sede e programma sono disponibili nei siti www.osloo.dk e www.danish-pavilion.org

La Pubblicazione
Il catalogo della mostra, ideato e prodotto da Mousse, raccoglie i contributi di Katerina Gregos, Christopher Hitchens, Antonio Negri e Raoul Vaneigem.
L’artista Han Hoogebrugge è stato incaricato di creare una borsa che accompagnerà la pubblicazione.

Il Commissario
Il Danish Arts Council Committee for International Visual Arts funge da Commissario per il Padiglione Danese alla Biennale di Venezia, alla quale la Danimarca partecipa dal 1895. In conformità con la sua intenzione di considerare l’arte danese in una prospettiva internazionale, il Danish Arts Council Committee for International Visual Arts si propone di far sì che il Padiglione Danese, attraverso pratiche innovative sia da parte degli artisti che della curatrice, dia vita a una riflessione sulla posizione dell’arte contemporanea in un mondo artistico globalizzato e della Biennale di Venezia in questo mondo artistico in costante mutazione.
Il Danish Arts Council Committee for International Visual Arts è formato da Christine Buhl Andersen (Presidente), Eva Koch, Mikael Andersen, Jakob Jakobsen, Gitte Ørskou (1° aprile 2007 – 31 marzo 2011) e Rune Gade (Presidente), Jesper Elg, Mads Gamdrup, Lise Harlev, Anna Krogh (1° aprile 2011 – 31 marzo 2015).

Il Curatore
Katerina Gregos (di nazionalità greca) è una curatrice e scrittrice che vive a Bruxelles, Belgio.
Attualmente è co-curatrice del 4. Fotofestival Mannheim_ Ludwigshafen_Heidelberg, in Germania (che si terrà nel settembre 2011 in varie sedi), membro del gruppo di curatori per Manifesta 9 (in programma per giugno 2012 nella Provincia di Limburg, Belgio) e curatrice di Newtopia: The State of Human Rights (prevista per settembre 2012 a Mechelen, Belgio; varie sedi). In passato ha ricoperto l’incarico di direttore artistico di Argos – Centre for Art & Media, Bruxelles, e di direttore della Deste Foundation, Centre for Contemporary Art, Atene, istituzioni presso le quali ha organizzato numerose esposizioni. Come curatrice indipendente, Katerina Gregos ha anche curato varie mostre di livello internazionale, fra le quali Hidden in Remembrance is the Silent Memory of Our Future, Contour 2009 – The 4th Biennial for Moving Image, Mechelen, Belgio (2009); Give(a)way: on Generosity, Giving, Sharing and Social Exchange, the 6th Biennial E V + A: Exhibition of Visual Art, Limerick, Irlanda (2006). Fra gli altri progetti indipendenti si ricordano Leaps of Faith: An International Arts Project for the Green Line and the City of Nicosia, Cipro (2005), prima esposizione internazionale d’arte contemporanea ad aver luogo da entrambi i lati della città divisa, e Channel Zero, per il Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam (2004). Katerina Gregos scrive regolarmente di arte e artisti in riviste, libri e cataloghi di mostre, e partecipa spesso a conferenze internazionali come relatore.

Contatto per la stampa
Materiale fotografico per la stampa e ulteriori informazioni sugli artisti e sulla mostra sono disponibili sul sito: www.danish-pavilion.org
Per la stampa danese
Marianne Strøm Hansen, The Danish Arts Council
H.C. Andersens Boulevard 2, DK-1553 Copenhagen V
E: stroem@kunst.dk
T: +45 21452440
Per la stampa internazionale
Judith Eckstein, Goldmann Public Relations
Bruderstr. 5, D-80538 Munich
E: jeckstein@goldmannpr.de
T: +49 (0) 89 21116422
Progetto finanziato dal Danish Arts Council.

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COMMISSIONER’S STATEMENT
by Christine Buhl Andersen, Chairman

The Danish Arts Council Committee for International Visual Arts is responsible for Denmark’s representation at the Venice Biennale and chooses the artists who will exhibit in the Danish Pavilion. The committee is made up of selected art professionals and sits for a single four-year period. This means that the committee is responsible for two Venice Biennale exhibitions during its four-year term. As chairman of the committee responsible for Denmark’s representation at the Venice Biennales in 2009 and 2011, I am proud of the radical renewal that has resulted from our focused efforts to rethink national representation in a globalised art world. In 2009 we went beyond traditional national representation with the exhibition The Collectors curated by artists Elmgreen & Dragset. This major group exhibition was realized as a transnational collaboration with the Nordic Pavilion, and the project allowed a wide range of artists who were non-Danish nationals to exhibit their work and to receive production support for commissioned new works. In 2011, on the basis of a competition between five foreign curators, we transferred our mandate to select the artists for the Danish Pavilion to the Brussels-based Greek curator Katerina Gregos. Her exhibition Speech Matters yet again breathes new life into the whole concept of national representation at the Venice Biennale.

These two distinctive and, for some people, controversial choices were made in accordance with our overall strategy for embedding Danish art firmly in the global art world, even when it comes to this ultimate exhibition of national art in Venice. In general the committee’s support policy has aimed at integrating Danish art into the global art world in a contemporary and open minded way that could give Danish artists the best conceivable opportunities for participation.

At the same time, despite the welter of other biennials, triennials, art shows, and art events taking place around the world, we have not for a moment doubted that the Venice Biennale is the most important art exhibition on the planet. It is the exhibition that is seen by the greatest number of art professionals from around the world and so continues to be an indisputable reference point for artistic endeavour. This also means that a great deal is expected from the exhibitors, and that there is fierce competition from the various nations involved to be noticed both inside and outside the classic exhibition area in the Giardini. For us this was another good reason to rethink Denmark’s participation.

In general, we defined four criteria for determining the success of Denmark’s participation in the two national Venice Biennale exhibitions for which the committee was responsible:
Firstly, the exhibition in the Danish Pavilion must have a global perspective. In both its form and its content it had to challenge the traditional concept of national representation in an intelligent way.
Secondly, it had to attract international attention and generate debate in arts media not only in Denmark but also abroad.
Thirdly, it had to be perceived as innovative and to grapple with the location and the pavilion’s architecture.
Fourthly, it had to be communicated to a broad public, so that it was not just art professionals who understood it and found it exciting.

The result of Elmgreen & Dragset’s exhibition in the Danish Pavilion and Nordic Pavilion was quite exceptional. The Collectors was an overwhelming success, both with the general public and in terms of its reception by the international art world. The exhibition was named in more than 150 international me dia and featured as the cover story in the art magazines Art in America and Artforum, and the biennial’s distinguished “Special Mention” for curating went to Elmgreen & Dragset, whose reputations have since then soared on the international scene. As regards our success criteria requiring the exhibition to have a global perspective, we have been able to be even more radical the second time round, since The Collectors did, after all, have a strong Scandinavian component.

In embarking on the planning for the exhibition in 2011, we decided to invite five foreign curators to submit proposals for a project in the Danish Pavilion that would meet our four success criteria. On the basis of these submissions, we chose to work with Katerina Gregos, whose proposal for an exhibition about freedom of speech was found to meet the success criteria in every way.

Firstly, the exhibition theme – freedom of speech – has a global and universal perspective, on which artists from many different cultural backgrounds have their own take, and their own cultural, political and artistic points of departure. At the same time, it is clear that this exhibition theme has a special significance in a Danish context, where the debate about freedom of expression and democracy has played an important role in relation to the controversy about the Muhammad cartoons. In our opinion, therefore, Gregos’ exhibition reflects intelligently on the Danish representation. The exhibition is not about the Muhammad cartoons in Denmark. In the language of art and on art’s own premises, however, it relates to the more poetic, thought-provoking and ambiguous dimensions that the subject embraces.
Criticism has already been smouldering in Denmark prior to the opening of Speech Matters, partly because no more than two of the eighteen artists are Danish, but also because we as a committee handed over our power to choose the artists to a foreign curator. In the eyes of many critics at home, the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale should be reserved solely for Danes, and, as the committee responsible, we were supposed to select this country’s finest artists for the exhibition. However, we thought otherwise and we are proud to be responsible for an exhibition that, with Katerina Gregos at the helm, has brought so many extraordinary foreign artists together to represent Denmark by contributing to an exhibition that is relevant, provocative and globally oriented, and that as a whole makes an enormously relevant subject the focus of debate. In so doing, it rejuvenates the whole idea of what Denmark’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale can be used for. We are convinced that the project will once again generate widespread awareness of Danish art and art policy and that this awareness will have an extremely positive impact on Danish art.

Finally, we would like to thank Katerina Gregos for her quite exceptionally committed and reflective engagement in creating a unique exhibition in the Danish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2011, and for a dialogue with the committee that has shown scrupulous and qualified judgement. We would also like to express our gratitude both to all the artists who agreed to take part and, not least, to those who have given financial support to the exhibition. Without them the exhibition could never have reached the current level of artistic quality: Andersen’s Contemporary, Beckett-Fonden, The Breeder, Pilar Corrias Gallery, Culture Programme of the European Union, dispari&dispari projects, DSV, The Flemish Government Agency for Arts and Heritage, Gagosian Gallery, Nonino Distillatori, Hammerthor, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen e.V., Kvadrat, Landeshauptstadt München Kulturreferat, Wilfried Lentz Gallery, Lightbox, Lombard-Freid Projects, Mondriaan Foundation, Montana, Galerie Christian Nagel, Nastro Azzurro, Messieurs Spyros & Philip Niarchos, Radiolina, Almine Rech Gallery, Salong, Showroom, Vidisquare, and Max Wigram Gallery.

On behalf of the Danish Arts Council Committee for International Visual Arts 2007–2011 the other members of which are: Eva Koch (deputy chairman), visual artist; Jakob Jakobsen, visual artist; Mikael Andersen, gallery owner; Gitte Ørskov, museum director.