Following their Paris success, 25 international artists will exhibit together again in London with part of the proceeds going to support AGBI Artists' General Benevolent Institution from 30th June - 4th July

Florence, Italy -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/19/2010 -- Following the great success at the Grand Palais in November 2009 in Paris, OpenArtCode group will exhibit in July 2010 in London. This time, the OpenArtCode artists will present and promote their art in a gallery on the River Thames in the heart of London, at the Gallery@Oxo. OpenArtCode London will donate a portion of the profits in support of AGBI Artists' General Benevolent Institution, of which HRH The Prince of Wales is the Patron.

A high quality catalogue will document the show and will be sold in selected bookshops of museums and exhibitions, sold online and, of course, at the show. Proceeds from sales of the catalogue will go entirely to AGBI. On Thursday 1st July at 3.00pm there will be a catalogue signing at the Royal Academy of Arts in association with the A.G.B.I.

OpenArtCode brings together some of the best international artistic talent in order to exhibit in the art capitals of the world. The artists have very different technical styles ranging from abstract to hyper realistic. They have united in the past to exhibit in Paris at the Grand Palais and in Monaco at the Auditorium Ranieri III.

Gallery@oxo is owned and managed by Coin Street Community Builders. It is situated on the riverside walkway at the heart of one of the richest cultural areas of London, between the London Eye, the Hayward Gallery and Tate Modern. Oxo Tower Wharf is a landmark building on London's South Bank.

A private view will be held on Wednesday 30th June at 6pm.
Opening hours: 11am - 6pm
from 30th June - 4th July
For further information:
http://www.openartcodelondon.com
info@openartcode.com

OpenArtCode London features:

Kareem Ralph Amin
Bikkel
Maria Boneo
Gina Brezini
Sonia Casares Mantilla
Adriana Casati Trigari
Brenda Charles
Shaila Patricia de la Fuente
Destroy Be
Marybel Gallegos
Shirley Garcia Cipullo
Sumio Inoue
Maz Jackson
Kosmas Kroussos
Sinae Lee
Mary Lonergan
Else Pia Martinsen Erz
Eva Moosbrugger
Catalina Ochoa Pohls
Edward Rilke
Claudio Stefanelli
Karl Stengel
Miroslaw Struzik
Cristina Torres
Paul Ygartua

For further information for journalists, please contact the press office:
Studio Abba - Borgo Pinti, 20 - 50121 Florence - Italy
tel. /fax +39 055 292082 - info@studioabba.com - http://www.studioabba.com/

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

The seventh edition of the International Biennale of Contemporary Art in Florence will take place from 5th - 13th December 2009.

Florence, Italy-- (SBWIRE) -- 11/27/2009 -- The seventh edition of the Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art will take place at the historic Fortezza da Basso from 5th - 13th December 2009. 650 artists coming from 78 countries will be exhibiting more than 2.000 artworks and there will be an extraordinary meeting of cultures, languages and diverse artistic styles. The Florence Biennale supports the United Nations program "Dialogue between civilizations", to which the Biennale has officially adhered since 2001.

The Biennale will also see the presence of important artists. In the 2007 edition, the "Lorenzo il Magnifico" career prize was conferred to Gilbert & George, for the 2005 edition to Christo and Jeanne-Claude and to Richard Anuszkiewicz and in 2003 to David Hockney. The 2009 Life Achievement award will be given to Marina Abramovic and Shu Yong for their contribution to the International Contemporary Art Scene.

The International Scientific Committee (I.S.C.), composed of 20 qualified members, categorizes the works in the categories of painting, sculpture, graphic, mixed media, installation, photography and digital art. The selection is done with no prejudice of style. Artists are selected based on the quality of their artwork and the cultural values their work represents.

The International Jury that assigns recognitions and awards to the invited artists is composed of distinguished figures such Elza Ajzenberg, exhibition curator of the MAC, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sao Paolo, Brazil; Dominique Edouard Bacheler, art history professor and art critic, Paris; Pang Bang Ben, artist and professor, China; R.B. Bhaskaran, past President of Lalit Kala Akademi, India; Francesco Buranelli, General Manager of the Pontifical Commission for the Church's Cultural Beings; Pasquale Celona, President of the Biennale, Florence; Piero Celona, General Manager of the Biennale, Florence; Gregorio Luke, past Director of the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) Long Beach, California; Bianca Laura Petretto, Curator, journalist, expert on modern and Asian arts, Italy; Matty Roca member of AICA and President of the Arts Corporation in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico; Gerfried Stocker, Artistic Director of the Ars Electronica Center of Linz - Austria; Rosa Tejada, educator at the Metropolitan Museum, New York; and Stefano Francolini, Artistic Director of the Biennale, former Director of the C3 Super of the Ministry of the Cultural Activities, Florence, Italy.

The Florence Biennale is organized by Arte Studio.
Fortezza da Basso Florence - 5-13 Decembre 2009 - hours: 10-20 - info: + 39 0553249173
tickets 10 euro

for further information: http://www.florencebiennale.org

Lorenzo il Magnifico award to Marina Abramovic
The Biennale Internazionale dell'Arte Contemporanea in Florence dedicated, as is customary, the "Lorenzo il Magnifico career " award an international recognition of contemporary artistic culture to those particularly outstanding and that still continue to stand by their work.

The VII Biennale Internazionale dell'Arte Contemporanea of Florence awards the "Lorenzo il Magnifico career " award to Marina Abramovic, one of the most important and interesting contemporary performers.

Of Yugoslav origin, active from the 1970s with a series of memorable performances, in which the artist's body is the matter and central part of the work of her research on the limits of human physicality, Marina Abramovic, the experiences through violence to the point of putting her own body at risk with the presence and use of dangerous items including "On the table there are seventy-two objects that can be used at will on me. I am the object "(Studio Morra, Naples, 1974), truly involving her public, for example, in the famous performance weightlessness (Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Bologna, 1977), made with the German artist Ulay ( Uwe Laysiepen), with whom she has an artistic partnership since 1976 and from which it split in 1989 upon completion of their performance 'Great Wall Walk': their meeting in the middle of the Great Wall of China, 2000 kilometers long, after a journey that lasted ninety days.

Through the testing of physical and psychological limits of her existence, Marina Abramovic withstands pain, exhaustion, fear and danger in seeking conversion of their emotional and spiritual sphere.

Marina Abramovic has presented and presents her work with images, sounds and video in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Europe and the United States.

Since 1991 she has taught in Germany at the Hochschule fuer Bildende Kuenste Braunschweig. In 1997 the XLVII Venice Biennale has received the Golden Lion for 'Balkan Baroque', eight hour performance, during which Marina Abramovic cleans one hundred cow femurs, an action that becomes the symbol to cancel the atrocities that her countrymen have committed in ethnic conflicts, the Balkan in the 90s.

This work, together with the performances 'The Hero' (2001), 'Count On', 'Nude with Skeleton' (2003) and 'Balkan Erotic Epic' (2005), was part of her exhibition entitled "Balkan Epic" held Hangar Bicocca in Milan in 2006.
In 2003 Marina Abramovic received the New York Dance and Performance Award The Bessies for 'The House with Ocean View' a twelve-day performance at Sean Kelly Gallery in New York.

In 2005 she presented at the Guggenheim Museum in New York a series of performances entitled 'Seven Easy Pieces'.
The works of Marina Abramovic are present in the most important contemporary art collections in the world.

Stefano Francolini
Artistic Director VII Biennale

Collateral events

5 December 11:00am
Opening

5 December 5:00pm
Japanese Cinema: an insight into Japanese films
After Life by Hirokazu Koreeda
in collaboration with Kaori Watanabe

6 December 11:00am
An Artist and a Scientist: a common way
Lecture by Francesco Saverio Pavone and Dony Mac Manus
in collaboration with OpenLab Florence University

6 December 5:30pm
Living Arts of Contemporary India
Lecture by Sushma Bahl

7 December 11:00pm
Japanese Cinema: an insight into Japanese films
When The Last Sword Is Drawn by Takita Yojiro
in collaboration with Kaori Watanabe

7 December 5:30pm
Octavio Paz Art and thought
Lecture by Gregorio Luke

7 December 7:30pm
Saint James Church
Artists projects: Paul Lorenz, Barbro Eriksson, Danielle Lindsay

8 December 11:00am
Mathematics as an Art form
Lecture by Vanni Noferini
in collaboration with OpenLab Florence University

8 December 5:30pm
Marina Abramovic
Marina Abramovic meets Biennale's artists
followed by the presentation of the award Lorenzo il Magnifico to Marina Abramovic

9 December 11:00am
Canvas, Paper, Plastic: Abstraction in 2-D
Lecture by Paul Lorenz

9 December 5:30pm
Rufino Tamayo master of light and color
Lecture by Gregorio Luke

10 December 11.00am
Art and Chemistry as reciprocal sources of inspiration
Lecture by Cristiana Lofrumento
in collaboration with OpenLab Florence University

10 December 5:00pm
Japanese Cinema: an insight into Japanese films
Tokyo Sonata by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
in collaboration with Kaori Watanabe

11 December 11:00am
Can Carbon-14 be a suitable dating tool even for contemporary art authentication?
Lecture by Mariaelena Fedi
in collaboration with OpenLab Florence University

11 December 5:30pm
Stone, Bronze, Wood: Abstraction in 3-D
Lecture by Paul Lorenz

12 December 11:00am
Art and symmetries
Lecture by Roberto Casalbuoni
in collaboration with OpenLab Florence University

12 December 4:00pm
Development of Art in China
Lecture by Zhang Hongbin
followed by the Lorenzo il Magnifico prize ceremony awarded to
Shu Yong

12 December 9:00pm
Gala Dinner

13 December 3:00pm
Awards ceremony

Press office: Studio Abba tel. +39 055292082 - info@studioabba.com - http://www.studioabba.com

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Experiences from the Meyer Hospital Florence, Marseilles and Manchester. International conference Saturday 28 November, 9am-6pm at the Meyer Paediatric Hospital, Viale Pieraccini 24, Florence, Italy

Florence, Italy -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/20/2009 -- On Saturday 28 November, the international conference "Interferences, Art and the Hospital" will take place at the Meyer Paediatric Hospital of Florence from 9am to 6pm.

The conference is entitled "Interferences" because art in a hospital setting stands out and stimulates both on a psychological and on a social level, of who breathes the anxiety and the fears of the environment of a paediatric hospital. The Meyer hospital of Florence bears testimony to this, having art integrated into the new hospital complex of Villa Ognissanti. Works that colour the areas and break up spaces and fill in time, in the wards, clinic waiting rooms, corridors, infiltrating into the garden, the stairwells, filling the voids of the large skylights, offering itself as a stimulus in the relationships between the workers, the young patients and their families. The experience of the Florentine hospital is not intended to be art therapy or a Disney scenario, but rather an art that "stimulates reactions and relations between those who share it."

Amongst the speakers at this international conference, organized by the Regione Toscana (Department of Culture, Department for the Right to Health) and the Meyer Foundation, are the semiologist Omar Calabrese and Peter Scher, from the Arts of Health from the Faculty of Health Art and Design at the University of Manchester. The most important international experiences will be presented, such as a project for the Hospital of Marseilles by Michelangelo Pistoletto, creator of Cittadellarte, who will be present with a contribution. The conference, which will begin with opening remarks by Tommaso Langiano, President of the Meyer Foundation, aims to build a path so that the "Art at the Meyer laboratory" and what has been achieved elsewhere, can be replicated in other hospitals. Art at the Meyer is not mere decoration but is an interaction with the children, even in the many laboratories active in the Toy Library.

In particular, to outline the planning capacity with the declared intention of making it possible in other hospital contexts, the conference Interferences, will be divided in two: in the morning the theme will reflect what has been achieved to date. There will be a whole session dedicated to artistic experiences already activated reflecting both national and European realities, according to a holistic view of the Hospital, which in turn should reflect a multiplicity of visions and perceptions, to contain and to recall from elements of everyday life to the fantastic and to the imaginary. Paolo Cocchi Councillor of Culture for the Regione Toscana (Tuscan Region) will speak in the morning.

In the afternoon, importance will be given to "The practice of doing", to define the possible strategies for development and for consolidation. A round table is planned, to analyse the tools and levers used to activate other art experiences in the hospital setting; in occasion of the project proposed by the Regione Toscana for the construction of four new hospitals, where humanization and environmental aspects will run parallel to the design of the hospitals.

At the end of the conference at 6pm, ten panels inspired by the first book of Pinocchio by Fabio De Poli and made by the children's creche, Noe in Florence, will be presented.

How to participate.
Registration is necessary and should be completed via the web at www.meyer.it/interferenze
There will be a coffee break at the opening (9am) and closing (6pm) of the conference, offered by the Meyer Foundation

The experience of the Meyer Hospital.
The Paediatric Hospital of Florence, within the context of Meyer Art, a project desired and supported by the Meyer Foundation, houses works of art by artists such as Esther Albardane, Altan, Dario Bartolini, Carlo Cantini, Sara Carlini, Fabio De Poli, Francesco Fagnani, Gianni Fanello, Sophie Fatus, Paolo Favi, Simone Frasca, Paolo Guidotti, Janet Mullarney, Daniele Nannini, Giovanni Pecchioli, Peppe Perone, Andrea Rauch (Artistic Director), Guido Scarabattolo and Sergio Traquandi.

Interferences: Art and the Hospital, 28 November 2009, from 9am -6pm,
Main Hall of the Meyer Hospital, Viale Pieraccini 24, Florence http://www.fondazione.meyer.it
http://www.regione.toscana.it

Press Office: Roberta Rezoalli, Meyer Paediatric Hospital Meyer Foundation, Viale Pieraccini 24, 50139 - Florence (Italy) tel. + 39 055 566 2302 mob. + 39 335 6860 677 http://www.meyer.it

PR and communication: Studio Abba, info@studioabba.com tel. +39 055292082 http://www.meyerart.info

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Antoine Gaber presented the latest developments in the Passion for Life programme at the Florence Biennale

Florence, Italy -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/28/2007 -- During the VI edition of the Florence International Biennale of Contemporary Art which took place from 1-9 December 2007, Antoine Gaber presented the latest developments in the Passion for Life programme.

Antoine Gaber, Canadian artist and researcher, is involved in the fight against cancer and is the founder of the Passion for Life programme which amongst other things organises exhibitions all over the world. International artists exhibit their works in prestigious locations with the aim of both getting funds for the research against cancer but also to increase awareness about the illness itself. In every country where the exhibition takes place, the collateral events are organised in collaboration with a local cancer charity or association and the funds raised go directly to them. For example, those raised during the exhibitions in Italy went to the Meyer Foundation and in particular, to the onco-haematology department of the Paediatric Hospital Meyer, Florence. In Mexico, conferences were organised in various universities: Magna University, Universidad UT and the Universidad Anahuac, in the state of Quintana Roo, to specifically raise awareness amongst the students.

The 840 artists present at the Biennale coming from more than 70 countries attended this presentation of Passion for Life. Supporting Antoine Gaber in this lecture were the President of the Biennale, Pasquale Celona, the Director of the Biennale, Piero Celona and the actress Anne Archer who, in the same day had awarded the Biennale with the prize "Artists for Human Rights", for having sustained the United Nations programme "Dialogue between civilizations" to which the Biennale has officially participated since 2001.

Antoine Gaber was delighted to be able to meet some of the Passion for Life artists who were also participating and present at the Biennale. The meeting with them also demonstrated how cancer is an illness we have all heard of and, as Gaber himself said "almost all of us have experienced, or in first person or through a friend, the loss of a family member or friend, a person close to us have been victim to this terrible illness. The objective of the Passion for Life programme is to increase the prevention and sustain scientific research. Only with this prevention and scientific research can we hope to beat it".

For further information: http://www.antoinegaber.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

The sixth edition of the International Biennale of Contemporary Art in Florence, which will take place from 1st-9th December 2007, offers a rich calendar of collateral events

Florence, Italy -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/03/2007 -- The sixth edition of the Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art will take place at the historic Fortezza da Basso from 1st - 9th December, 2007. 840 artists coming from 76 countries will be exhibiting more than 2,500 artworks and there will be an extraordinary meeting of cultures, languages and diverse artistic styles. The actress Anne Archer, Ambassador of the association Artists for Human Rights is coming to Florence to award the Biennale for its support of the Untied Nations program "Dialogue between civilizations", to which the Biennale has officially adhered since 2001.

The Biennale will also see the presence of important artists: Gilbert & George will receive the "Lorenzo il Magnifico" prize for their career. In the 2005 edition, it was conferred to Christo and Jeanne-Claude and to Richard Anuszkiewicz and in 2003 to David Hockney. On the wave of the exceptional success dedicated to their work at the Tate Gallery in London, Gilbert & George will come to Florence together with Tim Marlow, Exhibitions Director of the White Cube Gallery London, founder of the Tate Magazine, and currently a collaborator on Channel Five, writing for important British newspapers such as The Times, The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, Art Monthly, etc.

The art and life of Frida Kalho and of Tina Modotti will be presented in two conferences given by Gregorio Luke, past Director of the MOLAA of Long Beach and member of the International Jury of the Biennale.

Ars Electronica Center from Linz, Austria is a museum dedicated to digital art. They organize the Prix Ars Electronica, the Ars Electronica Festival and the Ars Electronica Futurelab. Ars Electronica will have a 300m2 digital art and interactive video space at the Biennale where they will be inviting the visitors to enter into a virtual reality.

Calendar of Events

Saturday 1 December
11.30 Opening Ceremony
5pm Concert, written and conducted by Carol Worthey

Sunday 2 December
11.30 Lecture "Abstraction in painting and drawing" - by Paul Lorenz
4pm Performance by artist Nam-Hong
5pm Presentation of the Ars Electronica Center, Linz, by Maurizio Vanni and Gerfied Stocker

Monday 3 December
3pm Master Class "Investing in Art" - presented by Sergei Skaterchikov, from Hermitage Magazine and "Skate's"
5pm Conference on Tina Modotti given by Gregorio Luke

Tuesday 4 December
3pm Film "The World of Gilbert & George"
5pm Gilbert & George receive the "Lorenzo il Magnifico" career award. Tim Marlow, Exhibitions Director of the White Cube Gallery, London, will also be present.

Wednesday 5 December
3.30pm Conference "Let there be the light", by David Rubin
5pm Presentation of installation art work, by artist Les Christensen at St James Church, via Rucellai 9.

Thursday 6 December
5pm Film "The World of Gilbert & George"

Friday 7 December
11.30 Conference "Abstraction in sculpture", by Paul Lorenz
5pm Concert
6pm Performance by artist Nam-Hong

Saturday 8 December
11.30 Lecture on Frida Kalho, by Gregorio Luke
3.30pm Presentation "Artists for human rights Association" by Anne Archer
5pm Presentation "Passion for Life", by Antoine Gaber
9pm Gala Dinner

Sunday 9 December
3.30pm Award Ceremony

For further information: http://www.florencebiennale.org

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

From 30 August to 14 October 2007, Jackie Sleper will participate in the 10th edition of the OPEN, international exhibition of sculpture and installation art, in parallel with the Venice Film Festival and the Venice Biennale.

Florence, Italy -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/13/2007 -- Jackie Sleper's work, Modestia, a large scale horse on a bed of roses, will be on view in the park of the Hotel Des Bains, on the Venice Lido, during the 10th edition of OPEN. OPEN was created by Paolo De Grandis and in this year's edition he has involved important curators such as Achille Bonito Oliva, Alanna Heiss, Chang Tsong-zung and Vincenzo Sanfo.

The open-air exhibition spaces on the Venice Lido become territories to explore, focal points for exchange and confrontation, internationally renowned locations assume new meanings, such as the Westin Excelsior, Hotel Des Bains and the historic boulevard of the Cinema Festival and the gardens on the Lido. The Hotel Des Bains, where Luchino Visconti directed Dirk Bogarde in Death in Venice based on the Thomas Mann novel, will host Jackie Sleper's artwork Modestia. Later this year Jackie Sleper has been invited to participate in the Florence Biennale and at the beginning of 2008, she has several solo exhibitions at museums in Mexico, Venezuela and Chile, to be curated by Matty Roca. For these Central and South American exhibitions, she will realise a series of works inspired by and dedicated to Frida Kahlo.

Art historian Andrea Basedow has said about Jackie Sleper: 'She is naturally adept at a wide variety of artistic skills. By applying different techniques within a single piece, she creates fields of tension that capture our attention. At the same time, she is not afraid to celebrate beauty, affluence, joy of life and a sense of playfulness and elegance in her work, much like the artists at the courts during the Italian Renaissance.'

Jackie Sleper was born in Amsterdam and studied at the Utrecht Academy for Visual Arts. Between 1988 and 1995 she spent time in Ireland, Spain and Prague for further study. In The Netherlands, her works have been exhibited in various cities, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht, and worldwide in Antwerp (Art-Event), Stockholm (Art Fair), Marbella (Marb Art – Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporaneo), Geneva (Europ'Art), Klagenfurt (Biennale Austria), Salzburg (Mozart Festival), Florence (Museo Diocesano and Biennale Internazionale dell'Arte Contemporanea), Milan (Studio D'Ars), New York (Carrozzini Von Buhler Gallery and CVB Space), and in Mexico (Museo de la Cultura Maya de Chetumal, Quintana Roo).

Participating artists OPEN 2007

Argentina
Eduardo Pla

Australia
Lindy Lee

China
Hu Xiangcheng, Li Chen, Shan Shan Sheng, Shi Jinsong, Xiang Jin

Cyprus
Kyriakos Kallis

Finland
Pasi Eerik Karjula

France
Ariane Michel, Frederique Nalbandian

Georgia
Tamara Kvesitadze

Germany
Iris Brosch

Great Britain
Michael Lyons

India
Kriti Arora, Bharti Kher

Italy
B.zarro, Enzo Castagno, Sandro Chia, Ferruccio Gard e Maurizio Rosa, Resi Girardello e Cristina Treppo, Luigi Masin, Gianfranco Meggiato, Marco Nereo Rotelli, Daniele Nitti Sotres, Giuseppe Spagnulo, Barbara Taboni, Antonella Zazzera

Korea
Lee Ufan

Luxembourg
Florence Hoffmann

The Netherlands
Jackie Sleper

Romania
Martin-Emilian Balint,

Republic of San Marino
Leonardo Blanco

Switzerland
Heinz Aeschlimann

USA
Christo e Jeanne-Claude, Carole A. Feuerman, John Henry, Beverly Pepper, Daniel Rothbart

US Virgin Islands
Cornelia Kubler Kavanagh

Finnish Academy of Fine Arts
Jukka Rusanen, Antti Majava, Sampo Malin

Open to the public
31 August – 14 October 2007
Location
Open-air spaces at Venice Lido: Piazzale and Gran Viale S. Maria Elisabetta, Tempio Votivo, Via Lepanto, Lungomare G. Marconi, Park of Hotel Des Bains, Blue Moon, Terrace & Hall of Hotel The Westin Excelsior

Organization
Arte Communications, Venice
Tel: (39) 041. 526 4546 E-mail: info@artecommunications.com
pressoffice@artecommunications.com

Joint Organization
Venice City Council, Department of Cultural Production

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON JACKIE SLEPER
Mr. Vito Abba, press officer
Studio Abba - Corso Italia, 6 - 50123 Florence, Italy
info@studioabba.com
website: http://www.jackiesleper.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm

The acclaimed artists Gilbert & George will be awarded the Lorenzo il Magnifico prize at the Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art in December 2007

Florence, Italy -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/15/2007 -- The sixth edition of the Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art will take place at the historic Fortezza da Basso from 1st - 9th December, 2007. This year's edition will include, as honoured guests, the acclaimed artists Gilbert & George and from the White Cube Gallery London, Tim Marlow. Gilbert & George will be awarded the Lorenzo il Magnifico prize on 4th December.

On the successful wave of their exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London, Gilbert & George will come to Florence together with Tim Marlow, exhibitions director of the White Cube Gallery London, protagonist of the famous BBC programs dedicated to the art world, Rolf on art, founder of the Tate Magazine, and now collaborator on Channel Five, where he presents a program on current exhibitions. Tim Marlow has published several books and important artists monographs such as Auguste Rodin and Egon Schiele. He writes for various magazines and newspapers such as The Times, The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, Art Monthly, etc.

Gilbert & George will meet the 800 artists participating at the Biennale and visitors to the Biennale, as part of the rich calendar of conferences, meetings, video-projections. A video-documentary produced by Gilbert & George will be shown during the Florence Biennale and Tim Marlow along with Gilbert & George will give a talk about their life and work.

Since 2001, the Biennale, collaborates with the United Nations, as an official participant of the Dialogue Among Nations program. Former Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote in support of the program:

I believe that dialogue is an opportunity for people who come from diverse cultures and traditions to know each other better whether they live on opposite sides of the world or on the same street.

The International Scientific Committee, composed of 20 qualified members, chooses the artists and places their work into one of the categories: painting, sculpture, graphic art, mixed media, installation pieces, photography and digital art. The selection is decided upon with no prejudice towards style. The artists are selected based on the quality of their artwork and the cultural values their work represents. The International Jury that assigns recognitions and awards to the invited artists is composed of distinguished figures such Emmanuel von Lauenstein Massarani, artistic director of The Biennale; Stefano Francolini, Art Historian and Critic, Direttore settore restauro Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence, Italy; David Rubin, Curator of The Brown Foundation of Contemporary Art, San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas, USA; Elza Ajzenberg, Professor of Art and Communication, Director of The Mac, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sao Paolo, Brazil; R.B. Bhaskaran, Chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi, National Academy of Art, India; Rosa Tejada, Educator Metropolitan Museum New York, USA; Gregorio Luke, director of Molaa, Latin American art museum Long Beach California, USA; Dominique Edouard Bacheler, art history teacher and art critic, Paris, France; Pasquale Celona President of the Biennale and President of the International Jury, Italy, Piero Celona, Vicepresident of the Biennale and Public Relations Manager, Italy.

The Florence Biennale is organized by Arte Studio (www.florencebiennale.org).

Political ambassador and Artistic Director of the Parliament Museum in San Paolo, Brazil Emmanuel von Lauenstein Massarani is the 2007 Biennale Director. Massarani has replaced John T. Spike in the role, who determined the fundamental philosophy of the Biennale, and in turn, its success.

Gilbert & George

In Carter Ratcliff's "Gilbert & George: The Complete Pictures 1971-1985", (London, 1986) Gilbert & George stated "We want Our Art to speak across the barriers of knowledge directly to People about their life and not about their knowledge of art... The content of mankind is our subject and our inspiration. We stand each day for good traditions and necessary changes. We want to find and accept all the good and bad in ourselves".

Gilbert & George met at St Martin's School of Art, London in 1967 and have been one artist ever since exhibiting for the first time together in 1969 at the Nigel Greenwood Gallery London, with "Singing Sculpture". They referred to themselves not as performance artists but as "Living Sculptures" and their "responsibility suits", the almost, ill-fitting sixties style suits which have become emblematic of part of their image, were part of the "living sculpture" that they embodied.

In the 1970's Gilbert & George turned towards creating their own black and white photographic images. They almost always depicted themselves in a grid format along with aspects of the east end of London where they live: faces, buildings and graffiti, "Smash the Reds", 1977 or "Bummed", 1977 where there is also a political aspect and the important introduction of the colour red. In "Prick Ass", 1977 film clips of a homeless alcoholic are inserted into the multi part image: this interrelationship with people and architecture stress the images of anger, loneliness and destruction and are further highlighted by this use of red.

In the 1980's where their subject matter expanded to include sex, religion, nature, fear, racial differences and politics, their sumptuous works became brightly multi-coloured. They once stated "when we are working we have our brain, our soul and our sex. These are the things that we work with. Sometimes we do a picture more for sex, sometimes more for our brain and sometimes more for our spirit. It's always with a combination of those three that we work. The whole of civilisation continues because of those driving forces". (Ratcliff, "Gilbert and George: The Complete Pictures 1971-1985", London, 1986). Indeed, these photographic works continue to be placed within a framed grid, which lends to convey the image more forcefully to the viewer. The idea of natural division in the world is important to the artists who, when talking about the grid aspect of their works, have given the examples of house being made up of bricks or a week of days.

Gilbert & George represented Great Britain at the Biennale di Venezia in 2005 with a new group of paintings, "Thirteen Hooligan Pictures" (2004) and Perversive Pictures (2004). Indeed "Six Bomb Pictures: Terror" their most recent work from 2006 continues to affront current affairs and political issues.

Such is Gilbert & George's commitment to their art that they have continued to adopt this persona of living art in their everyday lives: in their normal but formal way of dressing, their name and address being in the phone book, they are thought to have been seen on the London bus, in their measured formality, aspects that in today's celebrities you rarely see.

For further information:
Press Office: Vito Abba
Studio Abba
Corso Italia, 6
50123 Florence
Italy
tel./fax + 39 055292082
press@florencebiennale.org
http://www.florencebiennale.org

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16 International artists will exhibit their recent artworks in two exciting exhibitions in the Logge dei Priori in Volterra,14 - 23 June and in the Terme del Tettuccio in Montecatini 26 June - 30 July.

Florence, Italy -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/25/2007 -- Volterra and Montecatini are hosting two exciting exhibitions of international artists participating in Passion for Life this summer, from 14-23 June and 26 June - 30 July respectively. Tuscany will be the protagonist of this double meeting of renowned artists who come from many different countries and who regularly exhibit their works world-wide. In February 2007, Passion for Life Art organized an important exhibition at the Maya Culture Museum at Chetumal in Mexico.

The exhibition will take place at the Logge in the magnificent Piazza dei Priori at Volterra, in the heart of the historic centre. The exhibition will then move to the Sala Portoghesi of the Tettucio Thermal Baths, at Montecatini.

Passion for Life Art organises exhibitions worldwide with the artists supporting Passion for Life, a charitable initiative launched by Antoine Gaber, artist and researcher, dedicated to the fight against cancer. The PFL programme is concerned with both fundraising for the research but also to increase awareness of the illness. For example, a gala dinner was organised on the terrace of the Grand Hotel Baglioni in occasion of the opening of the exhibition in Florence in June 2006. The funds raised were donated to the Meyer Foundation for the onco-hematological department of the paediatric hospital Meyer in Florence. At the exhibition in Mexico, in February of this year, conferences were held at three universities in the state of Quintana Roo, in order to make the students more aware of the disease. For more information see www.antoinegaber.com

This year, the charity evening is being organised in collaboration with the gala dinner of the psychology congress "Humour in Therapy" with the presence of both Antoine Gaber and Patch Adams, the doctor who brought the "smile therapy" into the hospital ward (portrayed in the 1998 Hollywood film by Robin Williams). Participants of this congress and all the friends of PFL will congregate at the Palazzo Budini Gattai on the evening of Saturday 16th June for this gala dinner, where not only will they be contributing to a great cause but they will also be able to admire further works by the PFL artists.

The artists, painters and sculptors, photographers and digital artists who have participated in these collective PFL exhibitions to date, come from all over the world:

Andrzej Jerzy Lech (www.andrzejlech.com)
Antoine Gaber (www.antoinegaber.com)
Antonio Pugliano
Barbara Alcalde (www.barbaraalcalde.com)
Bertha Valenzuela
Brenda Charles (www.brendacharles.us.tt)
Carlo Vitali
Catalina Ochoa
Diana Calvillo (www.dcalvi.com)
Edward Rilke
Eugenio Riotto (www.eugenioriotto.it)
Francesco Bigazzi
Gina Brezini (www.ginnart.com)
Giovanni Murtas
Goga Trascierra (www.exibart.com/profilo/eventiV2.asp/idelemento/13413)
Herwig Maria Stark (www.herwigmariastark.com)
Jackie Sleper (www.jackiesleper.com)
Leonardo Perez Nieto (www.leonardopereznieto.com)
Leticia Leal Hinojosa (www.leticialeal.com)
Margherita Blonska
Marta Solsona (www.esculturamsolsona.com)
Mary Brilli (www.marybrilli.com)
Maz Jackson (www.mazjackson.com)
Mimmo di Cesare
Romero Britto (www.britto.com)
Shim Jung-Rhee (http://huniv.hongik.ac.kr/~shim/)
Sinae Lee (www.sinaelee.com)
Suly B. Wolff
Sumio Inoue (www.sumioinoue.com)
Zoltan Vasanits (www.festomuvesz.hu/vasanits)

Opening hours - ticket prices
Volterra: 14-23 June, Logge dei Priori, Piazza dei Priori
Open 10-13 and 16-22
Free entrance

Montecatini Terme: 26 June-31 July, Sala Portoghesi - Terme del Tettuccio, Viale Verdi 71
Entrance times for the thermal baths including exhibition entrance: 07.30 - 12 and 16 - 19, daily ticket 13 euro
Exhibition visit only (excluding thermal baths): 11.00 - 12 and from 16 - 19, 5 euro

For further information
Vito Abba – Studio Abba – tel. +39 055292082 - info@studioabba.com
http://www.passionforlifeart.com
http://www.antoinegaber.com

For more information on this press release visit: http://www.releasewire.com/press-releases/release-3.htm