INTRODUCTION TO THE PAVILION

For the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale, the Dutch Pavilion has been temporarily transformed into the model of a theater. As suggested by its title Opera Aperta/ Loose Work, this is an open and collective project, in which Barbara Visser, Herman Verkerk, Johannes Schwartz, Joke Robaard, Maureen Mooren and Paul Kuipers have been invited by curator Guus Beumer to collaborate. This collaboration has led to additional contributions by Sanneke van Hassel, Yannis Kyriakides, Ernst van der Hoeven, and an opening performance by Alexander van Slobbe.

Opera Aperta/ Loose Work raises the issue as to whether the notion of national representation and national identity, so intrinsic to the history of the Venice Biennale, can be reinterpreted through the notion of community. And it considers whether this issue can be halted to the cultural infrastructure that characterizes The Netherlands to a significant degree.

In addition to the Mondriaan Foundation, which commissioned the project, other institutions such as the Dutch Foundation for Literature, The Performing Arts Fund and Premsela, the Netherlands Institute for Design and Fashion, as well as the AkzoNobel Art Foundation, have made contributions in terms of content as well as financial support

The cultural infrastructure of The Netherlands is a unique and complex system, within which the position of the artist, of art and of culture have become socially embedded. Nowadays this system is mainly interpreted in terms of subsidy, but essentially this infrastructure should be seen as a public realm. Right now however, this infrastructure is being put under great pressure. 

By translation the notion of cultural infrastructure into 'community', the foundations are laid for a collective approach and resulting exhibition model, which has become the framework for several new works by individual participants. The realized exhibition model can best be described as a 1:1 model in which the pavilion built by architect Rietveld has been completely incorporated. 

Accompanying this project is a publication of the same title which contains contributions by: Roland de Beer, Guus Beumer, Ian Buruma, Koen Kleijn, Domeniek Ruyters, Willem Schinkel, Anna Tilroe and Rob van der Zalm. The publication can be obtained by the Giardini bookstore.