AMSTERDAM BIENNALE 2009_Naples Pavillon

From 17 October till 13 December 2009 at Mediamatic BANK, Vijzelstraat 68 in Amsterdam

Naples, the kingdom of take-it-easy

Many are the common things on Naples, its history and especially its pretty worldwide high score on breaking news – from the disposal to glossy trashy on the infinite neighbours: Capri, Positano, Casoria, somewhere around.
Despite this, city and the citizens love to take-it-easy (intalliarsi). It is not just to be lazy, added with a hint of retro-anarchism and a bunch of hyper-bourgeoised egos.
Naples art scene bubbles with more than 7 superb art galleries, four main museums and houses of collectors and seems to be any artists’ most preferred city over centuries. Also many and usually non long-lasting independent projects come and go in the furious glam.
The first Naples pavilion ever recalled, is proud to welcome you more on the side of the independents and/or underground, because the curator – the Italian journalist and producer Diana Marrone – is hardly backing them with all her love and enthusiasms. Those independents are always ready to make fiesta with concepts, social issues, geo-referenced projects mixed with a constant practice on the ground and abroad.

The artists invited to represent Naples at the first Amsterdam Biennale are:
Danilo Capasso, Alessandro Cimmino, N.EST (www.napoliest.it); Roberto Paci Dalò, Marco Zezza.

The pavilion curated by the Italian journalist Diana Marrone, has to be focussed either on what Naples is now – despite all the worldwide gossips and rumours about the city and the citizens’ aptitudes – and on the most interesting underground voices Naples expresses.
Artists who have chosen to work on high and not banal poetics that are fully embracing the city with its angles and vertigos. Artists who do not close themselves in boundaries. Artists who love to investigate the limits of the Neapolitan life, without forgetting to dig the world, in search of those little quantities of peace the city itself is not able to fulfil.
All the selected artist, finally, have been requested to work on Intallio concept and to choose, together with the curator, an artwork able to answer to the expectations on the Pavilion theme and on the nature of the city at the same time.
Yes, of course, the artwork has to be representative of their artistic languages, in order to present to the Dutch public some of the most interesting new trends in photography, film, performances, urban initiatives, visual arts made in Naples.

Amsterdam 16 October 2009 – The Amsterdam Biennale 2009 is the first ‘crowd sourced’, ‘user generated’ biennale in the world. The exhibition is part of Mediamatic Travel, a do-it-yourself network of creatives in cities around the globe and a travel agency to the cultural NOW worldwide. Over 30 international curators from the Mediamatic Travel network will present the underground and emerging art scene from their city. From 17 October till 13 December 2009 at Mediamatic BANK, Vijzelstraat 68 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Opening Friday 16 October 8 pm.
The Mediamatic Travel project particularly focuses on places that are known for their wars, pyramids, hunger or cheese. We’ll show you that there is vital contemporary art to be found in Damascus, Detroit or Dakar, and we offer the right entrances for you to get acquainted.
The project consists of the Amsterdam Biennale 2009,  a do-it-yourself travel network of local experts in over 50 countries, the website travel.mediamatic.net and the travel catalogue Destinations 2010.

The biennale is an exhibition ‘in progress’. The exhibition opens with the pavilions of Kabul, Naples, Amsterdam, Boston, Melbourne, Belgrade, Tallinn and Brooklyn. New pavilions will open weekly. Guides from the Mediamatic Travel network who prove themselves to have an exciting vision and a good network will be invited to set up a pavilion at the Biennale.
The Biennale will not be complete at the opening, and – just like the Travel website – will never be finished. That’s why it has to be rebuilt every two years. In the mean time the website will continue to grow and change with the cultural developments at our destinations.

All information on the biennale can be found at www.mediamatic.net