AAPC – Curatorial Journal

1. In 2022, during the last Biennale, WFU professor and artist Leigh Ann Hallberg and I met artist Dread Scott in Venice to explore potential ideas for a project to propose for the 2024 Biennale. In addition to spending time in the Giardini where much of the event takes place (and where there were some art groupie Dread Scott sightings), we saw Anselm Keifer’s painting installation at the Sala dello Scrutinio of the Palazzo Ducale. At the time, it was not an exhibition I necessarily thought Dread would respond to. But in retrospect, the “performance” of these works in this space, at such a dramatic scale, in response to a history but with a measure of inversion, align with Dread’s sensibility and thematic concerns. Kiefer’s works overlaid huge extant paintings from the late 15- and early 1600s depicting various battles won by Venetians and their allies. Obscuring these were Keifer’s works, in dialog with the history of the space and of Venice and as riposte to the hidden paintings; they signaled for me the decay and impermanence of empires. While historical in scale, grand in theme and gesture, it was the particularities of Keifer’s surfaces and elements that struck me.  But perhaps it was mostly Kiefer’s works’ “wormhole” effect, conflating two epochs in the same instance of space-time – not unlike that of Dread Scott’s Slave Rebellion Reenactment – that appealed to all three of us.

In March Dread Scott and I were on a call with Costanza, who is our Biennale facilitator on the ground (such as it is) with the group ArtEvents in Venice. We were talking about the installation of Dread’s flag and coat of arms for the AAPC, and how I planned to assist with it. Costanza exclaimed oh no, non è possibile for Paul to help. It is against work regulations. Costanza dipped off the call for a moment and I said to Dread, despite my years of experience with tools and installations, in Venice I don’t have a license to drill. Dread and I agreed that must have been an early Ian Fleming book, before he found his groove with James Bond…maybe about a chastised special agent relegated to handy man, all pre-set for the sequel where he is called back to save, well, everyone. 

N.B. I have purchased, and am using, a pistol-like drill, but only inside the gallery ; )