Putter selected to exhibit at the 54th Venice Biennale

In April, APC Masters Research Scholar Andrew Putter was invited to Venice to meet the curators of a new exhibition that is being prepared for the 54^thVenice Biennale, whichruns from 4 June to 27 November 2011. Putter will be showing his Spier Contemporary Award-winning video installation Secretly I Will Love You More.

Based on a Baroque Dutch portrait of a young woman, the work shows Maria van Riebeeck singing a Khoikhoin lullaby to Krotoa, the Cape 'Hottentot' girl-child who lived with the Van Riebeecks in the fort at the Cape of Good Hope.

The exhibition, called Personal Structures, is an independently curated, but officially-recognised exhibition at the Venice Biennale, the oldest contemporary art biennale in the world. It has been curated by Karlyn De Jongh and Sarah Gold, who are interested in artists who focus on the concepts of Space/ Time/ Existence. The exhibition features the work of 28 artists from 12 countries, including Serbian-born performance artist Marina Abramovic and Chinese-born Ma Jun. Putter is the only African artist on the show.

The exhibition takes place on two floors of the magnificent 14^th century Palazzo Bembo. The Bembos are an important family in the history of Venice. During preparations for the exhibition, it was realised that, due to the Bembos having been friendly with the likes of Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, the white-painted walls of the palazzo would need to be treated with great care. Initial archaeological tests revealed layers of artwork beneath the more recent coats of paint. The palazzo is on the Grand Canal, next to the Rialto Bridge.

Putter returns to Venice at the end of May to fine-tune the installation of his work, and to attend the four days of previews and openings of the Biennale.

For more information, go to: http://www.venice-exhibitions.org/index.php?page=24&lang=en