VENICE.- The artist Dora García has been selected by Katya García-Antón, curator for the Spanish Pavilion, to represent Spain in the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale in 2011.

Katya García-Antón, who was appointed in April 2010 curator of the Spanish Pavilion by AECID, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), has selected the artist Dora García to represent Spain at the next edition of the Venice Biennale, which will run from the 4th of June to the 27th of November 2011.

Carlos Alberdi, Director General of Cultural and Scientific Relations at the AECID, convened the Advisory Committee for Contemporary Art last April with the objective of selecting the curator for the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. The committee, which was comprised of Carmen Giménez (Curator of 20th Century Art, Guggenheim Museum, New York), Estrella de Diego (Professor of Contemporary Art, Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Bartomeu Marí (Director of MACBA, Museu d'Art Contemporani, Barcelona) and José Lebrero (Director of the Picasso Museum, Málaga), decided unanimously to appoint Katya García-Antón as curator.

After several months of research, Katya García-Antón has chosen the artist Dora García to develop the project that will represent Spain at the Venice Biennale, one of the most prestigious events in the international arts calendar, which will be celebrating its 54th edition from the 4th of June to the 27th of November 2011.

In the words of the curator: “The Venice Biennale, and in particular the national pavilions in the Giardini, represent a very unique exhibition context. Given its geopolitical architecture, its history and present, as well as the waves of professional and non-professional consumerism which convene there, the Giardini (and, by extension, the Biennale) represent a complex scenario in which to present and receive works of art. Dora Garcia is an artist who is interested in analyzing the paradigms and conventions of art, and who has frequently challenged notions of power and the way in which it operates. Her work is also directed at demystifying the relationship between artist and audience, and using fiction to question the ethical and moral elements of this relationship. Each work allows the artist to experiment, interfere, distort and play with the visitor's expectations, forcing each and every one to question the objective of the project, the role that s/he plays in it, and consequently reconsider the world of art and the rules of the game. These factors, and many others, point to why Dora Garcia is an artist who will know how to navigate the special context of the Biennale, combining in the work she will present her intellectual acuity with a characteristic dose of black humour.”