Bestiari, a project by artist Carlos Casas and curator Filipa Ramos, is the winner of the call of The Institut Ramon Llull for the participation of Catalan culture in the program Eventi Collaterali of the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. From a contemporary point of view, and speaking of ecology and the intelligence of nature from multiple perspectives, Bestiari is an homage to a classic Catalan text of the Medieval ages, Disputa de l’ase, written between 1417 and 1418 by Majorcan author Anselm Turmeda (1355-1423), considered one of the founders of Catalan literature, together with Ramon Llull. Bestiari celebrates the natural landscapes of Catalunya and researches life and memory, relationships with other species, preservation, and creation.
The project consists of an audiovisual exhibit to immerse visitors in cycles of images and sounds recorded in different nature Parks of Catalunya. Bestiari is accompanied by an extensive public research program, curated by Pol Capdevila, professor at the Humanities Department at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona), allowing a dialogue with the local and international community committed to a new vision of natural and animal life.
Elvira Dyangani Ose, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA), chaired the expert committee of internationally recognized professionals that chose the proposal. The group also included Marko Daniel, director of the Joan Miró Foundation (Barcelona); Ruth Estévez, director and chief curator of Amant Foundation, New York, and co-curator of the 34a Biennale de São Paulo; Oriol Fontdevila, researcher and professor, curator of the Catalan exhibit at the Venice Biennale 2022, Ingrid Guardiola, director of the Bòlit – Contemporary Art Centre of Girona, and Andrea Lissoni, artistic director of Haus der Kunst (Munich).
The jury alleges that “Bestiari, the proposal of the artist Carlos Casas and the curator Filipa Ramos, has been chosen to represent Catalan culture at the Biennale Arte 2024, in one of the most successful calls to this participation. The project takes inspiration from a Masterpiece of Catalan literature of the XV century and invites us to delve into the soundscapes emanating from the Catalan natural parks in time synchrony. Bestiari is an allegory of contemporary worlds that arise from the displacement of anthropocentrism and ocularcentrism while focusing on the meaning of concepts such as citizenship and belonging from a multispecies perspective.”
The artistic director of the 60th International Art Exhibition, Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa, who also directs the Museum of Art of São Paulo, has chosen the theme: Foreigners Everywhere. He stated that “the title of the 2024 biennale has (at least) a dual meaning: first of all, wherever you go and wherever you are, you will always encounter foreigners—they/we are everywhere. Secondly, that no matter where you find yourself, you are always, truly, and deep down inside, a foreigner.”
According to Carlos Casas, Bestiari “brings closer natural context to Pedrosa’s considerations and introduces the concept of species in the artistic and curatorial research of Foreigners Everywhere.”
The call opened last June by The Institut Ramon Llull received many proposals this year, in total 29 projects. As in the past editions, The IRL will submit the winner project to the Curation of the Biennale for the announcement in the upcoming months whether Bestiari will be at the Eventi Collaterali.
The IRL has been producing and organizing the participation of Catalan culture at the Eventi Collaterali of Venice Biennale of Art since 2009. It is the eighth time The IRL will submit a curatorial proposal to this relevant international event. To date, all projects were accepted.
