55. Biennale – Padiglione macedone

Elpida Hadzi Vasileva rappresenta la Macedonia alla Biennale di Venezia col progetto Silentio Pathologia.

Comunicato stampa

National Commissioner: Halide Palloshi, Director of National Gallery of Macedonia

Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva has been selected by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia to represent the Republic of Macedoniaat the 55th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia.

Elpida presents a major new installation work, Silentio Pathologia, drawn from her original proposal to the Ministry of Culture of Macedonia, which reflects upon the movement, migration and impact of medieval plagues through Europe (and city states such as Venice) and considers contemporary concerns about international migratory illnesses such as coronavirus. This ambitious work will include pure woven silk, silkworm cocoons, albino rat skins, curtains of steel sheet and, subject to permissions, live rats. Drawing upon her established and highly regarded practice of extended periods of working and embellishing multiple objects into large-scale art installations, Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva presents a signature artwork for the 55th International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia.

"What drives Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva? She has an almost sacrificial capacity for hard work, combined with a rare lack of sqeamishness. There is an intense desire to find a fragment—somewhat like a fractal—that can be duplicated and endlessly spun into material." (Alison Wilding, exhibition pamphlet, We are Shadows, published by Unit 2, London Metropolitan University, 2008)

"It is a slowly evolving, carefully considered and constructed body of sculpture. These and other of Hadzi-Vasileva's large-scale works involve repetitive, physical labour by the artist over extended periods of time. She gives herself to the material, and the material gives back. She gives the work the time it needs—and then quietly but insistently asks for the time of the viewer too." (James Lingwood, Co-Director of Artangel, introduction to Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva's website, 2013)

Contact:
Ana Frangovska, Curator, National Gallery of Macedonia
T 389 (0)23126856 / M 389 (0)71387818 / [email protected]

For further information about Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva and artist's images, please contact
Mark Segal: T 44 (0)1420 84310 / M 44 (0)7976 267978 / [email protected] / www.theartistsagency.co.uk

Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva completed her MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London in 1998 and currently lives and works in Brighton, England. She has exhibited extensively and realised numerous commissions nationally and internationally, in gallery spaces, museums and within the public realm, including Pied à Terre Restaurant, London; Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester; Towner Gallery, Eastbourne; Kilmainham Gaol Museum, Dublin, Ireland; ArtSway's New Forest Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale and Public Room, Skopje, Macedonia.

Follow Elpida's blog on the development of the work here.

Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva is also currently developing a new commission for mima and Engage as part of the Alexandra Reinhardt Memorial Award Artist Residency and a new work for the artSOUTH project at Mottisfont Abbey. Visit www.elpihv.co.uk for more information.

The Pavilion of the Republic of Macedonia is funded by the Ministry of Culture of Macedonia and with public funding from The National Lottery through Arts Council England.

The Pavilion of the Republic of Macedonia is also supported by:
The Major of Kavadarci, Region of Tikves, The Republic of Macedonia / IGM Trade, The Republic of Macedonia / Detal Veld, The Republic of Macedonia / Mepos Operativa, The Republic of Macedonia / Tikves Vinery, The Republic of Macedonia / Prof Dr P. Tzenov, The Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Sericulture and Agriculture Experiment Station, Vratsa, Bulgaria / Pero Bojkov, architect / Gill Hedley, curator / Mark Segal, The Artists Agency / David Leggett, taxidermist