null Florian Dombois sets sail for Research Pavilion’s second exhibition



What would Venice be without wind? Where is the wind when it isn’t blowing? And how might the idea of research be made fruitful for the arts?

The program of the Research Pavilion in Venice continues with a second exhibition, Galleria del Vento, by Florian Dombois in July 8.

For the past five years, Dombois has been operating a wind-tunnel lab, which brings together various disciplines, on the roof of Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). The tunnel functions as a picture puzzle: For researchers accustomed to starting with a problem, it provides a tangible surface and a stringent experimental arrangement; for those, however, who move outside the logic of a scientific problem, its interior and its walls provide an empty space, an invisible sculpture. To see the wind, one must first visualize it and introduce smoke, feathers, or soap bubbles; to explore the wind, one must propose a model, a shape, or a kite. And thus, reveal oneself.

Florian Dombois’ show in the Research Pavilion has four aspects: (1) The opening will feature a wind motor from the Zurich lab. During the five-week exhibition, Dombois will develop this motor into a wind tunnel, and thus slowly shape the swirling wind generated by the machine. (2) Every morning, he will sail out into the lagoon of Venice to collect the material needed for the tunnel from abandoned islands and sites and assemble it into a collage. (3) The exhibition will include a Palaver, a space created to facilitate debate on art and individual works. Discussions, held every Saturday, will consider how to develop a kind of research that is able to serve artists and the arts. (4) The show will also include a white cube section for collecting and displaying articulations from the public rehearsal that can claim to be more than purely ephemeral.

Dombois' Palaver guests are a.o. Peter Ablinger, Donatella Bernardi, Pavel Büchler, Sabeth Buchmann, Michelangelo Corsaro, Andrea Curtoni, Anna Engberg-Pedersen, Tom Holert, Giulia Mazzorin, Dieter Mersch, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Philippe Pirotte, Stefan Prins, Anton Rey, Hito Steyerl and Germán Toro Pérez. The Palaver discussions are also part of the Research Pavilion’s Camino Events series, which consists of 50 multi-disciplinary artistic activities; screenings, music, seminars, artist talks, performances and interventions by over 100 artists and artist-researchers from art universities of Europe.


The Research Pavilion challenges notions of artistic research and the relationship between art and research. Against the backdrop of the Venice Biennale, the Pavilion shines as a beacon of international cooperation and serves as a multidisciplinary meeting point, hosting 3 exhibitions and over 40 cross-artistic events in the fields of music, dance, theatre and fine arts. The Research Pavilion is created and hosted by the University of the Arts Helsinki (Uniarts Helsinki) and realized together with Norwegian Artistic Research Program (NARP) and the Swedish Art Universities’ collaboration Konstex, in co-operation with the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and Zürich University of the Arts.

 

Florian Dombois: Galleria del Vento, 8 July – 13 August at Research Pavilion
Sala del Camino, Campo S. Cosmo
Giudecca, 621 Venice
Link to map

Open: Tue-Sun 10am–6pm

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Photos by Ugo Carmine & Ugo Carmine, N. Dombrowski and Florian Dombois