For its 2021 edition, the Venice Biennale appointed the chief curator of the High Line’s art program in New York, Cecilia Alemani as artistic director. Alemani will become the first Italian woman to organize the festival, running in Italy starting May of next year.
Born in Milan in 1977, Cecilia Alemani was an independent curator, creating exhibitions for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate in London, and Artists Space in New York, before her appointment as director of the High Line’s art program in 2011. During her work at the elevated park, she was responsible for transforming the space into a venue for shows and performances, such as the current painting exhibition “En Plein Air”. Moreover, she has also curated the Frieze Projects program for the Frieze art fair in New York, and she was artistic director for the Art Basel Cities program in Buenos Aires in 2018.
On another hand, Alemani had previous experience at the Venice Biennale, curating the Italian pavilion in 2017, tackling Venice’s ongoing erosion and transforming it into a three-artist showcase, with a reflective pool by Andreotta Calò.
Prior to Alemani, only four other women have planned the art Venice Biennale. In 2005, the first two women that curated together an edition were María de Corral and Rosa Martinez. In fact, Cecilia Alemani will be the third woman curator to organize the festival on her own, after pioneers Christine Macel and Bice Curiger.
As the first Italian woman to hold this position, I understand and appreciate the responsibility and also the opportunity offered to me, and I intend to give voice to artists to create unique projects that reflect their visions and our society. -- Cecilia Alemani
News via the New York Times.
