Manifest.AR Venice Biennial 2011 AR Intervention

In 2010 Manifest.AR brought you “We AR in MoMA“, the pathbreaking uninvited AR intervention at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Now, the international cyberartist group Manifest.AR wishes to inform the general public, the President and the Curator of the 54th edition of the Venice Biennial that we are extending the Giardini with extra pavilions constructed in the new medium of Augmented Reality (AR) – and that some of these works have also leaked out into the public space of Piazza San Marco. As “one of the world’s most important forums for the dissemination and ‘illumination’ about the current developments in international art” the 54th Biennial of Venice could not justify its reputation without an uninvited Augmented Reality infiltration. In order to “challenge the conventions through which contemporary art is viewed” we will construct the virtual AR pavilions directly amongst the national pavilions in the Giardini. In accordance with the “ILLUMInations” theme and Bice Curiger’s 5 questions our uninvited participation will not be bound by nation-state borders, by physical boundaries or by conventional art world structures. The AR pavilions at the 54th Biennial reflect on a rapidly expanding and developing new realm of Augmented Reality Art that radically crosses dimensional, physical and hierarchical boundaries. Our new virtual Biennial pavilion inside the Giardini will “draw attention to the importance of such developments in a globalised world.”
Download flyer with viewing instructions on site in Venice
Concept: Manifest.AR Venice Biennial 2011 AR Intervention concept

Artists and artworks:
Sander Veenhof: “Battling Pavilions”
Place new national pavilions in the Giardini – or defend the Giardini against appropriation by upstart national pavilions! This mobile game is also shown by Dropstuff on large screens around Venice.
Tamiko Thiel: “Shades of Absence”
A meditation on the value of absent artists and artworks.
Mark Skwarek: “Island of Hope”
The “Island of Hope” spreads hope throughout the city of Venice.
Will Pappenheimer/Virta-Flaneurazine: “Colony Illuminati”
A secret colony of virtual bufo toads appropriate artwork from Biennial artists.
Naoko Tosa: “Historia”
Redefine historic icons in a Pavilion of Appropriated Meanings.
John Craig Freeman: “Water wARs: Squatters Pavilion”
Pavilions for undocumented artists/squatters and water war refugees spread throughout Venice.
Lily and Honglei: “The Crystal Coffin: Virtual China Pavilion”
Inspired by the crystal coffin displayed in the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square.
John Cleater: “Sky Pavilions”
(Audio by: The Magic Stranger and Dewanatron)
Alien Sky Pavilions take over Venice!