gelatin pavilion: venice art biennale 2011

gelatin pavilion at the venice art biennale 2011 image © designboom

vienna-based art collective gelitin is comprised of four artists who first met in 1978, have been exhibiting internationally since 1993. this year they present the ‘gelatin pavilion – some like it hot’, their hottest site-specific installation to date within the giardino delle vergini (arsenale) venue at the venice art biennale 2011.

on site, performers from across the globe gather to chop wood to fuel the wood fired furnace, play music and flirt with each other. the large oven is fed shards of glass which are taken from the bottles of champagne and glasses previously used by spectators and performers, resulting in large lava puddles of hot liquid glass which is extracted from the furnace. the performance is a reference to venice and its history of glassblowing.

a landscape of cut logs, fumes, smoke, combined with sounds of crackling, heat and intense energy is channeled through the work. brooklyn-based band japanther makes music to accompany the installation, while philipp quehenberger and elin (vienna) perform as musical guests – thanks to franz west. during the first 6 days of the biennale, gelitin performed live within the pavilion.

performers extracting molten glass from the large furnace   image © designboom

technical facts about the pavilion: furnace: 2,5 x 1,5 x 2,5 metres, weight: 3500 kg, made of bricks, fireclay, graphite, steel firewood: 20000 kg (40 m3) glass: 1000 kg temperature: 1300 degrees celsius

image © designboom

strategic discussion… image © designboom

the large pile of logs which are cut down to feed the oven image © designboom

performers and spectators consume champagne in which the bottles and glasses…  image © designboom

…are then broken into small shards and fed into the furnace image © designboom

brooklyn-based band japanther provides musical entertainment on a nearby stage image © designboom

preparing to pull liquid glass out of the oven image © designboom

image © designboom

setup of furnace in giardino delle vergini, arsenale, venezia, 2011 photo: gelatin, ofenkörper off & go

setup of furnace in giardino delle vergini, arsenale, venezia, 2011 photos: gelatin, ofenkörper off & go

extracting molten glass from the furnace image © designboom

up close image © designboom

cooling glass image © designboom

image © designboom

checking the oven image © designboom

general view of the gelatin pavilion image © designboom

spectators and performers intermingle image © designboom

image © designboom

image © designboom

japanther performing on a nearby stage image © designboom

draft for gelatin’s work at 54. biennale di venezia watercolors, pencils, ink on silkscreen print, 70 x 100 cm, 2011 courtesy: gelatin

draft for gelatin’s work at 54. biennale di venezia watercolors, pencils, ink on silkscreen print, 70 x 100 cm, 2011 courtesy: gelatin

draft for gelatin’s work at 54. biennale di venezia watercolors, pencils, ink on silkscreen print, 70 x 100 cm, 2011 courtesy: gelatin

project credits and acknowledgements:

gelatin together with: ben washington; christoph harringer; christoph meier; daniel kelly; fridrik svanur sigurdarson; gabriel loebell-herberstein; gudmundur hallgrímsson; michael bäckström; salvatore viviano; schuyler maehl; tom van camp; japanther.

co-comissioned by: thyssen-bornemisza art contemporary support: bm:ukk; kultur niederöstrereich; forum austriaco di cultura milano; galleria massimo de carlo; galerie meyer kainer; galerie emmanuel perrotin; greene naftali gallery; tim van laere gallery; tomio koyama gallery; ofenkörper off & go; swarovski; weingut bründlmayer.

thanks to: gerhard putzgruber; karl karner; klaus nachlinger; massimo micheluzzi; peter rath; thomas aschenbrenner; J. & L. lobmeyr GmbH; glesum sippe; lodere kunstgießerei.

the 54th venice biennale runs until november 27, 2011.