Cuckoo





A portable artwork - a ticking suitcase that opens when it chimes was taken to the Swiss Consulate in Venice during the preview week of the Biennale.

"They had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” - Harry Lime, The Third Man

Part of "BOÎTE-EN-VALISE: Exchanges through Performativity and Practice".

Nine artists have been invited to contribute to an international project, developing networks and forums for collaboration for contemporary arts practitioners in the south of England, New York state and Switzerland through the international art hub of the Venice Biennale. Each is making and/or adapting new and/or existing work for transport in a normal sized suitcase, to be transported as luggage on a normal flight/train/bus journey and taken from the suitcase for presentation without any fixing to walls, floors and/or ceilings of the venues. This Boite-en-Valise approach encourages transportability of practice, the nurturing of collaboration and the cross fertilisation of artistic practice.

The nine artists bring together works including sculpture, performance, video, data, radio and sound as well as interventions and conversations. Visitors to the preview week of the Venice Biennale are invited to join the artists at the times and venues outlined below. Subsequent events featuring all of the artists and their work at Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth brings the project to audiences and artists in the UK.

This exciting project is a partnership between curator Mark Segal, Aspex and the University of Syracuse, and is funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, the Swiss Arts Council, Pro Helvetia and Syracuse University.

Participating artists:

Nelly Haliti (Swiss) || Juan Juarez (USA) || Kypros Kyprianou (UK) || Karin Lehmann (Swiss) || Beat Lippert (Swiss) || Stuart Nolan (UK) || Matt Parsons (UK) || Joanna Spitzner (USA) || Sam Van Aken (USA)

6 & 7 May 2015 16.00h – 18.00h Public event — Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi Campo S. Agnese – Dorsoduro 810, Venezia

8 May 2015 14.00h – 16.00h Public event — Rio Terrá San Vio Dorsoduro 453, Venezia

10 May 2015 14.00 – 16.00h Public event — aspex, The Vulcan Building, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, PO1 3BF

11 May 2015 16.00 – 20.00h Artists event — aspex, The Vulcan Building Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth PO1 3BF

Special thanks to Tom Keene.