4 FELLOWS JOIN THE Mediterranea 19 Young Artists Biennale School of Waters

The Mediterranean Biennale, organised by BJCEM – Biennale des Jeunes Créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, will present the works of over 70 artists from 21 different countries, hosted for the first time by the Republic of San Marino. The title chosen for the nineteenth edition is School of Waters, imagining the Biennale as a collective platform capable of deconstructing stereotypes derived from the Eurocentric interpretation of the Mediterranean basin.

From 15 May to 31 October 2021, the Republic of San Marino will play host to MEDITERRANEA 19, the Biennale of Young European and Mediterranean Artists, promoted and organised by BJCEM – Biennale des Jeunes Créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, an international association with 47 members and partners in 16 European and Mediterranean counties, in partnership with the Republic San Marino Ministry of Education and Culture, the Cultural Institutions of the Republic of San Marino and the University of the Republic of San Marino.

The eighteen editions since the Biennale first started life in 1985 in Barcelona have been hosted in such cities as Marseille, Valencia, Lisbon, Sarajevo and Athens, while the latest edition was held in the two cities of Tirana and Dürres, in Albania. The list of hosting institutions is no less impressive, taking in the MACRO in Rome, the Nottingham Contemporary in the UK and the Thessaloniki Museum of Contemporary Art in Greece.

With its title School of Waters, MEDITERRANEA 19 Young Artists Biennale will unfold in several spaces in the historical nucleus of San Marino, some in the National Gallery and others elsewhere, such as the First Tower – the republic’s original fortification atop Monte Titano, the Pianello Cisterns – a large mediaeval space located underneath the floor of the Public Palace, and the Old Convent of Santa Chiara, which now houses the University of San Marino.

The Biennale will present works, site-specific installations, films, videos and performances by more than 70 artists from the Mediterranean area, from Italy to Tunisia, from Spain to Montenegro, from France to Jordan and from Malta to Lebanon, with the aim of employing the common heritage of these shared waters as a starting point for overcoming nationalisms and rediscovering the Mediterranean as a complex platform of lifeforms and processes of knowledge.

The curatorial team has envisaged the Biennale as a temporary school, inspired by radical, experimental teaching methods and by how they challenge artistic, curatorial and research formats. Seen in this light, School of Waters acts as a collective tool for deconstructing the stereotypes that manipulate our geographical imaginings, especially the ones closest to the Eurocentric interpretation of the Mediterranean basin.

MEDITERRANEA 19 is curated by an international scientific committee comprising the founders and participants of the third edition of A Natural Oasis?, a training and research programme supported by BJCEM, directed since 2015 by Alessandro Castiglioni and Simone Frangi and open to curators, artists and cultural research under 34.
In addition to Castiglioni and Frangi (Senior Curators), the members of the Biennale’s curatorial board are Theodoulos Polyviou (Cyprus/UK), Denise Araouzou (Cyprus/Italy), Panos Giannikopoulos (Greece), Angeliki Tzortzakaki (Greece/Netherlands), Nicolas Vamvouklis (Greece/Italy), Giulia Gregnanin (San Marino/UK) and Giulia Colletti (Italy/UK).

The Biennale will be opened to the public on Friday 14 May 2021, in the presence of the institutions involved and of representatives of artists, BJCEM members and curators. The agenda, which will continue for the entire following week, will also include talks, performances and screenings, which will also be available in live streaming. A second appointment, this time with a greater focus on the performing arts, will be held in July 2021.
The opening will also be the occasion for the presentation of a book of research devoted to School of Waters, published by Archive Books of Berlin.

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MEDITERRANEA 19 YOUNG ARTISTS BIENNALE
Republic of San Marino, multiple locations
15 May – 31 October 2021
Opening: Friday 14 May 2021, from 5.00 p.m.

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Catalogue
Published by Archive Books

Selected Artists: 

Noor Abed (PS), Adrian Abela (MT), Noor Abuarafeh (EG), ALTALENA (IT), Marco Antelmi (IT), Panos Aprahamian (LB), Bora Baboci (AL), Riccardo Badano & Hannah Rullman (IT), Hanan Benammar (NO), Yesmine Benkhelil (TN), Maeve Brennan (UK), Johanna Bruckner (AT), Dante Buu (ME), Madison Bycroft (FR), Annalisa Cannito (IT) in collaboration with, Wendimagegn Belete (ETH-NO), Valerio Conti (SM), Selin Davasse (TR), Binta Diaw (IT), Adji Dieye (IT), Enar de Dios Rodríguez (AT), Caterina De Nicola (IT), Marianne Fahmy (EG), Alessandra Ferrini (IT), Enrico Floriddia (IT), Victor Fotso Nyie (IT), Haris Giannouras (GR), Marco Giordano (IT), Adrijana Gvozdenović (ME), Bianca Hisse (NO), Areej Huniti & Eliza Goldox (JO), KABUL MAGAZINE (IT), Valentina Karga (GR), Dalia Khalife (LB), Ru Kim (FR), Gašper Kunšič (SI), Sotiris Tsiganos & Ionian Bisai (GR), Vesna Liponik (SI), DDC | Design di Comunità (SM), Filippo Marzocchi (IT), Corinne Mazzoli (IT), Dina Mimi (PS), Tawfik Naas (UK), Eleni Odysseos (CY), Francis Offman (IT), Mila Panić (BA), Eva Papamargariti (GR), GianMarco Porru (IT), Gabriele Rendina Cattani (IT), Jacopo Rinaldi (IT), Virginia Russolo (IT), Pablo Sandoval (ES), Michele Seffino (IT), Selma Selman (BA), Vanja Smiljanić (RS), Alcaeus Spyrou (AL), Chara Stergiou (GR), Valinia Svoronou (GR), Theo Triantafyllidis (GR), Endi Tupja (AL), Sophie Utikal (AT), Marina Xenofontos (CY)

ARTWORKS with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) partners with  Mediterranea 19 Young Artists Biennale “School of Water” and supports the 4 Greek artists and SNF ARTWORKS Fellows who have been selected to participate in the exhibition program (Jonian Bisai, Eva Papamargariti, Chara Stergiou and Valinia Svoronou).

More info: https://mediterraneabiennial.org/