Artek at La Biennale
di Venezia/Golden Lion award to Rehberger's cafeteria

3-7 June 2009

Artek is honoured to be the sponsor of La Biennale di Venezia and realises part of the furniture and furnishings for the premises of Palazzo delle Exposizioni della Biennale. The assignment includes a bookshop, a cafeteria and additional furniture elements for an educational area, that are submitted respectively by three artists, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Tobias Rehberger and Massimo Bartolini, all selected for the 53rd International Art Exhibition, directed by Daniel Birnbaum.

Rirkrit Tiravanija, bookshop, rendering (Artek, Venice Biennale 2009)

On June 6 Tobias Rehberger was awarded the Golden Lion as Best Artist, for, as the jury puts it, “taking us beyond the white cube, where past modes of exhibition are reinvented and the work of art turns into a cafeteria. In this shift social communication becomes aesthetic practice”.

Tobias Rehberger
Photo by Sandra Weil

Tobias Rehberger received the price for the cafeteria, for which he collaborated closely with Artek using customized Artek furniture in an ingenious way. The cafeteria created by Rehberger is a complex scheme of geometric forms with contrasting colors, a visually disorienting environment that draws from a specific example from the past: razzle dazzle or dazzle painting – a decorative style used on ships during the First World War.

Watch the videoclip from the Venice Biennale Cafeteria: http://www.artek.fi/projects/fairs/57 (under the downloads section).

Tobias Rehberger, Cafeteria
Photo by Wolfgang Günzel

For over a century the Venice Biennale has been one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world. For the 53rd International Art Exhibition, the Venice Biennale Foundation aims to strengthen the interdisciplinary nature of the institution. This intention becomes evident in the direct dialogue proposed between art and its neighbouring disciplines such as design, film interior design, and the architecture emphasizing the institution’s continuous contribution to cultural life in Venice and the Veneto region and to an international artistic debate. In this sense, the exhibition is conceived as a process, which manifests itself at various moments throughout its duration, from June 7th to November 22nd 2009, and beyond.

Artek art furniture chairs, Venice Biennale 2009
Photo by Juha Nenonen

The visionary founders of Artek believed in a grand synthesis of the arts. They wanted to bring about improvements in everyday urban life as well as in architecture and design. When the company was founded in 1935, a manifesto was drawn up, inspired by Functionalism. The vision was to interconnect modern visual arts, rational furniture production and popular education. These goals and values are still very much part of Artek today.

Artek art furniture Tables, Venice Biennale 2009
P hoto Juha Nenonen

This collaboration will further strengthen Artek’s determination to play a major role in the international community of art and architecture.

Read more:
Artek's homepage
Artek at Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2009
Interview with Mirkku Kullberg, CEO of Artek
Proventus' engagement in Artek
Alvar Aalto through the eyes of Shigeru Ban
The launch of the Bambu collection