Centuries after it helped kick-start Western art, the Vatican is
seeking to break back into the art world with its first-ever pavilion at
the prestigious Venice Biennale.
The display includes a very modern mix
of photography and interactive works, as well as recycled materials
used by an artist based partly in Los Angeles.
The eclectic mix
was inspired by the biblical book of Genesis and commissioned by the
Holy See in a bid to repair what church officials said Tuesday was a
“fracture” between faith and art over the last century.
The
Vatican, which in previous eras commissioned such glories as
Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, experienced “an
interrupted dialogue” with the art world in the 20th century, said
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture.
More recently, the Holy See's relationship with art has
suffered because of works it regards as hostile to the Roman Catholic
Church, including a 1999 sculpture by an Italian artist of Pope John Paul II being struck by a meteorite.
Sponsoring
an exhibition at the high-profile Venice Biennale, which begins June 1
and runs nearly six months, is a "very significant experiment" using
“exceptional artists,” Ravasi told reporters Tuesday.
Lawrence
Carroll, an artist based in Los Angeles and New York, as well as Czech
photographer Josef Koudelka and the Italian art collective Studio Azzuro
were each handed aspects of the book of Genesis to cover in their works
for the Vatican's pavilion but were given total freedom over the end
product, said Micol Forti, an official at the Pontifical Council for
Culture.
“It was absolutely not important that the artists be practicing Catholics,” she said.
Given
the task of depicting the biblical account of the creation, Milan’s
Studio Azzuro came up with interactive works that feature the voices of
prisoners at an Italian jail discussing their family origins.
To
cover the concept of original sin, the story of Cain and Abel, and
Noah's Ark, Koudelka -- who gained fame with his photos of the 1968
Soviet suppression of the Prague Spring -- assembled photographed scenes
of war and destruction.
Carroll, who was born in Australia but
raised in Southern California, worked at a studio near Rome on his
commission, which was on the theme of re-creation.
“They wanted
me because of my work so I wanted to do what I do,” said the
tousle-haired artist, whose final results use a recycled mix of oil,
wax, aluminum, steel, plexiglass, dust and even ice that melts and
re-freezes during the day. One work features a painting folded up and
placed on another painting.
Carroll, who said he was a
practicing Catholic "at times," said he was given “complete freedom” to
paint what he wanted and refused to allow Vatican officials to visit his
studio.
“I didn’t know what I was making,” he said. “I kept everyone away from the studio.”
While
he was not paid for the works, the Vatican paid for his materials, he
said, adding that he was "delighted" to be following in the footsteps of
such Vatican-commissioned artists as Michelangelo.
“This is
totally different,” said Forti, the council official. “The Sistine
Chapel is a chapel, a place of liturgy. This is not sacred art.”
However, the famous chapel
apparently had a role in inspiring the Vatican's Biennale offering.
Forti said that Vatican officials hit on the idea for the show after
Pope Benedict XVI entertained 300 artists in 2009 in the Sistine Chapel.
She
said the Venice Biennale, founded in 1895, was the “ideal place” for
the Vatican to reenter the art world. The tiny city-state will join
other first-time countries at the festival such as Bahrain, Kosovo,
Paraguay and the South Pacific island of Tuvalu.
Corporate sponsors have been brought in to help cover the show's nearly $1-million price tag.