Jonas Mekas at the Venice Biennial
The Internet Saga is the only project dedicated to art on the web to be inaugurated on the 6th and 7th of May on the occasion of the 56th Venice Art Biennial. This edition’s main protagonist is the independent cinema legend: Jonas Mekas. As part of the show, Mekas will perform a poetic reading To the Internet, written especially for the occasion, at the Spazio Ridotto on 7 May 2015 10:30PM. This will commence a 24 hour screening of the artist’s works and through the night, the Spazio Ridotto will remain open to offer visitors a relaxed evening for viewing Jonas Mekas’ pioneering films.
The Internet Saga continues online with a website:
Founder of the New American Cinema in 1960, this artist started experimenting new audiovisual languages online in 2006, thus becoming a contemporary art web-star before anyone else. Curated by the Francesco Urbano Ragazzi duo and in collaboration with Zuecca Projects, the Internet Saga will have two official sites, opposed but also new in the city’s landscape: Palazzo Foscari Contarini, a sixteenth century noble residence overlooking the Grand Canal now a Burger King restaurant, and the Spazio Ridotto, a brand new project space for video art, just 100 meters from Piazza San Marco.
One part of the project will be the projection of Birth of a Nation, a film made by Mekas in 1997, portraying the community of film-makers who, with Mekas, has revolutionized the American independent cinema.