Eva Rothschild has been chosen to represent Ireland at the 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (11 May – 24 November 2019).
Eva Rothschild will create a wholly sculptural exhibition for the Irish Pavilion, located in the Arsenale. Through its direct material presence, the work will engage with current political and environmental concerns arising from our on-going climate of global uncertainty.
Employing a diverse range of materials and sculptural formats, Eva Rothschild will construct an immersive environment that allows the public to be both viewer and participant. Rothschild’s exhibition will create a socially sculptural space within the Irish Pavilion, allowing for contemplation of the material legacy of both present and past civilisations.
One of the leading sculptors of her generation, Eva Rothschild’s work demonstrates a great awareness of the modernist tradition while maintaining its own distinctive sculptural language. Her works also engage with signifiers and objects from her surrounding urban environment, and the eternal forms of geometry and classicism. Her sense of materials, scale, monumentality, colour and line reflect a refined aesthetic sensibility that redeploys and subverts familiar sculptural formats.
Speaking about her plans for the exhibition, Eva Rothschild said: ‘I’m delighted to be representing Ireland at Venice. I am working towards an exhibition which brings together the many different strands of making in my practice to create a series of large new works, each comprised of multiple and varied discreet elements. I want to create an experience that is sculpturally excessive, critically aware and welcoming to the viewer. The space will be organised to allow people to spend time within and without the sculpture, creating the opportunity for intense looking, material confusion and communication through presence and apprehension.’
Mary Cremin, Curator of Ireland at Venice 2019, said: ‘Eva Rothschild has an expanded sense of materiality, and has a unique vision on how objects have a symbolic value and can relay meaning. As one of the leading sculptors of her generation, she has an exceptional ability to create connectivity between disparate sculptural elements and the public. Her work is neither didactic nor polemical, but this exhibition specifically reflects the moment we find ourselves in, showing us that art can create expanded possibilities for critical and experiential engagement in our increasingly uncertain times.’
The London-based graphic design studio A Practice for Everyday Life (APFEL) has been appointed to design the identity for Ireland at Venice 2019. APFEL designed a monograph of Eva Rothschild’s work in 2010.