LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, on recommendation from the Federal Advisory Committee for International Exhibitions (FACIE), has selected acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist Glenn Kaino to represent the United States of America at the 13th International Cairo Biennale, the premiere international contemporary art exhibition in the Middle East. Cesar Garcia, currently the Associate Director and Senior Curator at LAXART, Los Angeles, has been appointed U.S. Commissioner.
For over two decades, Glenn Kaino has transformed conventional materials and forms through works that forge dynamic relationships between visual art and other creative disciplines. Developing his practice in Southern California, Kaino has distinguished himself internationally by mobilizing his diverse experiences in various spheres of cultural production to generate works that while highly accessible to broad audiences, put forth critical reconsiderations of historical narratives and art historical trajectories. Working across a wide range of media including sculpture, installation, video, and performance, Kaino approaches his artistic process as a generative tool for knowledge production, providing one of the most conceptually rigorous and innovative examples of contemporary art production in the United States.
"The approach to the organization of the U.S. Pavilion will extend beyond the sole presentation of an exhibition," commented recently appointed U.S. Commissioner Cesar Garcia. "This project comes at a time of unforeseen social and political transitions in the Middle East. From Tunisia and Libya to Bahrain and Yemen, and from Egypt to Syria, we have witnessed thousands of courageous people take to the streets their grievances, and more importantly, their hopes and aspirations for a more promising and renewed way of being. Deeply conscious of the region's complex history and the challenging days ahead, it will be our goal to present a responsive platform that directly engages both the opportunities and challenges of this context,"Garcia states.
While full details of the exhibition and accompanying initiatives will be unveiled in the next few weeks, Garcia and Kaino share that there will be a series of international intellectual and artistic collaborations staged throughout the year, preceding the debut of Kaino's newly commissioned large-scale sculptural installation in Cairo. These various events and programs will collectively function as a discursive foundation that informs and contextualizes the presentation of the US Pavilion. "I have had the opportunity throughout my career to bring disparate fields of creative production together and this project will continue that exploration as a critical reflection on the role of art and artists in this time of great change," Kaino states.
The presentation of the U.S. Pavilion will be accompanied by a full color illustrated publication edited by Garcia that will include newly commissioned essays by a host of international scholars and curators.
The 13th International Cairo Biennale is slated for December 2012- February 2013 in Cairo, Egypt. The U.S. Pavilion is organized by LA>
Glenn Kaino (American b. 1972) received his BFA from the University of California, Irvine, in 1993 and his MFA from the University of California, San Diego, in 1996. His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, including Glenn Kaino: Safe|Vanish, LA>
