Australia opens its doors at the 53rd Venice Biennale

The Australian exhibit at the 53rd International Art Exhibition, La
Biennale di Venezia, will be officially launched today at the
Australian Pavilion in Venice's Giardini della Biennale.

Shaun Gladwell will present his captivating MADDESTMAXIMVS at the
Pavilion. The work is a compelling suite of five thematically
interrelated videos with sculptural and photographic elements,
influenced by outback Australian landscapes and the iconic Mad Max
movies.

Shaun's exciting works blend contemporary urban culture and personal
history through video, painting, sculpture and performance. He was one
of three Australian artists selected to participate in the Think with
the Senses Feel with the Mind exhibition at the Venice Biennale 2007.
His works have been shown in major national and international
exhibitions, including the Sao Paulo, Busan, Taipei and Sydney
biennales and Yokohama triennale. He has undertaken residencies and
commissions in Europe, Asia and the Americas, and was awarded an
Australia Council fellowship in 2006.

Also representing Australia at the Venice Biennale 2009 will be four
early career artists in the Once Removed exhibition which will also be
launched later in the afternoon at the Ludoteca in the Castello
district of Venice.

Curated by Felicity Fenner, Once Removed will feature a series of
installations brought together by themes of Aboriginality, environment
and displacement. The works presented are Indigenous artist Vernon Ah
Kee's Cant Chant (Wegrewhere), Australian-based Japanese artist Ken
Yonetani's Sweet Barrier Reef, and Life Span by collaborators Claire
Healy and Sean Cordeiro.

Thousands of international arts curators and critics are expected to
flood the Australian Pavillion and the Ludoteca during the Vernissage
(preview period) from 4 June to 7 June Artists and organisers have
worked around the clock to finalise preparations for the arrival of an
expected 30,000 curators, collectors, gallery directors, artists and
media from around the world. The Biennale runs from 7 June to 22
November 2009.

Doug Hall AM, commissioner for the Australian delegation at the Venice
Biennale, said that congratulated the artists on creating an
incredible showcase to represent Australia.

'Our deepest congratulations go to Shaun and his team as well as
Felicity and the Once Removed artists on presenting such challenging,
diverse and compelling works that we are confident will invoke a
strong positive response from international audiences,' he said.

'The new face of Australian contemporary art will without a doubt make
a big impression this year,' said Mr Hall.

The Australia Council for the Arts has managed and funded Australia's
representation for more than 30 years. Past Australian representatives
have included Sir Sydney Nolan (1954), Imants Tillers (1986), Arthur
Boyd (1988), Judy Watson, Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1997), Howard Arkley
(1999), Patricia Piccinini (2003), Ricky Swallow (2005), Susan Norrie,
Daniel Von Sturmer and Callum Morton (2007).