Tonico Lemos Auad at Biennale Gherdëina VII

The Biennale was founded by Doris Ghetta in 2008 as a parallel event of MANIFESTA7 in South Tyrol. Whilst the Biennale initially focused almost exclusively on wooden sculpture, the event has evolved to include other artistic forms, media and events including performances, conferences and talks. The 2020 Biennale features a selection of recent sculptural and textile works by Brazilian artist Tonico Lemos Auad. 

This year's edition reflects the challenges raised by the global Covid-19 pandemic, with works that explore the vulnerability of humans and the natural world and examine ideas for 'worldmaking', touching on questions of shared responsibility and humility. The Biennale website quotes the words of philosopher, Rosi Braidotti: “we need to borrow the energy from the future to overturn the conditions of the present. It’s called love of the world. […] Picture what you don’t have yet; anticipate what we want to become. We need to empower people to will, to want, to desire, a different world, to extract from the misery of the present joyful, positive, affirmative relations and practices. Ethics will guide affirmative politics.”

Participants in this year's edition of the Biennale include Brave New Alps, Agnieszka Brzezanska, Carlos Bunga, Pavel Büchler, Josef Dabernig, Aeon Demetz, Habima Fuchs, Henrik Hakansson, Petrir Halilaj and Alvaro Urbano, Ingrid Hora, Paolo Icaro, Hans Josephsohn, Land/ Baumann, Tonico Lemos Auad, Kris Lemsalu, Sharon Lockhart, Myfanwy MacLeod, Antje Majewski (with Pawel Althamer, Alioune Diouf, Cecilia Edefalk, Pawel Freisler, Gregor Prugger and others), Marcello Maloberti, Franz Josef Noflaner, Paulina Olowska, Pakui Hardware, Maria Papadimitriou, Hermann Josef Runggaldier, Marinella Senatore and Paloma Varga Weisz.