MASSIMILIANO GIONI APPOINTED ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE 55TH INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION – VENICE BIENNALE

The Fondazione Nicola Trussardi is pleased to announce that its Artistic Director, Massimiliano Gioni, was chosen today by the Board of the Venice Biennale, chaired by Paolo Baratta, to curate the 55th International Art Exhibition, which will be held in 2013.

Massimiliano Gioni is set to curate the 55th Venice Biennale, having today being named director of the visual arts sector. Gioni is currently associate director of the New Museum and artistic director of the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi. The Biennale’s board of directors also appointed composer Ivan Fedele as director of the music sector for a four-year term and confirmed that Àlex Rigola, who served as director of the theater sector for 2010 and 2011, will continue with his role for the next two years. Ismael Ivo, director of the dance sector since 2005, has been confirmed for the year 2012.

Paolo Baratta, chair of the board of directors, noted in a press release that “the Biennale is moving in the direction of pluralism and continuity . . . . In the visual arts, after acknowledging the success of Bice Curiger’s edition, the board has chosen to appoint the new director far in advance, and among the possible solutions in the international field, has selected Massimiliano Gioni as a young personality who has already accumulated a number of important appointments, which he has honored so well as to win the esteem of artists and critics around the world.”
Beatrice Trussardi, President of the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, in congratulating Gioni—who has served as the foundation’s Artistic Director since 2002—and expressing her happiness over this major achievement, emphasized,

“Massimiliano Gioni’s appointment as the new Director of Visual Arts at the Venice Biennial fills me with pride; it demonstrates the significance of the work that the Fondazione Trussardi has pursued. In ten years of collaboration, I have had the pleasure of sharing many projects and ambitions with Massimiliano, but above all, of sharing a quest for excellence that has helped us bring Milan back to the centre of international artistic debate and of the contemporary art scene. The choice of a man so young—not yet forty—to head the world’s most important festival is a courageous gesture that rewards all of Massimiliano’s hard work and professional dedication over the years, and rewards the faith of everyone who has believed in him”.

Photography by Dorothy Hong