Page 26 - Studio International - December 1968

News

The major painting prize of 2 million lire has been
awarded by the jury of the 34th Venice Biennale to
Bridget Riley. The major sculpture prize was awarded
to Nicholas Schöffer of France. The two major prizes
reserved for Italian artists were awarded to Pino
Pascali and Gianni Colombo and the prize for a
graphic artist of any nationality to Horst Janssen of
Germany. The four David E. Bright Foundation prizes
were awarded to Edgar Negret (Columbia; open
prize for sculpture), Carel Visser (Holland; sculptor
under 45 who has never before received an inter-
national prize at the Venice Biennale), Guido Moli-
nari (Canada; painter under 45 etc.) and Gustave
Marchoul (Belgium; engraver under 45 etc.). Other
prizes were awarded to Jiro Takamatsu of Japan
(Carlo Cardazzo Prize), Mario de Luigi of Italy and
Luc Peire of Belgium (Gavina S. p. A. Prize) and
Vladimir Preclik (Ziuta and Joseph James Akston
Foundation Prize for a piece of sculpture to be set
up out of doors). The members of the jury were Emile
Langui (President), René Berger, Cesare Brandi,
Maurizio Calvesi, Robert Jacobsen, Dietrich Mahlow
and Rizard Stanislawski; together they distributed
prize money amounting to approximately £15,000.
There were 9,000 visitors during the opening week
and 151,000 during the exhibition. The 34th Biennale
was visited by 1,110 art critics and journalists. Two
hundred and forty-seven artists from thirty-four
countries showed 1,987 works of art, of which 308
were sold.
At the John Player Nottingham Exhibition
prizes were awarded as follows: first prize of £700
divided between Peter Joseph of London and Roy
Ascott of Wolverhampton ; second prize of £200 to
Miguel Osmund of London ; third prize of £100 to
Georgina Foster of Banbury. These and forty-five
other works were selected from a total of 960 entries
submitted from Paris, Munich and Athens and from
all parts of the country.

The Great Cross of the Order of Merit of
work. This can be seen in the comparison of works of movement was incorporated in Ken Cox's early Austria was recently awarded to Dr J. P. Hodin for
incorporating words by two members of GRAV. machines. Their general effect, although a bit his biography of Oskar Kokoschka and for his work
Morellet's rectangular patterns of light bulbs create a mechanical, was an everchanging pattern of word or as an art critic. Dr Hodin already holds the title of
series of different word permutations and constant letter shapes and shadows reflecting out from the Commander of the Order of Merit of Italy, given by
after-image as they flash on and off, so that the machine itself. In his latest work he was much less the President for his activity as an international art
interaction of light and movement of the light is concerned with the actual machinery of movement critic, and the St Olaf medal, given by the King of
experienced as a sequential relay of word images. On and more with the utilization of natural elements and Norway for his work on Munch.
the other hand, Garcia-Rossi's light mobile with the the effect upon the materials used. His 'Cloud
word 'mouvement' repeated constantly, with each Poems' incorporate a canopy of polythene material Ken Cox, whose work is touched on in John
letter followed by its shadow, adds little to the with printed words, lit up and billowing out con- Sharkey's article in this issue, died last month after
aesthetic of the work because of the obvious stantly from the effect of blowers set inside the base. being knocked down by a car. His work has been
relationship between meaning and effect, but yet the With a limited pictorial manner, the majority of these included in the Brighton Festival and the I.C.A.
moving text fully integrates with the construction. machine constructions make concrete the poetic Cybernetic Serendipity and Apollinaire exhibitions.
The extension of words in space/time constructions means in terms of actual movement, whereas it is in Cox had also exhibited at the Lisson Gallery, which
is the most important and singular British contribu- terms of public and private language, both as means is to show his work again early in 1969.
tion to the international field of visual poetry. Many and end, that words are transcended into poetry. The
of the poets here have attempted, at one time or semantic confusion and the transference of concepts The Second International Biennale of Sport
other, to extend their work through a diverse array from elsewhere brings into question the present and the Fine Arts is to be held in Madrid in May
of kinetic constructions but the most prolific have validity of a visual poetry, if in fact it is not in itself 1969. Entries are invited for painting, sculpture,
been Ken Cox and Liliane Lijn. Lijn's earliest machines part of the general metamorphoses of language. The drawings, prints, trophies and medals. There will
in 1963—words on rotating motorized cylinders— present universal process in reducing the wide be three prizes in each category. Further information
were made prior to and independent of the British range of language and graphic patterns in conjunction from Charles Spencer, Flat 11, 44 Grove End Road,
group. A major concern in all her work is the inter- with the cross fertilization of media, of which visual or N.W.8.
action of the surface light-play with elements con- concrete poetry is a part, would seem to make
taining and reflecting the light, which is exemplified imperative the creation of a whole new terminology. Reproductions in offset litho of works from three
in her clear and coloured rotating perspex word recent exhibitions are published by Motif Editions of
cones. The physical nature of the term 'play' is 28 Frith Street, W.1 ; works by Allen Jones, Richard
emphasized by some of her 'poemkons' in which the The largest-ever exhibition of concrete poetry Lindner and Jann Haworth from the 'Obsessive
word-cones with handles similar to Buddhist prayer opens this month at the Institute de Tella, Buenos Image' show, seven computer-generated images
wheels can be rotated by hand to almost become a Aires. The British section was organized by John from 'Cybernetic Serendipity', and works by Jones,
miniature 'play area of fixed dimensions determined Sharkey and includes the work of twenty-one poets Hockney, Phillips and Gaulfield from 'Painted in
by the poet who suggests its possibilities'. This and artists. It will be toured throughout South Britain' shown in New York in September. The re-
notion of semantic play allied to a programmed cycle America. productions are sold in sets, or singly for £1 each.