Jonas Mekas: The Internet Saga on the occasion of the 56th Venice Biennale

Welcome to The Internet Saga.
To enter into this story you don’t have to be in Venice nor do you have to cross the threshold of Palazzo Foscari Contarini. Neither do you need to go from the railway station to Piazza San Marco and to the Spazio Ridotto. You can simply go on line from wherever you are and look for that which interests you the most. We are here and elsewhere, continually. You don’t have to be here at all costs, it’s not important for you to be right here, but that you are now, wherever you are.

This is not a normal pavilion of the Biennial and it is not an event. We are at the beginning of a grand narrative which is taking place in the real time of the Internet. It’s no longer time for surfing, but for immersion. Where online and offline are no longer separated and where virtual worlds have been abandoned to give way to timelines.
We are already here, continually, almost together.

The Internet Saga penetrates through the screens, the windows and the courtyard of the only Burger King restaurant in Venice, like a second level of reality. At the city gates, opposite the railway station, on the top of the Ponte degli Scalzi, all through the day. A ray of light passes through the chambers of this 16th century palace transformed into a fast food restaurant. Simultaneous autonomies: the story of Venice, the abyss of the Internet, the time for a sandwich.

And we are already in a different place. At the end of the Canal Grande, in the darkness of the projection of the new Spazio Ridotto, where the images of a lifetime flow at the speed of the cinema. Endlessly.

The Internet Saga is the only project dedicated to art on the web to be inaugurated on the 6th  and 7th  of May on the occasion of the 56th Venice  Art Biennale.

Curated by the Francesco Urbano Ragazzi duo and in collaboration with Zuecca Projects, the Internet Saga will have two official sites, opposed but also new in the city’s landscape:  Palazzo Foscari Contarini, a sixteenth century noble residence overlooking the Grand Canal now a Burger King restaurant, and the Spazio Ridotto, a brand new project space for video art, just 100 meters from Piazza San Marco.

This project offers a calendar full of events.
On 6th May  at 7pm at Palazzo Foscari Contarini: the inauguration of Jonas Mekas’ solo exhibition will take place and will be composed of three novel interventions linked to the artist’s production on Internet.

On 7th May at 7pm at My Art Guide Meeting Point ( at the Circolo Ufficiali of l’Arsenale) : a press conference open to the public will take place and will become a real performance thanks to the presentation of the online editorial project )titre( and the Skype call of Argentinian born artist Amalia Ulman.

On 7th May at the Spazio Ridotto at 10:30 pm: the third and last part of the project will open with the projection of Birth of a Nation, a film made by Mekas in 1997,  portraying the community of film-makers who, with Mekas, has revolutionized the American independent cinema.

A Sleepless Night, which will last until  dawn of the following day, will be launched with a poetic declamation by the Lithuanian-American artist dedicated to Internet and will end on the terrace of Hotel Bauer .
The Internet Saga continues online with a website:

WWW.INTERNETSAGA.COM

Title: The Internet Saga
Artist: Jonas Mekas
Curator: Francesco Urbano Ragazzi
A project by: Associazione E, Zuecca Project, Spazio Ridotto
Supported by:Lithuanian Culture Istitute, Sirio Spa, Galerie EXPRMNTL, Agnes B. – endowment fund
Sponsors: The Bauers Hotels, Orvett, Neo Tech, Large Format by Trimline, Autopark Ca’ Doge
Media partners: My Art Guide, )titre(.

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