Installing a sense of intrigue

New Zealand's exhibition space in Venice will be in a former orphanage behind the church, La Pieta, on the busy treet Riva degli Schiavoni.

With only a month to go, excitement is building among the team working on New Zealand's third appearance at the Venice Biennale. Elements of this year's project, et al's The Fundamental Practice, are already en route to Italy and this week the exhibition's first publication will be sent to key industry contacts around the world.

Project commissioner Greg Burke says it is vital to establish interest before the exhibition begins. "We've got to win the war before we get to Venice," he says. "If you're not out there and you're not on the radar by the time you get to Venice, you're not going to be on the radar."

Before the Biennale opens to the public, there is a three-day preview - the Vernissage - that is attended by an estimated 10,000 journalists. Burke says most will arrive with advance information, knowing what they will write about so they can file stories within a few days.

"This is part of the strategy with our first publication," says exhibition curator Natasha Conland of the booklet, which introduces the installation and its ideas. Burke describes it as resembling a cult propaganda pamphlet.

Conland is curator of contemporary art at Te Papa and remains employed by them while she works on the Biennale as part of Te Papa's support for the project. Burke is director of Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth and has similarly donated staff and financial resources.

Burke, who curated New Zealand's first excursion to the Venice Biennale in 2001, says a previous impediment to New Zealand's success at Venice has been a lack of infrastructure, particularly paid staff to support the six-month exhibition, so support from organisations like Te Papa is important.

The Venice Biennale has been running since 1895 and now has 73 countries participating, as well as the curated Arsenale exhibition and other satellite events. To stand out from the crowd and be noticed by the right people, it helps if they are already looking for you.

"New Zealand is a long, long way from Venice, it's a small country and not a very big budget and we have to think smart in order to be able to get some visibility," says Burke. "You can have the best installation in the biennale but, unless people come, unless people actually go away saying that, it's a waste of time."

To ensure an effective campaign, advertising expert Howard Grieve has donated advice to co-ordinate a direct marketing strategy that included compiling an impressive 4500-name database of contacts for every key writer, curator, collector, critic and museum director in the world.

Another vital piece in the puzzle is securing a suitable venue that isn't too far from the main pavilions in the Giardini Gardens and the Arsenale.

"In terms of location, you're absolutely at the mercy of the burghers of Venice and they have had a century to play this game," says Burke. "You don't just rock up and go, there's this venue we like. How much is it? You have to offer them a price and they just sit there and say, We'll consider this. So we had four or five things on the go at one time."

This year, New Zealand will be in a former orphanage near the city's famous square, the Piazza San Marco.

Et al's installations are always built specifically for their space so suitability is also a major factor.

"When we are invited to do a project we come a bit early and hang out, visiting industrial buildings and buying stuff," says et al in the exhibition brochure.

"We like to establish a connection between the work and the country we are in. We like the idea of the people being familiar with the objects we use."

As well as being conceptually complex, The Fundamental Practice will also be technically state-of-the-art with large metal units moving around accompanied by multiple soundtracks, all controlled by computer software that has been developed especially over the past six months.

"Anyone in the team who has been to see the work in progress and developing is completely blown away by it. It will be at moments quite rapturous and at other moments very discordant," says Burke.

In comparison to et al's Walter's Prize installation, where viewers were on the outside looking in through fences, Conland says this time you will be able to move through it while it moves around you. "The audience will feel embedded in it," she says. "Like being right in an orchestra pit with that physical and aural overload."

Burke and Conland say that despite early accusations that et al's persona as a mysterious, media-shy group entity would be counter-productive, so far this has only served to add to interest and intrigue. Most industry figures coming in contact with the project have been fascinated and a growing list of international publications, including Time (Pacific edition), Art Asia-Pacific, Broadsheet (US) and Venezia News (Venice's equivalent to Time Out) have promised articles.

Having only committed to three biennales, Creative New Zealand will be closely evaluating this performance in Venice and how it raises the international profile of New Zealand arts and artists before deciding on future ventures, says Creative New Zealand CEO, Elizabeth Kerr.

"Certainly, the early indications are that we are getting great outcomes, increased media coverage each time of the three; increased interest in our exhibition and good opportunities for artists from the first two biennales.

"We've looked at other countries and observed that it builds. The exposure builds year after year, biennale after biennale so there are certainly some in the visual arts sector who would say, Why did it take us so long to even get there?"

As well as Creative New Zealand support, there has also been a successful fundraising drive, with an edition of 100 especially created et al multiples nearly all sold. And for the first time there is also a principle sponsor; local vodka company 42 Below, who will be providing a major party to launch the New Zealand exhibition.

"It goes back to that same principle of we are going there to make a noise and we have to make a lot of noise," says Burke. "That party's going to help us do that."

Exhibition

*What: The Fundamental Practice, by et al at the 51st Venice Biennale of International Art
*Where and when: New Zealand Pavilion, Venice, Jun 12-Nov 6