OPEN 

OPEN International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations in Venice-Lido, Italy, celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2012.  Conceived and curated by Paolo De Grandis, and organized by Arte Communications in collaboration with the Department of Culture and the Venice City Council, the OPEN exhibitions run parallel to the International Film Festival at the end of each summer.  Over the years, OPEN has involved the participation of more than 70 countries, 400 artists and 150 internationally renowned curators.   For a few artists, including Cornelia Kubler Kavanagh, the exhibition has provided both a privileged platform, and an important venue for their subsequent participation in the Venice Biennale.

open asia 04
open asia 04

OPENASIA 04 was held parallel to the 61st International Film Festival.  Along with artists from 23 nations, Kavanagh exhibited four sculptures, two of which – Standing Figure and Reclining Figure – were cast specifically for the exhibition.

Open 10
OPEN 10

OPEN 10, which ran from August 31 – October 14, 2007, featured the work of 46 artists from 21 countries.  The exhibition was co-Curated by Achille Bonita Olivia, Alanna Heiss and Chang Tsong-zung.  Kavanagh is shown alongside Paolo De Grandis with TSUNAMI VIII, a painted bronze previewed at her solo exhibition New York the year before (see The Tsunami Project).

open 15

At OPEN 15, Kavanagh exhibited a casting from The Pteropod Project: charismatic microfauna, a collaboration with Dr. Gareth Lawson at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, on the plight of pteropods, microscopic mollusks near the bottom of the marine food web that are threatened by rising levels of ocean acidification.  The exhibition, which featured highly abstracted depictions of pteropods, some enlarged 400 times, eventually made its way to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC (see FRAGILE BEAUTY: The Art and Science of Sea Butterflies)

open 15