Official U.S. Presentation at the 54th International Art Exhibition, Venice, Italy

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Department of State’s Cultural Division (ECA/PE/C/CU) is pleased to announce an open competition for assistance awards through this Request for Proposals (RFP). ECA/PE/C/CU requests proposals from U.S. non profit museums, galleries, and visual arts organizations to organize official U.S. representation at the 54th International Art Exhibition, Venice, Italy, 2011. Although precise opening/closing dates for the 2011 Biennale have yet to be announced, past exhibitions have usually been held from June–November. Applicants are requested to propose exhibitions that represent the most interesting work being made in the United States now. Preference is given to new commissions. The Venice Biennale, the oldest international exhibition of visual art, will present its 54th edition in 2011. The Biennale regularly presents leading contemporary art from throughout the world, with more than 70 countries represented in national exhibitions at pavilions in the Giardini di Castello and at other sites around Venice. Pending availability of funds, the State Department will make up to $350,000 available for all aspects of exhibition development, preparation, production, installation, maintenance, restoration of the U.S. Pavilion at the end of the project, the return or onward shipping of the exhibition at the Biennale’s end, and the travel of curators and key participants. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice will provide the staffing, maintenance, and operations of the U.S. Pavilion during installation, and for the approximate six-month period of the exhibition. Additional funds may be available for a publication and public programs organized by the curators in consultation with the US Embassy in Rome and the Cultural Programs office of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Any funds for public programs will be provided directly to the U.S. Embassy. BACKGROUND The U.S. Pavilion is owned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and managed by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (PGC) in Venice. The building, designed in 1929 by the American architects Delano and Aldrich for Grand Central Galleries in New York, is neo-classical in style. The director and key staff of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection work closely with the Department of State and exhibition curators to install and maintain all official U.S. exhibitions presented in the Pavilion. U.S. representation at Venice has included Bruce Nauman’s Topological Gardens,2009, U.S. Commissioner Carlos Basualdo; Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ America, 2007, Nancy Spector, U.S. Commissioner; Edward Ruscha’s Course of Empire, 2005, organized by Linda Norden and Donna DeSalvo; Fred Wilson’s Speak of Me as I am, 2003, organized by Kathleen Goncharov and the MIT/List Visual Arts Center; Robert Gober’s untitled mixed-media installation in 2001, organized by Olga Viso and James Rondeau; myein, Ann Hamilton, 1999, Katy Kline and Helaine Posner, curators; Robert Colescott, Recent Paintings, 1997, Miriam Roberts, curator; and Bill Viola: Buried Secrets, 1995, organized by Marilyn Zeitlin. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION Overall grant making authority for this program is contained in the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, Public Law 87-256, as amended, also known as the Fulbright-Hays Act. The purpose of the Act is "to enable the Government of the United States to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries...; to strengthen the ties which unite us with other nations by demonstrating the educational and cultural interests, developments, and achievements of the people of the United States and other nations...and thus to assist in the development of friendly, sympathetic and peaceful relations between the United States and the other countries of the world." The funding authority for the program above is provided through legislation.

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