Game Gallery Amusements

Riva Degli Schiavoni, vaporetto stop Arsenale 8-12 June, 10 am - 10 pm. For this year's Venice Biennial IASPIS presents a new site-specific work by the Swedish artist Annika Eriksson. During the opening days of the Biennial, Games Machine will be on show on the keyside outside of the Arsenale exhibition area. In the centre of Venice, Annika Eriksson has placed an amusement arcade - a twelve meter long and 120 ton heavy glass pavilion containing computer games and pinball machines - which visitors are invited to use.For a significant period, Annika Eriksson has produced consequent works that consider the social prerequisites of a site. Her staged situations stimulate discussions and give the viewer access to experiences that are not generally aired in public. Games Machine can be understood as a comment on the Venice Biennial as a spectacular art event. At the same time it is a generous gift to the young people of the city. With Games Machine the youth of Venice, as well as visitors to the Biennial, will be given a place to hangout for a number of days.To coincide with the Venice Biennial, IASPIS will also launch a book on Annika Eriksson's practice. The publication is the first comprehensive presentation of Annika Eriksson's work and is published by IASPIS in collaboration with DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) in Berlin, Propexus publishing house in Lund and the publishing house Revolver Archiv für Aktuelle Kunst in Frankfurt. The publication is part of the IASPIS series In Dialogue. It includes descriptions of the majority of Annika Eriksson's works, an interview with Annika Eriksson by the art critic Jan Verwoert, as well as a text by Peio Aguirre, critic and curator based in San Sebastian.Annika Eriksson lives and works in Berlin. She has produced works for, among other institutions, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Kunstverein München, Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, São Paulo Biennial 2002 and Frieze Art Fair in London 2004. During 2005 she will also work on a project for DAAD in Berlin.