Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
October 29, 2004

The U.S. Department of State Names Edward Ruscha to Represent the United States at the 2005 Venice Biennale, October 29, 2004

At the invitation of the U.S Department of State, four distinguished American museums recommended noted American artist Ed Ruscha to represent the United States at the 2005 Venice Biennale. The group consisted of the directors and curatorial representatives of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden of the Smithsonian Institution, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Mr. Ruscha nominated Linda Norden, the Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, to serve as curator of his exhibition. The U.S. Department of State approved these recommendations.

In making their selection, the museums considered: the overall merit of the artist’s work; the suitability of the work for presentation at the Venice Biennale; the extent to which the work is representative of the vitality and diversity of contemporary art in the United States; and the feasibility of exhibiting the work in Venice. The museums recommending the artist agreed that the curator of the exhibition should come from an institution not represented by the group.

Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Patricia S. Harrison stated, "We thank these outstanding members of the arts community for their selfless service in recommending Ed Ruscha to represent the United States at the 2005 Venice Biennale. Mr. Ruscha's selection demonstrates the continued commitment of the U.S. Department of State to presenting the finest of American art at the Venice Biennale. The Department is delighted to approve this recommendation and respond to the official invitation of the Biennale for U.S. participation."

For the past fifteen years the Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions (the Fund), a consortium which included the U.S Department of State, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the National Endowment for the Arts, supported the American Pavilion in Venice. The Fund agreed to disband at the end of 2004 and suggested that the U.S. Department of State should explore working with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, owner of the American Pavilion, to find a one-time interim solution for the U.S. presentation in 2005.

The U.S. Department of State and the four museums stated that this process was for the 2005 Venice Biennale only. The U.S. Department of State is committed to creating and institutionalizing a new selection process based on open competition, transparency and public-private partnerships. This process will be developed in consultation with public and private organizations and will be instituted prior to the selection process for future biennales.

2004/1182
[End]

Released on October 29, 2004