Rubis Mécénat, Venice
Well-known in cultural patronage circles, Rubis Mécénat has chosen to support Joël Andrianomearisoa (b. 1977, Antananarivo, Madagascar), the artist selected for the first Madagascar Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Lorraine Gobin, CEO of Rubis Mécénat, told us about this initiative that is cultural, as well as ecological and social.
“In 2019 Rubis Mécénat is investing in art in Madagascar. We wanted to support the first Madagascar Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in conjunction with the creation in Antananarivo of our third socio-cultural project, Ndao Hanavao (“Let’s innovate,” curated by Benjamin Loyauté), a laboratory of innovation and creation in the field of social design. There, the artist Joël Andrianomearisoa of the Madagascar Pavilion will collaborate with the young Malagasy adults in our program. A place for learning, experimenting and developing, in its first project Ndao Hanavao has the mission of finding viable solutions for the re-use of plastic waste, offering young students the chance to create their own commercial structures and to collaborate with local artisans. In line with this, we have invited the Polyfloss Factory – which has come up with a new way of recycling plastic that takes cotton candy as its inspiration – to produce a flexible wool that can be knitted, formed, pressed, or melted down time after time. Using this new material, Joël Andrianomearisoa will make an original work developed entirely from Polyfloss wool for his solo show in September 2019 at FRAC-Réunion.”
Joël Andrianomearisoa, Madagascar Pavilion, 58th Venice Biennale, with the support of Rubis Mécénat. May 11 – November 24.