The Venice Bienniale-International Art Exhibition

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The 51st Venice Bienniale-International Art Exhibition

Steps from my apartment. A 10 minute walk, in fact, to the gardens near St.Elena. During the year, the architectural structures called pavilions, built by various countries decades ago to host their artists every year here in the summer months of the Bienniale, are empty. But these months this very famous international art exhibition attracts people from all over the world.

Among the trees and connected by sandy and pebble pathways are the distinctly different pavilions by such countries as Hungary, Uruguay, Romania, Korea, Iceland, Belgium and Russia. (In other parts of the city, in various palazzi and host sites, are countries such as Afghanistan, Croatia, Republic of Armenia, Ireland, Thailand and Argentina.) Each pavilion has the name of the country written on the front and is built in a particular style-the Hungarian pavilion with arches laden with gold and stone mosaics, the Icelandic building an angular abstract form, and the Norwegian/Swiss pavilion no more than an open space formed by specially placed concrete walls and ceiling panels that created a transient hall of echoes.

Enjoying the variety of artists, of which many were installation/video, I wondered how the artists were chosen to represent their country and why some countries did not want or were not able to participate. In general the work was conceptual, often dealing with social or political issues inherent to the country or to broader issues about identity, work ethic, relationships, etc. Some work I didn’t understand at all and with so much to see, at times I glanced quickly at what I thought was trash and moved on, only later to wonder if I’d not given the work a fair chance.

Then again.

In the Italian pavilion I walked through a construction meant to give the feelng of the german gas chambers, in the Russian pavilion walked through quasi-darkness as wind and a chorus of voices lead me in and out again. The Korean artists drew on their walls with graphic, non-figurative sketch-like drawings, accompanied by photographs, a video installation of Korean families posing in their living rooms. I saw several beautiful and moving films (both short (seconds) and long (30 minutes)). One in black and whiteby Stan Douglas about a man who stays behind while most of his Cuban countrymen flee, and a film by Rovin Robhe creating film using series of still photos of children and their interaction with chalk-drawn objects presenting ideas of deficiency and poverty and the inherent energy and creativity of youth.

3 hours later as I checked my map I’d realized that I’d missed 6 more pavilions across one of the bridges…had only I remembered that in Venice I am easily fooled. One promising alley leads straight into the water, steps gracefully descending into the depths, while another corner, looking desolate and ignorable, leads happily to the main square or a popular restaurant, or in this case, the other Pavilions!

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Comments

[old man]

keep up
signorina, ho letto gli ultimi tre scritti e mis ono piaciuti moltissimo. L'esperienza con la Questura e' sempre una cosa nuova come uno si muove da una citta' all'altra. Brava per aver aiutato le altre persone. Ma non essere sempre troppo generosa. Ti stai creando un avvenire inaspettato. Arrivederci.

[David]

wHERE HAVE YOU GONE?
I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING UR BLOG SINCE THE BEGINNING, BUT YOU HAVE QUIT POSTING, GOOD LUCK TO YOU, ENJOYED IT