Biennale, 2011
Biennale is an International Art festival that brings together contemporary artists representing several nations ... it has taken place every two years in Venice since 1895. This year is the festival's 54th Edition (there were a few years it did not take place because of WWI and II), and the permanent country-pavilions in the Giardini at the end of the island (referred to in my "Style-watch at the Giardini" post) are filled with each country's contemporary art.
Fake (or quite possibly dead, stuffed) pigeons covering the sign ...
The theme this year seemed to be "collective voices," or, that is what I would guess from the exhibits I saw yesterday when I went to the gardens. Each country's contemporary artistic display was some form or another of mixed media representing the collective history of that nation and its people through images, sounds, painting, sculpture, photography and film.
Belgian Pavilion (above) ... doesn't the glass painting look like a kitty?
My favorite was probably Belgium's pavilion - the artist placed glass over a screen displaying film segments of European moments from the past century, and painted daubs of color that corresponded to and were inspired by the different movements. These glass plates were then layered on top of one another to create multi-dimensional "paintings," and were displayed in the pavilion, along with screens showing the film that the artist had painted over.
Danish Pavilion Exterior and a Poetry installation:
Other pavilions were more simplistic - The Nordic exhibit had austere paintings of trees and rocks in a bare room that had a tree growing through the roof. And others (such as the German pavilion) were over-the-top, almost overwhelming in their bizarre interpretations of their countries' cultural identities. I consider myself to be a very open-minded individual ... studying abroad in Paris two years ago vastly expanded my knowledge about contemporary art and the new wave artists from the 1960s in Europe, so I am rarely shocked by this kind of "out-there" artistic expression. But some of the art shown at Biennale was truly shocking in its liberal interpretation of such topics such as death and sex - especially since most of the pavilions were sponsored by national organizations in their countries. But nevertheless, it was all beautiful in an aesthetic sense, and I am hardly ever happier than when at museums or in front of any art.
Nordic Pavilion:
Korean Pavilion:
German Pavilion:
French and Australian Pavilions:
Seeing Biennale was a highly interesting experience and I am so lucky to be in Venice while the festival is here. Watching the other visitors and their reactions to all the pieces was just as extraordinary as the art itself, and I'm glad that I had the chance to go. I wish I had allowed an entire day for my visit. After a couple hours I was fairly emotionally spent and decided I had seen my fill. But, the park was in essence a hipster's Disneyland, so one could in theory go early, take a few breaks to look at the gardens and have some Illy (which is one of the event sponsors), and then venture back to all the pavilions. Either way, my day was finished joyously when I stopped on my way back home for some limone con basilico gelato ... glorious!
Some of my favorite photos that I took yesterday afternoon are in this post. But to see more, click here or go to my album on the right for all the photos I took, with captions explaining what countries the art is from and the art's meaning!
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