53rd Venice Biennale

I suppose I should add a few words about the artwork to complement those on the weather. The theme for the curated works was 'making worlds' which could be interpreted as megalomanic but actually turned out to be rather introverted. This tone ran through much of the open submissions as well. Inside the giardini there was a slight fixation on the gardens themselves. In the British pavilion Steve McQueen's lyrical film was shot in a desolate out-of-season giardini (possibly the strongest British showing of the past few years if only because it blacked the hideous architecture of the pavilion. The Czechoslovakian pavilion, planted with woodland, brought the gardens into the exhibition space. The Belgian, Jef Geys' work seemed to be entirely botanical. Inside the Italian pavilion Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster spoke about her previous commissions for the biennale, rather nicely to be fair but by this stage the art world was coming across as increasingly self-obsessed. Many of the collateral shows were site-specific or took Venice as the starting point. Now usually I approve of such an approach. I like art work that does not seek grand inspirations but uses what is already there. However, Venice itself is such an insular place, in both senses of the word, that in such a context the work seemed oppressive and close-minded. It is the largest of the global art festivals after all.

As to some of the other exhibits, well the Nordic pavilion was an all round favorite amongst my contingent. Bruce Nauman provided a show of greatest hits in the American pavilion but his outside exhibits provided more interest. A new sound piece, Giorni, took an onomatopoeic pleasure in the Italian words for the days of the week. An oddly unsettlingly quality was created when the days were recited in the wrong order. Such patterns created by the varying syncing of the voices posed the question do you listen to one voice, the interplay of a pair or let them all wash over you in an overwhelming quantity. Also outside the giardini Miks Mitrevics miniature worlds in the Latvian contribution were surprisingly captivating. In the Mexican exhibit Teresa Margolles was both powerfully political and subtly minimal. Also of note, the Arsenale novissimo has opened this year and created vast new project spaces that show the kind of blockbuster spectacle one usually associates with the biennale. A new AES+F film was a highlight, maybe especially for me as I have fallen in love with the beautiful redhead that graces much of their work. The group show, appropriately enough was named 'unconditional love'. One more point of reference, I finally read Thomas Mann's most famous work, Death In Venice whilst in the city. The protagonist's attraction to the place is described thus, "What he sort was something strange and random, but in a place easily reached".