The 52nd edition of the Venice Biennale opened yesterday in Italy, kicking off what is essentially a World Fair for art, the largest international contemporary art gathering ever with 77 countries participating through either permanent pavilions or the satellite shows that are scattered all over the ancient lagoon maze that is Venice.
This year’s Biennale is notable for being the first to be curated by an American, Yale’s Robert Storr, who’s pulled together the first major showing of African artists at this the world’s most prestigious art festival. Storr otherwise set the tone for a varied show themed “Think With the Senses — Feel with the Mind,” which tends towards a reflexive response to the war, chaos and uncertainty of the current century. The other big trend here is the prominence of women, with female artists being the sole representatives at some of the biggest national pavilions: British (Tracy Emin), French (Sophie Calle) and German (Isa Genzken), with Calle and Genzken favored to win the Golden Lion award for best pavilion.
I spent a day there rambling through mile after mile of exhibits, looking at everything from traditional painting and sculpture to photography and video to, yes, artists like China’s Cao Fei, who uses Second Life as her medium of choice, and VIVA, a Taiwanese comic book artist who deliciously portrays the local otaku culture.
I’ll post more about the work and some of the artists later. One thing I will say is that if you do manage to find yourself in Venice and want to check out the action, plan on spending several days in order to take in this extraordinary show at a leisurely pace. Also, consider going in the fall (the Biennale runs until Nov. 21), when Venice’s crushing herds of tourists thin out considerably and prices drop precipitously.
