Venice Biennale - Part 1

We are on the final leg of our journey. If you have not been to Venice in some while, let me remind you of a few challenges. Venice, of course, is a city without automobiles. The Americans are only used to traveling by car. Here it is another story. We arrived by plane. You first take a bus to the water taxi location. Navigating your suitcase on the water taxi is indeed a challenge, but I was fortunate that Jim, my son-in-law, managed both my suitcase and theirs. We then had to get off and get to our hotel. Up and over some small bridges, and steps, and down a small alley. But once we got here the hotel was terrific and everything was great. We really appreciated the air conditioning as well, since it is extremely hot and muggy here and our last hotel in Kassel, Germany was not air conditioned.

So to the Biennale. It is housed in two main venues, plus a whole lot of other places around the city. Yesterday we decided to spend our time at La Giardini, the garden area where many pavillions are located. We took the vaporetto (water taxi) there and walked along the pathway to the entrance. Our hotel had graciously provided free entry--a cost of 15 euros if you were buying it yourself. The Giardini houses almost 30 pavillions that represent a variety of countries. Our map helped us navigate the terrain and so we were able to visit all of the locations.

Now what can I say that has not already been written about. As we reviewed last evening over dinner, here are some of our own observations.

1. The Russian display actually was fantastic. Very high tech. Seemed to be mostly about videos which I normally do not like. In one room we encountered a video created by 4 people in a group effort. It was identical to the one we saw at Art Basel, but displayed in a very large space on three gigantic screens. It seemed to be a combination of surreal landscapes and warlike encounters among young people. A very large audience was completely engaged in watching this. Another fascinating piece was a small room, showerlike with faucets--not working--and an overhead large spigot. You could step up and go right into this room. On 3 of the walls a gridlike framework the size of a small tv screen was constructed. Videos scrolled down very rapidly on all the walls. It was not really easy to tell what was moving. Very cool, or hot, depending on your vocabulary.

2. Sigmar Polke--in the Venice Pavillion--blows you away. The sheer size of the paintings is overwhelming. The materials, beyond oil paint, are impossible to discern, but seem to be sort of luminescent. Most of the canvases are so thing that you can see the stretchers in a kind of window or gridlike design on the reverse. All of us loved these and spent a considerable time in this room. We have some beautiful shots which I will post when I return home.

3. You got a sense of country as you wandered among the various spaces. More money, more technology, greater opportunities were evident in some exhibits while others were spartan and used simple materials.

We spent the entire day just at this location. Today we plan to go to the Arsenale, where other exhibits are mounted. Stay tuned for more tomorrow.