ARTS & ANTIQUES
ARTS & ANTIQUES La Biennale di Venezia: An International Encounter With Art Of All Mediums By Dr Susan House Wade ‘May you live in interesting times’ is the theme of this year’s much anticipated 58th annual Venice Biennale, a major celebration of art, design, architecture, cinema, dance, music and theatre, held across a number of sites, all around Venice. Running from May 11 until November 24, 2019, it effectively transforms the city into the focal point of the contemporary arts world, a position it has held in most alternate years since its inception in 1895. In fact, some writers call it the ‘Olympics’ of the art world. Attracting art dealers, journalists, academics, art collectors and enthusiasts from an international audience, the Biennale draws a real mix of ages and demographics. Interestingly, more than half of the visitors in 2017 were less than 26 years old. Biennale Curator Ralph Rugoff (b.1957), the director of London’s Hayward Gallery, hails from New York City, and attended Brown University. In an interview conducted before the show’s opening in May, he talked about the ideas at work this year. “Artists are people who pay attention...so they’re teaching us how to pay attention, and when you pay attention, the world is a much more interesting place”. This theory plays out in virtually every aspect of the Biennale--in exhibits which command attention and, as a result, must ultimately inspire us to embrace a “richer way of thinking”, according to Rugoff. “The Show focuses on artists who challenge existing habits of thought and open up readings of objects and images, gestures and situations,” he points out. President of the Biennale this year, Economist Paolo Baratta (b.1939), suggests that “in times of great change...we must pay attention to the evolutions of the world and of art”. The Biennale offers the viewer an intense encounter with art of all mediums. In total, this
Venetian public transport (vaporetto) with Biennale di Venezia design
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year there are 79 international artists showing their work, alongside 90 national participants, 35 national pavilions and 40 collateral events, with numerous special projects being offered across the historic centre of Venice. Securing the opportunity to exhibit work at the Biennale is certainly one of the most unique and highly regarded privileges which can be accorded to a living artist by a nation. Every year, there are also a few new entries added to the Biennale mix, and this year, that includes participation by Ghana, Madagascar, Malaysia and Pakistan. Looking at some of the entries for the 2019 Biennale, the expansive Ghana Pavilion, with its thought provoking and highly relevant exhibition, entitled Ghana Freedom, takes a profound look at the consequences of independence from the United Kingdom, from 1957 onwards. Scandinavia is represented via a united effort on the part of Finland, Norway and Sweden, with the theme Weather ReportForecasting Future. The relationship between human and non-human is examined in an age when climate change and mass extinction are threatening life on earth, and, at the time of this writing, by the fires raging in the Brazilian rainforest. Isuma is the title of the contribution at the Canadian Pavilion, and consists of a profoundly moving series of videotaped interviews with Inuit families, all who were forcibly relocated from their ancestral lands in the 1950s. This is the first time, surprisingly, that Inuit art has been featured in the Canadian National representation, and it holds particular relevance in this UNESCO Year of Indigenous Languages. Representing the USA in 2019 is Martin Puryear (b.1941), who deals with the concept of liberty, considering freedom
as a fundamental component to the human condition. Primarily known as a maker of objects in wood, bronze, iron, tar, mesh, granite and fieldstone, he is a classical sculptor who explores ideas of identity and cultural cross-currents in his representations. Puryear’s work is widely recognised for its independence, and for the frequent exploration of how everyday objects are manipulated and transformed over time. The USA Pavilion, in which Puryear’s extraordinarily large scale works are housed, was opened in 1930. As with many other national pavilions on the Biennale festival sites, it is characterised by a readily identifiable national style. Since 1986, ownership has been situated with the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation, and managed by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice (another must visit while in town), which works closely with the US State Department. In the case of the Venezuela Pavilion, a well known Italian architect was secured to design the structure (1953), with the intent of creating a dynamic and modern national image. Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978), famous for his masterful interplays of light and shadow, designed a memorable structure, and in doing so, created an impressive statement for Venezuela very close to the main entrance of the Biennale grounds at Giardini, right next door to the Russia Pavilion. In some instances, in fact, we find that the national pavilions, in and of themselves, capture just as much, or sometimes more, of the viewer’s attention and imagination as the contents they hold inside. These pavilions reveal much about how countries were and indeed, are, trying to establish a representation of themselves. Striking
Martin Puryear (USA) Big Phrygian. 2010-14 Historically worn to express freedom/liberty by Dacian prisoners; during the French Revolution; and by enslaved blacks in the Caribbean in their quest for equality under French rule.
Martin Puryear. (USA) Tabernacle. 2019 (L) Based on caps worn by Union and Confederate armies in the Civil War, symbolic of American gun violence. Aso Oke. 2019 (R) Based on contemporary national dress of Nigerian males.
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