2 minute read
STATE OF THE ART I
STATE OF THE ART
The Venice Biennale’s 59th international art exhibition, The Milk of Dreams, discusses our bodies, planet & technology.
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Renowned international art exhibition, The Venice Biennale, presents its 59th show, which runs through November 27 across the floating city. The expansive show encompasses works of music, dance, theater, cinema and architecture—all curated by Cecilia Alemani, the first Italian woman to hold the honor and the current director and chief curator of High Line Art in New York City. This year’s production includes works by 213 artists from 58 countries, culminating in 1,433 works of art and objects. A transhistorical collection at heart, contemporary artworks mingle with historical pieces; this juxtaposition— and symbiosis—of past, present and future raises questions about our bodies, planet and technology.
The 2022 show is titled “The Milk of Dreams,” a theme based on a book by Leonora Carrington. Carrington was a surrealist artist who hailed from England and relocated to Mexico during World War II, where she lived for the rest of her life. There, she had two children and started drawing fantastical creatures on the walls of her home, images that were later collected in a book with the title of the show’s theme. Her stories were of hybrid mutant beings that transform from human to animal to mechanical, delving into the concept of metamorphosis. In Carrington’s magical world, life is constantly reenvisioned through the prism of the imagination and everyone can change, be transformed and become something or someone else.
The exhibit’s interpretation of Carrington’s ideas brings forth three areas of concentration in thought, message and object—existential concerns that are both deliberate and intensely intertwined. The first is the representation of bodies and their metamorphoses; this is an exhibition deeply rooted in post-human thought, challenging the western universal ideal normativity. The artists in the conversation propose different alliances, different bodies—hybrid beings. Gender nonconforming and female artists take the stage and challenge our global perspective on who has power, agency and voice.
Additionally, Alemani curates the show with the relationship between individuals and technologies top of mind; for humans living in this historically significant time, there’s an acute awareness of the complex relationship between man and machine. In their diverse works, the artists discuss the threat of a total machine takeover. In our present reality, the screen mediates relationships, bringing us both closer and dividing us further.
Finally, the show thematically raises central questions around the connection between bodies and the earth. With many of the diverse exhibitions taking place outdoors, The Venice Biennale pursues this discussion by taking a carbon-neutral stance to the event, gathering all energy that comes from green sources. What are our responsibilities to the planet and other life forms? What would life look like without us? The future of potential symbiosis is both hopeful and tragic.
