17 May 2019

Reflections on the 2019 Venice Biennale

3:49 pm on 17 May 2019

Sitting alone in a bear hide in a forest in rural NE Finland, as it turns out, is the perfect place to write about the 2019 Venice Biennale of contemporary art.

Queuing at the Vernissage, Giardini, Venice

Queuing at the Vernissage, Giardini, Venice Photo: RNZ/Lynn Freeman

Iʼve needed a few days away from the hurly-burly of Venice and the intensity of seeing several dozen exhibitions a day, to really make sense of all that I saw. It was my third time at the Biennale Vernissage, when media and international art movers and shakers get a preview of the dozens of exhibitions from most of the worldʼs nations.

One thing that doesnʼt change is the crushing disappointment of not getting to everything, especially the shows that take out the top prizes.

Congratulations Lithuania (I hope your people were dancing on the streets in joy) after winning the Biennale top prize, the Golden Lion for Best National Participation, with a performative work about climate change.

Sun & Sea (Marina) is a Brechtian opera - described by the jurors as a critique of leisure and of our times as sung by a cast of performers and volunteers portraying everyday people. From the pictures they lie in their togs on beach towels on an artificial beach.

I will always regret spending two hours to see the media darling French pavilion show rather than seeking out the Lithuanian pavilion. But thatʼs how it is. You canʼt see everything so you have to make choices.

Actually climate change, womenʼs rights and gender identity were the main themes this year. May You Live in Interesting Times was the Biennaleʼs overall theme.

Most interpreted Interesting as a negative, painting a bleak picture indeed. The macabre and the disturbing predominated. Four days of that really gets to you. It also gets you thinking which is the point.

Dane Mitchell, Post hoc, NZ Pavillion

Dane Mitchell, Post hoc, NZ Pavillion Photo: RNZ/Lynn Freeman

Certainly New Zealand artist Dane Mitchell offers us three million things to think about in Post hoc, List of things lost, abandoned, redundant, defunct and forgotten, broadcast throughout Venice via cell phone towers.

There are links on the RNZ webpage to my interview with him. Itʼs an important work, one I hope will return home after Venice ends to go on public display. Itʼs very fitting for the Extinction Capital of the World. Aotearoa features in the List of Lists an uncomfortable number of times.

First timers at the Venice Biennale this year included Ghana and Pakistan. When they spoke to media the selected artists were intensely proud to be there. It was lovely to see and a reminder of how much this opportunity means
to the artists, to represent their countries.

Now the public - Venetians and visitors, have until November to visit the Biennale and interest remains high.

Great for the Biennale and financially for this tourist mecca, but it doesnʼt feel like the city can cope with all the extra tourists coming to see it.

Just a few days before the Vernissage pack arrived, Venetian officials had brought in yet another tourist tax. This one targets day trippers which I suspect will primarily target cruise ship visitors. Itʼs three euros but will rise to a maximum of 10 euros within 3 years.

More coverage of the Venice Biennale:

  • Floating NZ sculpture in Venice - Virginia King
  • NZ's extinct species at Venice Biennale 2019
  • The 'must see' Venice Biennale
  • On top of that by 2020, it sounds like tourists will have to make a booking to enter the World Heritage destination.

    But paying a few more Euros for what is already an expensive place to visit wonʼt deter many, if any. Maybe some of the money will go into improving facilities.

    The real problem is the future of the city though. You sense it is crumbling away, the cobblestones eroding under millions upon millions of footsteps, the foundations of the buildings crumbling under constant assault from severe floods. It feels like a city in real peril, despite concerted efforts to preserve the historic buildings and what they hold, and attempts to shield the city from floods.

    Another big issues is Venetiansʼ understandable frustration with tourists. We block the narrow lanes and create massive queues outside historic sites, shops and public transport.

    On the one day I used the cityʼs water taxi system, at almost every stop I saw examples of vaporetto rage - or water taxi tanties, when people missed out on being allowed on board. It really was rage. One chap was ranting at the attendant and while I donʼt speak Italian, the jaws of the people around him actually dropped as they tried to move away from him. That was impossible of course in the cluster of people.

    Another time there were so many people swarming onto the water taxi the attendant couldnʼt stop them and those on
    board were screaming at those on land not to come on. The boat honestly felt like it could tip over.

    Though I will say that I often had to ask for directions and information and I was always treated kindly.

    Detail of Dane Mitchell's work

    Detail of Dane Mitchell's work Photo: RNZ/Lynn Freeman

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