Venice, Day 4.
Today I had committed to spend entirely on Giardini della Biennale grounds, that just happened to be on the other side of the island. A beautiful area that is actually a garden. The national pavilions are separate buildings, built and commissioned by the countries that exhibit in them. The architecture of these buildings varies as much as the cultures they represent. And interestingly enough, they spot on represent the mindset and lifestyle of their countries. For example, the USA had a very colonial settler looking building, while the Nordic (Scandinavian) countries had their one story, open-floor, all windows style of building that even had a tree growing though it. The trees provided a nice shade on the hot day. And much art awaited to be seen.
I set out early in the morning. Not only I wanted to make m one hour walk to the Giardini before it opened, I wanted to avoid the tourists before they crawled out of wherever they lived in while in Venice. Plus, it is cooler in the morning. During the day, I even managed to see a few last exhibitions in the area but outside of the Arsenale and Giardini exhibition grounds and even to revisit Arsenale for the exhibition I did not manage to see before - South Africa. However, I did not see the number of different themed galleries at Giardini that showcased so many more artists, I simply did not have time for it.
Today I have 8 national exhibitions to talk about:
The Pavilion of Russia
Artist(s): Grisha Bruskin, Recycle Group, Sasha Pirogova
Curator(s): Semyon Mikhailovsky
Title: Theatrum Orbis
You might notice, judging by the amount of photos and how much I wrote in the journal, I was taken away by the Russian exhibition. I have to honest, I am very biased towards Russia and its politics, I was determined to dislike their exhibition with all my heart but it did not quite work out that way. Perhaps, because I was so opposed, the content and concept struck me even more than if I had gone in without prejudices. The Russian pavilion is laid out on two floors, the top one contained the work by Grisha Bruskin. The lower level shared works by the Recycle Group and Sasha Pirogova. Bruskin had created a sort of game for the entire upper floor. A game on power that represented social control of the masses. This part of the exhibition featured recurring theme of army of little charging men and dystopian landscapes. Interconnections of social, economic, cultural and many other worlds were shown in the objects with text on them. The big oppressor that was standing on top of the crowd of people or posed as the monster to be killed looked a lot like a two-headed griffin many European countries have in their coat of arms. Clearly, the artist makes a commentary on modern world leaders and injustices of social world.
The next part of exhibition by Recycle Group incorporated heavily the Dante's 9th circle of Hell. People appear to condemned by their actions online and the degree of their deviance in this virtual world. And the last video is the final piece. It is a video work based on idea that the social justice will happen only by the power of people themselves, not a miracle magic solution or "the light at the end of the tunnel." A clear observation that people are capable of taking back their privacy, enforce social justice and achieve many other things. Hope.
The Pavilion of Japan
Artist(s): Takahiro Iwasaki
Curator(s): Meruro Washida
Title: Turned Upside Down, It's a Forest
I loved Japan's work. Like Andorra's artists, Iwasaki seems to elicit tranquility and peace out of people. There is no actual nature in the gallery, it is quite bare and minimal, in fact. But the implication is there. You can see the water reflection in his intricate wood structures, which are a perfect mirrored view. They float in the air and has the gallery workers constantly chasing the viewers away because they are standing too close. I will not deny, I wanted to stick my nose so close to see if the inside of these beautiful wood works are just as well developed and done as the outside. The pile of clothing on the floor is created to resemble mountains and threads from this clothing is creating cranes, electricity towers, Ferris wheels and other structures right there on the "mountain." The back hole is actually a hole in the gallery floor and people can stick their head in from the outside and view the exhibition upside down. Other, more delicate works, made out of thread are mostly symbols of industrial growth and energy. It references the need to rebuild cities like Hiroshima, that is the hometown of Iwasaki, and expansion of industry in Japan. The energy in form of oil is consumed in Japan. These scenes of absolute beauty and serenity are placed next to scenes of "building block" and symbols of oil industry, that we know help to expand out cities and industries fast, but destroy places we can get away from that as well. There is certain tension between the new and modern growth and the old ways of living and culture.
The Pavilion of Germany
Artist(s): Anne Imhof
Curator(s): Susanne Pfeffer
Title: Anne Imhof - "Faust"
The upcoming German artist is raising fast in the art world. Discussions about what she will show at the Biennale were going on well before the event even started. And it was not disappointing. Anne Imhof won the 57th Venice Biennale Golden Lion Award for the best national pavilion. Needless to say, I was anxious to see it for myself. I remember when I saw it from a distance for the first time, I saw dogs outside in a cage. I though, those are cute puppies! I will visit them later. I thought that someone had brought them along. Silly me, I did not realize they were just a hint at what will be happening inside. The Anne Imhof exhibition is a performance piece set in installation. The floor in German pavilion is raised and made entirely out of glass, there are two side rooms that are set up in a way that a viewing are in a zoo would be. There are no videos longer than 10 seconds, or large photo cameras allowed. The room was filled with people, about 100 of them. To get inside, you have to wait in a long line. I took some photos with my phone so the quality is not great but I felt somehow wrong doing it. The performers that are there, beneath the glass all day long, mostly interact with each other, or stay by themselves. However, there are moments when they turn their gaze on the people standing above them. It is an extremely uncanny and strange feeling. By this simple action they make everyone around uncomfortable. This reminded me of a version of "The couple in the cage" performance. Only the subject matter seemed to revolve more around the institution and the state. The glass ceiling as if the pavilion was center of financial power. It is about control of social bodies, using them as commodity, an object, a quick gratification, or to offer them up for someone else to use and abuse. It is about consumption and destruction of bodies in a capitalist world. Only now the viewer is the one above the glass ceiling, the one with power to exploit. And many do just that. They are taking photos constantly, posing next to these commodified bodies underneath the glass for their own pleasure alone. The visitor unknowingly becomes a participant in the performance by performing the actions any tourist does.
The Pavilion of Australia
Artist(s): Tracey Moffatt
Curator(s): Natalie King
Title: My Horizon
Moffatt's work seems to be revolving around change, which she explores in many eras and many ways. The oldest one being the video, Moffatt claims was made by indigenous people in Australia in 1788. The video is of Sydney Harbor, a place where the settlers came to establish what is now Australia. The video starts out slow but becomes violently interrupted by decay of the film strip. In a way it resembles what happened to the indigenous people in Australia. It was peaceful and then suddenly turned into something violent and ugly very fast.
Other works are referencing eras closer to modern age. Set in about mid-20th century two photographic series contain images of people in transition, by ship, by train, on streets, etc. and a lone housemaid that returns to an abandoned house, which also signifies transition and change. Disappearance of something. The last art work was a short video that combined scenes from popular culture and current political situation of refugees. It was like making fun of the "white folks"that seem to be terrified of refugees coming to their countries and seeking protection. Another transition that is still happening. Moffatt is examining these points of change throughout time.
Another reason she caught my attention is the quality of her work both in video and in print.
The Pavilion of USA
Artist(s): Mark Bradford
Curator(s): Christopher Bedford and Katy Siegel
Title: Tomorrow is Another Day
This more an update of the latest work produced by Bradford. I like his work and his method of working. Like my little journal entry says, this exhibition is about the individuals and their journey from slave ships to modern day marginalization. The journey through 5 rooms starts with the very imposing construction that takes up almost the entire room, it is the bottom of a slave ship (Bradford made it in LA based on precise measurements of the room, the work was later shipped and installed in the room in Venice). The enormity of it imposes on our personal space, making us bed and lean to get past it just like navigate the history of slavery, often desperately trying to avoid it with little success. It is the elephant in the room, in this case. We cannot just avoid it but we have to acknowledge it. The journey continues in many abstract forms that express notions of colour, emotions and sorrow. The very last piece is a video installation showing a young black man on streets of America. An image with connotation that does not require an explanation.
The Pavilion of Israel
Artist(s): Gal Weinstein
Curator(s): Tami Katz-Freiman
Title: Sun Stand Still
This is the second national pavilion that I see using mold as their medium. "Sun Stand Still" is about people wanting to stop time and staying in one moment. Everything in the gallery testifies to that, the landscapes and frozen missile in its path to space. This gallery space is the leftovers of civilization. The artist has included a secondary meaning that comes from his perspective and it is the melancholic story of Israel - the moments of creation and destruction. Many nations romanticize the notion of stopping time but to me one thing is clear. The end of movement forward means certain death. Weinstein created a world that has obviously been frozen in moment, however, without the forward movement the nature and even the world dies. The entire installation is a living uncontrollable being - mold growing on the floors, walls and on the sculptural constructions in the gallery. The process of dying while frozen in moment.
The Pavilion of Egypt
Artist(s): Moataz Mohamed Nasr Eldin
Curator(s): Ministero della Cultura
Title: THE MOUNTAIN
The Pavilion of South Africa
Artist(s): Candice Breitz and Mohau Modisakeng
Curator(s): Lucy MacGarry and Musha Neluheni
Title: Candice Breitz and Mohau Modisakeng
The exhibition was set up in a way that made the visitor first see the videos of famous Hollywood actors. Julianne Moor and Alec Baldwin were "performing" the stories told by refugees. However, they did not read them in some sort of exaggerated way. It was like they were the refugees speaking, just with a different face. And that is the key to this part of exhibition. The change of face. We all know that if something happened to one of these actors, we would hear about it in the news and even grieve about their loss or problems they go through but where is this compassion when we start the conversation about refugees.? There are lot of misconceptions about who are refugees and why they are leaving their countries. This change of roles is uncomfortable for the viewer because they are forced to realize what they would do for these actors and how little they would do for a refugee. This begs the question...Is it all in just the skin colour? Or are people in Western Cultures so uneducated and prejudice that they are scared of other cultures? In the next room, people can get to know these refugees, whose stories were told before. In these videos they themselves appear to tell their story. How did your feelings change toward them now?
The second artist’s video installation show different characters reacting in their own way to despair, emotions and fight/giving up to the slavery. The Passage not only references the actual passage and transfer of slaves but also the continuous loss of personal histories. Slowly they are submerged and disappear completely. The refugee crises in a way resembles the devastation of slavery when it comes to loss of identity and personal history in the sea of so many others that suffer.
