As the city steadily sinks into the surrounding canals, and gondolas wistfully float by in the dazzling Mediterranean sun, a highly prestigious international arts exhibition, the Venice Biennale, opened yesterday and will run through Nov. 4. Taiwan has added a national pavilion to the show, but the main interest for many art lovers is in the Aperto, an "open" show that does not have any nationalist axe to grind.
On with the show
The Venice Biennale was founded in 1895, approximately the same time as the Olympic Games (1896). This was not a coincidence, as the establishment of both events was based on the belief that arts and sports transcended national borders and could serve as an alternative to imperialistic competition between Western nations.
Considered to be the "madre" of the art biennale, the Venice Biennale has inspired over 50 worldwide biennales including Kwangju, Taipei, Istanbul, Berlin, Dakar and Johannesburg. The event was designated an event of national importance in 1998 by the Italian Parliament for its role in promoting culture.
This year's Venice Biennale continues to be driven by the desire to break down barriers between regions and people by giving voice to previously ignored or marginalized groups.
The exhibition is divided into two sections: national pavilions and the Aperto.
Approximately 40 countries (mostly developed Western nations) have their own permanent pavilions scattered through the Giardini Pubblici (public gardens). The art chosen for the national pavilions is mainly chosen by government committees, and the criteria for choosing the art in most cases has little to do with aesthetic issues.
The Aperto features younger artists, and through the juxtaposition of these exhibitions, the Venice Biennale seeks dialogue and debate about what is national art and what is international art. The Aperto features works selected by Harald Szeemann, this year's director of the Venice Biennale, and includes artists from the often overlooked areas of Africa, Latin America and Scandinavia. Much of the Aperto exhibition takes place in the Arsenale, but there are many works displayed in unexpected places as well.
Linked humanity
Plateau of Humankind is the theme for this year's Aperto. It is Szeemann's belief that human cultures are like high plateaus separated by deep valleys. For him, the Aperto functions as a shared elevated space that offers a total view of humanity. This idea is expressed in an exhibit called the Plateau of Thought, in which a group of sculptures, with Rodin's The Thinker as the focal point, are displayed amid a collection of Buddhist and African, Indian tantric ritual objects on a platform.
According to Szeemann, artists now tend to appeal to what is eternal in humanity rather than focusing on their individual identities. Because of this, certain shared themes are apparent in this show, themes such as colonization, urbanism, human suffering, the beauty of life and the low social status of the artist.
Thematic variety
In addition to the visual arts, the Venice Biennale includes cinema, poetry, dance, music, and theater to create a "total art." Well-known filmmakers Atom Egoyan and Chantal Akerman are showing their work in the context of the art exhibition because they believe that much of today's contemporary art is cinematic. While there are many good film and video works on show, the sheer volume of footage means that there is also an overabundance of mediocre video and film work, creating the impression that audio-visual art is a lazy man's form of art.
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