The weather has been very temperamental in Venice and some parts of the Giardini risked of causing mud incidents à la Glastonbury, yet it was worth risking mud, rain, and minor throat infections to see the 55th International Art Exhibition.
Directed by Massimiliano Gioni the event is truly "Encyclopedic": the main theme of the Biennale was borrowed from Marino Auriti's Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace), an imaginary museum that was meant to house all worldly knowledge and to be built in Washington D.C.
Italian-American self-taught artist Auriti filed a design with the US Patent Office in 1955 depicting his palace and created a model of the 136-story building that never was and that became the symbol of this year's Biennale.
Every corner of the Arsenale and the Giardini has been filled with artworks and installations, but you will also find art all around you: one of the most photographed locations for visitors and tourists in the next few months will definitely be Marc Quinn's Alison Lapper Pregnant on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.
The only negative aspect of this year's Biennale is the fact that there is too much to see and walking around for an entire day, you may get the impression of having opened too many windows in your Internet browser and of risking a mental crash (this is probably the first Biennale I've ever been to that should have been accompanied by the warning "Beware of Art Fatigue").
We will try to analyse some of the best things around in the next few weeks and months. In the meantime here are the awards: as announced Maria Lassnig and Marisa Merz were the recipients of the Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement.
Golden Lion for Best National Participation went to Angola with the motivation “for the curators and artist who together reflect on the irreconcilability and complexity of site”; Golden Lion for the best artist to Tino Sehgal, "for the excellence and innovation that his practice has brought opening the field of artistic disciplines"; Silver Lion for a promising young artist to Camille Henrot "for contributing a new work that in a sensuous and dynamic manner is able to capture our times.
Special artist mentions went to Sharon Hayes "for making us re-think the importance of alterity and the complexity of the interplay between the personal and public" and Roberto Cuoghi "for the significant and compelling contribution to the International Exhibition". Special mentions for national participations went to Cyprus and Lithuania "for an original curatorial format that brings together two countries in a singular experience", and to Japan "for the poignant reflection on issues of collaboration and failure".
Giving an award at art events is never easy and quite often as a spectator you end up not agreeing with the decisions of juries or art critics, after all, art touches each of us in different ways.
Yet readers of this site who like art, architecture and 3D printing will definitely agree with one of the special mentions: Roberto Cuoghi's "Belinda", a large-scale sculpture that looks a bit like an alien formation or a microbial life form carved out of rock, was actually produced using a state of the art 3D printer. The structure was later on coated in stone dust that created the quite interesting textures you see in the pictures in this post. 3D printed works of art have already appeared at various exhibitions, but they never received any acknowledgment from a proper art jury, so this "special mention" sets a precedent and implicitly opens up new possibilities to other artists working with this medium.
I would like to add two further personal special mentions: Best Gadget should go to (drum roll and forget the usual tote bag...)...the bright orange flexi disc supplied by the Polish Pavilion that presented the powerful and deafening sound installation "Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More" by Konrad Smolenski; Best Unofficial Performance should instead go to Eva and Adele.
The German duo quietly walked around the pavilions turning the visitors, journalists, art critics and gallerists into parts of their own personal world. So a mention goes out to them for making an effort with their looks (Vogue Italia's editor in her bland beige trenchcoat was nothing compared...), braving the weather and managing to stay mud and dust free. Well done. (Trivia for their fans: as Adele explained me, no, they don't sew their outfits by themselves since they can't sew).
The Venice Art Biennale is on until 24th November 2013.
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