Day NINE: All over Venice

Day NINE-Saturday: All over Venice

Sunshine and clear skies greeted us as we grabbed our complimentary breakfast and hopped
the water taxi for our first tour of the day, The Doges Palace. The Gothic Palace is a "must see" when in Venice but every time I had been here before, the lines were so long it was impossible to get in. Go-Ahead Tours planned well and since we were early and on a pre-arranged tour we walked right in! For centuries the palace had three roles: the Doge residence (the supreme leader of Venice), the seat of government, and the palace of justice. When it was first built in the 9th century it served more like a fortress with its four sighting towers and imposing walls. It burned down more than a few times, and it was restructured in the 14th century and this is when many of the gorgeous frescoes were installed.

I'm glad I'm not married to this guy!

The line in front of the Basilica di San Marco was way too long, and believe it or not it was getting really hot outside, so we took a pass and began wandering inside and out the narrow maze of walkways that wind you through Venice. We found some wonderful little stores, a pizza parlor, and among other places a large H&M and American Apparel store! We took a pause and had a coffee in the Plaza San Marco.

Kissing on the Rialto Bridge

Then, it was off on a Gondola ride - Bill instructed the gondolier, "Only the best for my wife and son!" and we took the one hour ride all over Venice. It was so beautiful ...but I will say Willie and I both had a hard time not leaning over and picking up the occasional plastic bottle or trash that drifted by.

This gigantic purple lady is a piece of art installed as a part of the 55th La Biennale art exhibition.

More on this later..

By around 3pm we were all tired, so Bill and Willie caught a water taxi and headed back to our hotel on Lido Island. I had expressed interest in attending the 55th "La Biennale di Venezia" and the boys were like, "Go Forth!" so off I went on a water taxi in a different direction. I had read about "La Biennale", a major contemporary art exhibition which takes place once every two years (in odd years) in Venice, Italy. It was started in 1895, and today attracts over 370,000 visitors. I was excited to just happen to be in the city when it was on!

There are two principal locations for the 55th Biennale (as well as many pieces of "public art" sprinkled about the city): One is in Giardini Park and the other is staged nearby in the Arsenale. I had to pick one site since I had limited time, so I chose to go to Giardini Park.

In Giardini Park there is a permanent large exhibition hall - The Central Pavillion - which houses a themed exhibition designed by a specific curator - the 55th Biennale's curator is Massimiliano Gioni. He designed the exhibition and selected the pieces of art to display under the theme of: What is the artist's world? .

OK it's a confusing, as contemporary art usually is, but I'm quoting him when he says, "This is an exhibition about knowledge - and more specifically about the desire to see and know everything, and the point at which this impulse becomes defined by obsession and paranoia. It blurs the line between professional artists and amateurs, insiders and outsiders. It illustrates the transformative power of the imagination and alternative worlds. It asks questions such as "What is the artist's world" ... dream and reality, obsessions, aspirations, motive.

OK that's the best you are going to get from me!

In addition to The Central Pavilion, Giardini Park also houses 29 permanent much smaller pavilions spread around the park. Each of these buildings contain some form of art selected for the Biennale by a curator from an individual country - following the same overall theme. So, there are 29 countries represented and now, since there are more countries who want to participate but don't have a pavilion built yet, the newer entries are exhibited in other venues around the city. Recent countries who have decided to be a part of "La Biennale" are China (2005), Africa and Mexico (2007) and United Arab Emirates (2009), and India (2011).

I was lucky enough to happen to show up when an English language tour was beginning, so I tagged along as the tour guide tried to explain what some of the art in The Central Pavilion was all about.
I say "tried", as trying to talk about contemporary art can really difficult...a lot of time the piece makes no sense, and you think "What makes THIS art?" An example of this was
the piece (although it's not a piece) by the British-German artist Tino Sehgal. He was born in 1976 and
he calls his works "constructed situations". I read his biography and his work has been purchased in all the major museums, and in fact he was just awarded the "Golden Lion" for the best artist in the whole show...but what I saw were 2 people making weird sounds in the middle of the room, moving around on the floor like they were in a trance. I will say, they attracted quite a crowd of people observing their contortions and occasional gutteral sounds. Here is what Tino Sehgal is all about:

What all of Sehgal's works have in common is that they reside only in the space and time they occupy, and in the memory of the work and its reception. The artist himself describes his works as 'constructed situations', whose materials are the human voice, language, movement, and interaction, without the production of physical objects. His pieces are choreographies that are regularly staged in museums or galleries, and continuously executed by trained individual — Sehgal refers to them as “interpreters” — for the entire duration of a show. The reaction or even participation of the spectator gives the possibility for the work to actually happen. The artwork is the constructed situation which arises between the audience and the interpreters of the piece. Afterwards, the work of art will exist only in the world of experience and memory of those who directly experienced it. Sehgal's work can be neither photographed nor illustrated; no documentation or reproduction is allowed, in order to focus all the attention on the physical evidence. For his choreographies, Sehgal regularly auditions men and women of all ages, including actors, dancers, professional singers, and ordinary people with different backgrounds. The people who are selected to interpret his work are then camouflaged among the guards and the visitors.

I bought the gigantic book that explains all the different art installations in case anyone is interested in taking a look at it when I get home. At this point I'll just share some of the art I found interesting: