The 52nd Venice Biennial Surpasses Itself!
In it's 52nd year, it is safe to say the Venice Biennial has been thinking big. With 76 countries participating, 102 artists and record attendance, this year's incarnation of the event is its most impressive yet. It is a biennial to catch the attention, by turns political, flirting with the tragic and ironic. It offers a view of contemporary art never so well integrated with the times. Perceptive, or wilfully provocative, the art scene is truly alive and kicking!
Robert Storr: An American in Venice
2007 will go down in the annals as the year for firsts. The very first American director of the event, Robert Storr, has invited a number of new countries. Along with Turkey, Lebanon and Mexico, there are Eastern European and Central Asian countries. Never before has the Biennial been so truly representational. Africa's artists leave tradition out of their message as they exhibit their work in a pavilion adorned with a mocking sign that says “What do you do with African Art?”. As a sign of the times, on 10 June, the Lion d'Or was awarded to the 70 year old Malian photographer, Malick Sidibé, for his stunning images of daily life in Bamako. Over and above its reinvigoration, this year's Biennial, with its expansive selection of work in terms of quantity and expression, seems to have settled on a commentary on violence. War, fear and biting irony are order of the day. In general, the tone could not be more bleak. Art, it seems, is a window on our souls.
Think with your senses, feel with your spirit - Art in our Times
This year's theme is wide open to interpretation. On one side there are spectacular and striking works, such as Leon Ferrari's Christ crucified on an American bomber, or Paolo Canevari's film of a child playing football with a skull outside his Belgrade home bombed by NATO. One cannot help but note the call to interact with the works. Whether it be to play at darts, wend your way around a maze of mirrors and glass or take away the candies and giant posters of Gonzales-Torres, the spectator is implicated in the action. And it works - a proof that anything playful or demanding participation will be a hit. For instance, the work of Sophie Calle who asks 107 women to interpret the break-up letter she received strikes a chord, as well as the fun skit on a U.S. presidential candidature performed by Sharon Stone and BHL. Whether pointed criticism or merely trivial, whether collaborative or naïve, the 52nd Venice Biennial is without doubt coherent in its tone.
Eliane Decriem
Novembre 2007
