A Biennale
to rethink reality
W
hen art raises questions about the causes
and effects of modernity, like in the 58th
Biennale by American curator Ralph Rugoff,
titled May You Live In Interesting Times, the
message to humanity is to be responsibly aware
of living complex transformations as they occur,
which are not to be feared, but to be
understood.
With a sociological, epistemological angle,
this Biennale reflects our confusing times and
confronts issues in a didactic and compilatory
way; apocalyptic yet integrated. The artworks
require some time from the viewer to reflect,
as they are opposed to excessive simplification.
Between the Arsenal and the Gardens, several
styles of contemporary art unthread, with
artworks open to wide-ranging and ambivalent
interpretations. From the monumental
emergences and changes in the “liquid
modernity” of post globalization, diversity,
polymorphism, and a distrust of variation are
banned, all under the banner of a manifold
that cannot be reduced to a single entity:
this could be a key to understanding
the 58th Biennale.
Women take precedence for the first time in
both locations and, luckily, the performance
programme is not so overwhelming this year, as
it was in 2017. All the artists created pieces that
reflect their view of the world, amplifying what
we already know, that we are vulnerable and
in danger, using poetry and individual styles
aimed at understanding changes in humanity.
A cynical vision of art prevails between the
Arsenal and the Gardens, almost like the fake
news of reality where truth and a
transfiguration of facts mix. These artworks
search for the reasons behind the complexity
of the present, in which catastrophy and hope,
rational pessimism and optimism, willingly
co-exist and seek to excavate a sense of
meaning out of the world.
Unfortunately, only two Italian women were
chosen by Rugoff: Lara Favaretto and Ludovica
Carbotta. There are many videos focused on
social injustices, some are tiring, others
mind-blowing such as Dream Journal 2016-2019
Sopra / Above
Installazione di / Installation
by Alexander Shishkin-Hokusai
Padiglione Russia / Russia Pavilion, Giardini
Sotto / Below
Lo scheletro di Robert Henry Lawrence Jr
realizzato da Tavares Strachan /
The skeleton of Robert Henry Lawrence Jr
made by Tavares Strachan, Arsenale
28
LUCE 329 / SPECIALE 58. BIENNALE INTERNAZIONALE D’ARTE A VENEZIA
by Jon Rafman, an animated video depicting
a dystopian future. A virtual urban space, both
technological and noir, populated by strange
hybrid creatures, in which the blend between
reality and fantasy generates a feeling of
discomfort. Curated by Milovan Farronato,
the Italian pavilion, Neither Nor, is far from
dazzling. We could have done better; far too
vague, metaphysical. The labyrinth idea was
a good one, but the implementation by the
curator of the fluctuating thought disorientates
the viewer who struggles to recognise the
artworks embedded within the cumbersome
expository path taken by the chosen artists:
Liliana Moro, Enrico David and Chiara Fumai.
The artworks are surprising at some points,
and boring at others. The visitor metaphorically
walks through the labyrinth of contemporary
art, between mirrored walls in which
a distorted version of the world is amplified,
like in Alice and Wonderland, hanging between
enigma and metaphysical reality.
The Belgian pavilion deserves an applause for
Mondo Cane (Dog World), by artists Harald Thys
and Jos de Gruyter; helpless and self-propelled
puppets of society locked in a cage, capable
of enacting a tragicomic humanity, closely
resembling the “new monsters” of the present.
With Swinguerra by Wagner & de Burca,
the Brazilian pavilion is worth seeing; a popular
rhythm of Brazilian dance fused with war in
a video where young dancers flail, expressing
social, racial and gender-related tensions. The
surreal French pavilion surely deserved a prize
with its “tentacular” video by Laure Prouvost.
Ultimately, the Golden Lion was awarded
to Lithuania for best national contribution, with
the performative piece Sun & Sea, by artists
Lina Lapelyte, Vaiva Grainyte and Rugile
Barzdziukaite, in which people of all ages
sunbath on a beach.
To us castaway spectators within the pavilions,
hopelessly immersed in oscillating visions
between Fellini, Schopenhauer and
Baudrillard’s simulacra, where mutative
and automated humanity is under focus,
the horizon of change blurs.
“L’aspetto più importante di una mostra
non è ciò che accade all’interno dello spazio
espositivo, bensì il modo in cui il pubblico
utilizza l’esperienza in un secondo momento,
per ripensare le realtà quotidiane
da prospettive ampliate”
“What is most important about an exhibition
is not what it puts on display, but how audiences
can use their experience of the exhibition
afterwards, to confront everyday
realities from expanded viewpoints”
RALPH RUGOFF