Venice felt like it was just where I left it -
returning again for the Biennale and 3 intense days of 'art looking' the
anticipation is huge but this year was one of the best in terms of the work.
The heat meant lots of stops for reflection and refreshment which makes it a
richer experience. The Pavilions were strong with some real standouts - Latvia,
Australia, Nordic, Poland and Japan will stay with me for a long time. The curated
show in the Arsenale was stunning - I felt held by the thinking behind the
works, wonderful links were made between the incredible artworks all presented within
a wooden structure that allowed for space and showed the work off really well.
a quick review of it all starting with the national pavilions ........Swiss -
film backwards is always good - Venezuela - Facebook masks - Russia -
mechanical son - Japan - ethereal mystic egg - Korea- dancers out of place -
German - constructed rocks - Canada - Inuit issues - England- artschool
meaningful tropes - France - trippy boho - check/Slovak - old school geometry-
Uruguay - scattered moments - Australia - power behind and in front - Nordic-
organic digital - Denmark - sci-fi death - America - tasteful americana -
Hungary photographing imagined cameras - Israel - medicalisation of abuse -
Brazil - dance dance dance - Austria - old fashioned porno - Serbia - 1982
again - Egypt - I once saw a picture of Egyptian stuff so I made some stuff -
Poland - total mind fuck - Romania - unfinished who cares - Greece - what - Holland
- measuring sticks - Finland - growing simplicity - Belgium - mechanical folk
weirdness - Spain - unseen spaces between - Lithuania- sublime beach opera -
Albania - sci-fi chrome dystopia - Antigua - carnival explained - Azerbaijan -
truth lies - Bosnia - possible possibilities - China - water and disturbing
morf - Croatia - beautiful background images of desolation - Georgia - taps
water and meaningless bathrooms - India - Gandhi is important - Ireland - some
materials - Italy - annoying maze - Kosovo - incredible stories told incredibly
- Latvia - colourful materials - Luxembourg - a wall of wet books - Madagascar
- tissue layers like mountains - Peru - uncomfortable images of lady bugs -
Philippines - standing on glass for Instagram - Wales - disparate objects still
disparate - Saudi Arabia - lots and lots and lots of seed pods - Singapore -
stunning folded graphic scores for recorders - Slovenia - military tracking -
Ukraine - wonderful shadow idea - UAE - a narrative can have 2 sides - Hong
Kong - delicate balanced craft - Zimbabwe - yet more disagreements - Individual
artists who had work in the Arsenale and stood out included the war film of Christian Marclay - Tavares Stachan’s neon skeleton - I saw
Ed Atkins at Cabinet last year but
it was good to revisit - Liu Wei’s
shaking windows of protest - the slow comic burn of Alex Da Corte and his disturbing videos - the data overload of Ryoki Ikeda - the sad disturbing walls
of Rula Halawani - gorgeous calm
dancing weaves of Suki Seokyeong Kang
- Christine and Margaret Wertheim’s
crochet coral - Jon Rafmans
disturbing dystopia vision of something or someplace - the quiet rebellious
work of Frida Orupabo - liminal
power abused by the military exposed by Lawrence
Abu Hamadan - the extraordinary commentary of a black experience through BLKNEWS
by Kahlil Joseph, the staged
photography of Stan Douglas - the
whipping chair and blood machine of Sun
Yuan & Peng Yu - playful Tarek
Atoui playing ceramics - Collateral Events included The Death of James Lee
Byars - lots of gold leaf - Future Generation Art Prize, which had the mind and
body twisted work by Jakob Steensen,
quite possibly the most disorientating VR I’ve experienced - FutuaRoma had a stunningly
thoughtful animation and free wild seeds - the oppressive 3x3x6 looked at
ownership of data - Living Rocks was an incredibly precise 20m projection, From
image to shape presented the intriguing Arte povera work of Pino Pascali and ending the 'art
looking' at the glorious Punta Della Dogana for the superbly curated Luogo e
Segni show of very special work in a very special space - I just love the
concrete of Tao Dao so - until
2021 - already looking forward to it.
