Venice 2022 - the Milk of Dreams!

This was my first Venice Biennale – although I had studied this biennale as the genesis of what has become an explosion of art biennales worldwide, Venice was the first to invite contemporary artists to represent their countries of origin by pavilion in 1896. I spent my first day at the Arsenale – a large covered warehouse, the old shipyards that date back to 1320. Words cannot describe the joy in my heart as I came upon room after room of the sculpture, fine craft, paintings, mixed-media, new media and a special aural/visual experience of augmented reality sound with laser beams.

I chatted with a number of the “sitters” about the works, I took my time. In the first rooms, I began a conversation with an American woman about the work by 15th century artists around the fetus in the womb that was indescribably detailed, and poetic in its fragility. I moved on – and by the end of the rooms, we met again at the outdoor café. We decided to see the rest of the exhibitions together. Mica is a docent in San Antonio, and it was a lovely bonus to be able to voice my impressions and challenge each other with our opinions, ideas, and reactions.

14K steps later, I hopped on a vaporetto and found my way “home” to my charming and generously large apartment near the Campo della Madelenna, about a 15-minute walk from the train station, 45 minutes from the main Biennale sites – but a stones throw from the Anish Kapoor and many other collateral exhibitions and off-site pavilions. I bought groceries and cooked in the apartment. Day 2, I headed for the Giardini – which is essentially a large theme park of individual national pavilions. I was graced with bright azure skies and the warmth of the early autumn sun my whole trip. I “did” the pavilions first. Happened into some IAC – International Academy of Ceramics colleagues I had met in Geneva and we had a brief lunch together before heading back to our art-filled itineraries.

The Giardini pavilion was impressive, but, for me, not as strong as the Arsenale. It’s hard to mention artists or countries that stood out, but I would have to say the wonder of Belgium’s multi-screened array of children’s games from around the world; the surreal ethereality of Uzbekhistan, the otherworldliness of China, the profound simplicity of Germany (gutted interiors) (shifted on axis), the recognizable candour of Shuveni’s drawings,… I could go on and on.

One worthy of note was the Saami pavilion, for the first time the Nordic countries pavilion was taken over by the Indigenous Saami, and one of the artists had presented at the IAC , Maret Anne Sara, – one whose work centers around hers and her brother’s struggle to stop a federal culling of the reindeer and deforestation that features the actual hides and bones of the reindeer that were killed – the skulls of which are now hanging at the entrance of the new Art Gallery of Oslo in Norway. She presented at the IAC regarding her wearable art, that includes miniature ceramic reindeer skulls which she exhibited as part of the IAC UNESCO exhibition, We Come From the Other Side.” I hope to interview her and write about her practice. Her IAC presentation was a comparison of the Alberta buffalo genocide and deforestation in Canada that parallels the recent injustices and atrocities in Norway.

Day 3 and 4 I wandered on foot in the city, covering over 10K steps before noon – seeing art in and around the original “ghetto” – the word comes from the Medieval word for iron, and references the Jewish quarters from that period where you can still see the town well, and the works of metalsmiths and other artisans/craftspersons in the nearby shops. I met my good friends Alix Davis and David Donald from Toronto after lunch, as they had arrived from France – and we spend a day and a half in each other’s company with an easy itinerary. We “did” the Anish Kapoor, both sites – were awed by the genius of his geometric works and disappointed by his paintings and wax sculptures in blood-stained reds. And we included a visit to Moreno, a tour of the museum and found lunch and dinner that both Alix and I could enjoy (not an easy feet with our restrictions!)