Drowning in art
Venice faces a deluge of artists for the Biennale
By Pablo Ganguli
If you are hoping for peace and serenity while admiring art, ‘La Serenissima’ may actually not be the best place for you. Every two years, the art world descends on the already crowded tourist hotspot: the palazzos are packed with artists, the gondolas filled with gallerists and the alleys crammed with art lovers. As if Venice itself didn’t offer enough to gape at, for six months the Biennale adds the world’s hottest contemporary art. Each country has its own pavilion in the Giardini area of the city, and vies to show the superiority of their creative talent. The whole thing is quite overwhelming.
Even for an expert. I first met Roger Tatley when he worked as the editor-in-chief of Modern Painters magazine. These days, as the director of communications for the leading art gallery Hauser and Wirth, he attends all the major world art fairs. “The Biennale has a habit of redeeming itself, just when it’s lurching into decadence, claustrophobia, or bloody silliness,” says Tatley, when I ask if he finds the whole thing a bit too much. “The Giardini can seem overwhelmingly vainglorious all morning, then [you'll find a work that] will feel more lucid and lasting than you’d dared expect.”
He adds: “But very little comes close to an afternoon in the San Rocco, an hour in Santa Maria della Salute, or a moment encountering [the painter] Titian. And that’s invariably the best thing about the Venice Biennale. It always happens to be in Venice.”
But this year, the island city, so admired by global travellers, sets its sights on the world. The festival’s director, Daniel Birnbaum, has turned the tables, selecting a theme that pays tribute to ‘art in the age of globalisation’. The title is ‘Making Worlds’.
“A work of art represents a vision of the world and if taken seriously it can be seen as a way of making a world,” Birnbaum explains. “It’s an exhibition driven by the aspiration to explore worlds around us as well as worlds ahead. It is about possible new beginnings.” Highly appropriate in a city that is struggling to find a way to stop itself sinking into the waters that made it flourish in the first place.
Visitors will find themselves surrounded by the official pavillions. Some were put together at the last minute to dazzling effect; others commissioned months in advance. Palazzos have been beautifully converted into private museums and art galleries on almost every corner. Everyone will have their own special highlight.
I ask the London-based art dealer and gallerist Sadie Coles what has caught her eye this year. She recommends Steve McQueen’s work in the British Pavilion. “His film cleverly mirrors the context in which his work is set, the madness of the Giardini in full Biennale swing, and shows a deserted winter Giardini, occupied by dogs, old ladies, insects, piles of garbage, and men cruising, all beautifully shot and accompanied by the sounds of life going on in the nearby streets. For 30 minutes the film forces you to quietly observe and it is unclear whether it is staged or real.”
Coles also recommends the off-site Bruce Nauman installations in the Dorsoduro area of the city. “These were inspiring – the exhibition included video projections, sound pieces, light pieces, sculpture and neons, and the presentation was hugely energising, underscoring the richness of Nauman’s omni-talented output.”
Making the most of the chance, the entrepreneurs who open up these venues to the public inject an additional boost of contemporary art during the already hectic Biennale months. Smaller art galleries have sprung up around the city, backed by private benefactors. One such is The Contini, whose owner Stefano Contini has also launched a couple of other highly regarded galleries in the country. These non-Biennale year-round cultural spaces offer us the chance to explore artwork that can be deeply inspiring or disturbing – but always highly intriguing.
Just as exciting is the monumental statue entitled Boy with a Frog, by the American artist Charles Ray, which has been erected right outside the newly opened Punta della Dogana art museum. French billionaire and art collector François Pinault was selected by the City of Venice to transform the former Venetian Republic Customs House into a new centre for contemporary art. It now serves as a brilliant showcase for his collection.
Pinault commissioned the Japanese architect Tadao Ando to transform Punta della Dogana’s interiors. It would be impossible to miss this building which is literally just over the water from Piazza San Marco. Located right at the centre of the lagoon as you enter it from San Marco basin, you are guaranteed to be drawn to the various temporary high-profile exhibitions, and marvel at Pinault’s gigantic collection.
“The Rudolf Stingel room at the new Punta della Dogana is amazing,” says Coles, picking out the New York conceptual artist she represents. Many in the art world share her sentiment.
Another new art gallery, Museo Vedova, opened in early June, dedicated to the work of the Venetian abstract painter Emilio Vedova. Designed by the world-renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano, the gallery has been constructed in such an unorthodox fashion that the paintings don’t hang – they float. A flying art gallery in a magical city.
Other landmarks in Venice remain as popular as ever. The Accademia has been a major force in the cultural world for hundreds of years. It contains a great collection of masterpieces – mainly Venetian. The art scene was given a facelift by the eccentric American heiress Peggy Guggenheim in the 20th century when her former home, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, was converted into the Peggy Guggenheim collection showing her personal collection of art from the first half of that century.
If you still crave peace and tranquillity, you would do worse than heading to the island of San Clemente. This place has seen it all. Once a lunatic asylum, it was then used as a camp to keep those not yet given permission to step foot in Venice. In the early 19th century San Clemente was a monastery. Today it masters luxury hospitality, a five star hotel with water taxis every 10 minutes taking you to San Marco. For me, escaping each evening from the maelstrom of Venice only to return there the following morning was the highlight of my stay. Veni Vidi Venice. 
The 53rd Venice Biennale continues until 21 November; www.labiennale.org
City of writers
While La Biennale di Venezia has operated since 1895 as a world-class cultural institution, showcasing extraordinary art, film, dance, architecture, theatre and music, it has previously stayed away from literature. But now the University of Venice has launched an international literary event featuring celebrated global authors such as Salman Rushdie, Orhan Pamuk and Elias Khoury. With an annual celebration of letters taken care of, Venice has opened its doors to every possible art form, and millions of mesmerised tourists every year.
