There were high expectations for the 55th edition of the Venice Art Biennial. And this was not only because it is still one of the most important main art events worldwide, but also and above all, because this year the rudder is in the hands of the artstar Massimiliano Gioni, the youngest curator ever called to guide the Biennial. The Encyclopedic Palace is the name chosen to identify the exhibition, which takes inspiration from the building – the scale model is placed at the beginning of the path – projected by Marino Auriti (1891-1980) to contain the utopian digest of the universal knowledge. According to the curator’s point of view, art, in all its forms, is not just for entertainment, but represents a way to understand the world. Thus this show, through its anthropological approach, reflects on the creative boosts of the last two centuries to set people’s imagination free.
Articulated between the “Giardini” and the “Arsenale” this exhibition is a sort of Cabinet de Curiosités, which combines the work of different past and present artists – 150 from 37 countries -, whose interest was/is related to the role of images in sharing and structuring the knowledge. From the displayed pieces we chose the striking video devoted to robotic surgery entitled Da Vinci by Yuri Ancarani (b. 1972, Ravenna, Italy), the room split between the masters Bruce Nauman and Dieter Roth, and the one celebrating the Golden Lionesses Maria Lassnig and Marisa Merz, the works by the new generation of young bigs such as Ed Atkins (b. 1982, Oxford, UK), Neïl Beloufa (b. 1985, Paris, france), Camille Henrot (1978, Paris, France) – Silver Lion for the best promising artist 2013 -, the shocking videos about the teen-aged neurosis by Ryan Trecartin (b. 1981, Webster, texas), the timeless sculptures by the Japanese Shinichi Sawada and the ones by the Swiss duo Peter Fischli and David Weiss, the impressive reconstruction of a Vietnamese church by Danh Vo (b.1975, Vietnam), and the showcase containing the delicate and poetic work by Ivorian artist Frédéric Bruly Bouabré (b. 1923, Zéprégueé), even if the list is undoubtedly lacking numerous of the other names that would deserve to be mentioned.
Mixing painting, photography, installation, sculpture and video along with writing, architecture, psychology, magic and spirituality, Mr. Gioni, who never misses a shot, in a clever and proficient way, put together a show that looks at the history of image all-round, from a collective and individual perspective. So, among the guests of his ‘palace’, even the unconscious and the occultism find their place with the Red Book by C. G. Jung and the tarots by Aleister Crowley and Frieda Harris.
The 55th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia will run until 24th November 2013.
Monica Lombardi
