A trip to Venice is always such a treat but this year it was very special for me.
La Biennale di Venezia is one of the most famous and prestigious art exhibitions in the world, founded in 1895. I first heard about it when I was in school and I put it on my bucket list back then. And this year (it’s the 58th Biennale) I am lucky to check it off and my dream came true!
The title of the exhibition this year is “May you live in interesting times”.
«The title of this Exhibition could be interpreted as a sort of curse – stated President Paolo Baratta – where the expression “interesting times” evokes the idea of challenging or even “menacing” times, but it could also simply be an invitation to always see and consider the course of human events in their complexity, an invitation, thus, that appears to be particularly important in times when, too often, oversimplification seems to prevail, generated by conformism or fear. And I believe that an exhibition of art is worth our attention, first and foremost, if it intends to present us with art and artists as a decisive challenge to all oversimplifying attitudes.»
We do indeed live in challenging times and I saw it reflected in the artworks presented at the exhibition. Some of it I saw as apocalyptic, dark, and desperate, and some as happy, hopeful, and full of light. There are 89 countries who presented their art this year and it was impossible to see it all in one day. But almost everything we saw was thought provoking, challenging the traditions and fashions, and overall, extremely entertaining. I definitely recommend attending this special event if you are in Venice and even making a special stop on your travels.