{"id":5573,"date":"2019-10-13T01:47:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-12T23:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wakapedia.it\/?p=5573"},"modified":"2019-10-15T00:34:19","modified_gmt":"2019-10-14T22:34:19","slug":"biennale-arte-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakapedia.it\/en\/biennale-arte-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Biennale Arte 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Tour at the Venice Biennale with Swatch, main sponsor 2019\u00a0–\u00a0The four most exciting pavilions of this 58th edition!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This year with the Wakapedia team we had the opportunity to visit the\u00a0The 58th International Art<\/em> Exhibition, Venice Biennale<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0twice!<\/p>\n

In May<\/strong> we focused on the off circuit and we talked about an art and design exhibition that particularly fascinated us at Ca ‘D’Oro<\/strong> (the article on Dysfunctional HERE<\/a>), and in September<\/strong> we returned at the invitation of Swatch Italia<\/strong>, the main sponsor of this 58<\/strong>th edition of the Biennale<\/strong>, to enjoy the national pavilions more carefully. But you may be wondering: why is Swatch<\/strong><\/a>, the Swiss watch brand, sponsoring the most important international contemporary art exhibition?<\/p>\n

Since its inception in 1983<\/strong>, Swatch<\/strong> has “flirted” with the art world, collaborating with numerous artists to create unique models and original graphics. In 2010<\/strong> this desire of the brand to support contemporary artistic creation advanced to the next level when it opened the Swatch Art Peace Hotel<\/strong>, which is an artistic residence in the heart of Shanghai<\/strong>; artists from all over the world and from all disciplines are welcomed between 3<\/strong> and 6<\/strong> months to conceive a work of art, individual or collective, which will then enter the Swatch<\/strong> art collection and can be presented in exhibitions around the world.<\/p>\n

Swatch has a space dedicated to the Venice Biennale<\/strong>, where it exhibits the works – very colorful and super Pop – of some artists who lived at the Art Peace Hotel<\/strong>. Really a good initiative that, let’s face it, made us want to send a Wakapedia candidacy to Swatch<\/strong> … surely, we’ll do it one day!!<\/p>\n

But let’s talk about the Biennale<\/strong> again. If you have not yet visited this 58th edition, edited by the English Ralph Rugoff<\/strong>, you have \u00a0until November 24<\/strong>th.<\/p>\n

The exhibition is divided between the Central Pavilion<\/strong> at the Giardini<\/strong> and the Arsenale which includes 79<\/strong> participants from all over the world this year. The title of this edition is May You Live in Interesting Times<\/strong><\/a>, a somewhat enigmatic expression that can have multiple levels of reading: on the one hand, it refers to an expression of the English language long erroneously attributed to an ancient Chinese saying. This interpretation reveals one of the fil rouge of the edition, namely the impact of fake news and over-information in our lives. On the other hand, the phrase sounds like a threat rather than a wish where “interesting times” are to be understood as turbulent periods of uncertainty and crisis – economic, migratory and climatic crises – such as those we are experiencing.<\/strong> Let’s face it, the theme is not one of the most popular, and as you walk through the different pavilions you can perceive a rather serious atmosphere in which the proposed works induce the spectators to reflect on the contradictions and the drift of the current society.<\/p>\n

That said, the Biennale<\/strong> is always a stimulating experience and there are many pavilions that have intrigued us. Four in particular really impressed us, leaving us with a vivid memory of emotion, amazement or disturbance.<\/p>\n

So here is our very personal Wakapedia top 4 of the pavilions that excited us the most!<\/strong>(Warning: Do not put your heels on during the biennial visit because you will walk as if there were no tomorrow!)<\/p>\n

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1. The emotion of a choir on the beach – Lithuanian Pavilion<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The pavilion that moved us the most was undoubtedly the one in Lithuania<\/strong> and we should not be the only ones to think that since it was the winner of the Golden Lion<\/strong> for the best national participation! The work presented is Sun & Sea<\/strong> by the artists Lina Lapelyte<\/strong>, Vaiva Grainyte<\/strong> and Rugile Barzd\u017eiukait\u0117<\/strong>. It is a fake beach, set up on the ground floor of a warehouse near the Arsenale<\/strong>, where twice a week there is an 8-hour performance that the public can see from the upper floor. Figures move on the beach like normal bathers: they play, sunbathe, take a siesta … But unlike a real beach, here in the background there are contemporary opera music on which the figurants (who we all discover are professionals \u00a0singers) sing their stories. The result is an extremely exciting choral portrait.<\/p>\n

\"\"On the day of our visit, thanks to Swatch<\/strong>, we had the incredibly good fortune to meet one of the artists at the origin of this colossal work: the director Rugile Barzd\u017eiukait\u0117<\/strong>. Gentle look, big smile, Rugile invites us to sit in a quiet space behind the pavilion, where two sun loungers and an umbrella turned upside down looked like an extension of the fictitious beach we had just seen in her work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rugile tells us that she is in Venice<\/strong> with her son, a 7<\/strong>-year-old boy who participates in the performance on the beach, singing with the figurants, playing racket and having fun as if he were really on vacation. And he got so used to it here that when he goes to a normal beach, he asks her “Mom, why don’t people sing?”<\/p>\n

Rugile then explains the genesis of the project: “With Lina Lapelyte (composer and artist) and Vaiva Grainyte (writer and poet) we said that we wanted to do another work together after the great success of Have a good day, a theatrical performance on an international tour already a few years ago,<\/strong> we had a brainstorming and the initial idea was to create a performance that explored the theme of the human body, with its flaws, its weaknesses and its mortality, so we chose the beach because it is the place par excellence where the body is exposed with all its fragility, we then set about working on the lyrics of the songs, the choice of music and we decided to integrate a reflection on climate change and the ecological crisis to the performance, a another issue we have at heart, but we wanted to do it subtly and almost imperceptibly “<\/strong>(it is found for example in the sound of a plastic bag shaken by the wind that is heard in the background music, ed).<\/p>\n

When we asked if they expected to win, Rugile shakes her head smiling: “We didn’t really think about winning, there was so much to do that we didn’t have the time. Being chosen to represent our country was already a victory for us, but when they announced that we had won the Golden Lion<\/strong> we were overwhelmed with emotion! “.<\/p>\n

An emotion as intense as that experienced when attending this performance of 13 voices which is performed every Wednesday and Saturday, from 10 am to 6 pm. A truly unique experience, not to be missed!<\/strong><\/p>\n