2022 Venice Biennale - The Art Partners View

By Polina Epinatyeva

After an incredibly long two-year pause, one of the most important and exciting art world events has finally returned. Covid-19 might have restricted art lovers to online exhibitions, viewing rooms and auctions, however, art cannot exist without a spectator for too long, it requires real-life interactions and experiences. The 59th Venice Biennale has finally opened its doors on the 23rd of April and hence, initiated a season of breath-taking live art and architecture, also accompanied by theatre, music, and film. This year’s Biennale is for sure not to be missed, it will run for an astonishing period of 7 months (until 27th November 2022), so make sure you book your stay in Italy’s most cultural and atmospheric city. The role of the creative director of the 59th Venice Biennale this year has been assigned to a renowned Italian curator Cecilia Alemani, who is also serving as Director and Chief Curator of High Line Art and has already curated the Italian Pavilion at the Biennale in 2017. Signora Alemani will be the first-ever Italian woman to hold this position and she is making sure that female artists this year are finally getting the recognition they deserve.

In 2022, more than 80% of artists participating in the Biennale are female.

This is revolutionary, not only for the 127-year history of the Venice Biennale but for the art world in general. This year the central theme that runs like a thread through all the pavilions and exhibits is metamorphosis and transformation. To begin with, Cecilia Alemani perceived the theme in a much smaller context, although when the pandemic hit, the topic became much more prominent. Of course, metamorphosis has already been present in artists' lives, with the issues of gender, race, and identity. However, the concept of metamorphosis has never been as closely related to each and everyone’s existence, the general population’s everyday lives. Our bodies change with technology, just like the planet does with climate change, etc. It was necessary to add a more timely and pressing dimension to the topic.

*Alexandra Pirici, ‘Aggregate’ (2017-2019). Image Courtesy of Alexandra Pirici.*

The title of this year’s biennale is the ‘Milk of Dreams’, which is also the title of a children’s book by surrealist artist and novelist Leonora Carrington. In the book, she tells dreamlike tales of hybrid, mutant creatures who seem to terrify young and old alike. Her book describes a completely different, magical world, where everything and everyone can change, where through a prism of imagination life is constantly re-envisioned. The participating artists connect the fictional components of the book with not-so-fictional societal issues, such as technological changes, heightening social tensions, an ongoing pandemic, and threats of environmental disasters. All the artworks this year serve as a reminder that the world doesn’t revolve around us human beings. On the contrary, we are the ones who must adapt and transform to survive in it. The Milk of Dreams includes works by 213 artists from 58 countries and focuses on three different themes:

the representation of bodies and their metamorphoses

the relationship between individuals and technologies

the connection between bodies and the earth

*(left) Simone Leigh, ‘Façade’ (2022). Image Courtesy of Timothy Schenck and Simone Leigh.*
(right) Latifa Echakhch, ‘La dépossession’ 2014. Image Courtesy of Fabrice Seixas and Latifa Echakhch

As we know, this time of the year in Venice is always an adventure full of mega-artists and wonderful surprises, as well as exhibitions of exceptional importance taking place parallel to the 59th Biennale. If you are not planning on putting your walking shoes on and booking a month-long stay in the city, we have selected some of the most exciting shows to see apart from the numerous pavilions of the main Venice Biennale programme.

Exhibitions taking place parallel to the 59th Venice Biennale:

1. Danh Vo, Isamu Noguchi and Park Seo-Bo, exhibition at Fondazione Querini Stampalia (in collaboration with White Cube) - from 20th April 2022 - 27th November 2022.

This exhibition is taking place in a historic 16th-century palace, which once has been the home of the noble Venetian family - Querini Stampalia. They have formed a great collection of works of art, books, and objects. This show presents a dialogue between Danh Vo’s practice and works by Park Seo-Bo (known as the father of the Dansaekhwa movement) and acclaimed sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Danh Vo also served as a curator for the show. Known for his sensitivity to space and time, Vo is navigating Fondazione’s labyrinthine structure, which comprises of ancient rooms surrounded by contemporary elements. The space will be filled throughout with Noguchi’s signature Akari lamps hung alongside Vo’s own works. Park’s pieces from the renowned ‘Écriture’ series will also be dotted all around the palace, featuring paintings linked to the notions of time, space, and material.

*Danh Vo, Isamu Noguchi and Park Seo-Bo exhibition at Fondazione Querini Stampalia.*

2. Georg Baselitz, exhibition ‘Archinto’ and Mary Weatherford, exhibition ‘The Flaying of Marsyas’ at Museo di Palazzo Grimani (in collaboration with Gagosian) - from 20th April 2022 - 27th November 2022.

*Sala della Tribuna at Palazzo Grimani. Image Courtesy of* *Jean-François Baron.*

The exhibition ‘Archinto’ presents a set of new and recent paintings and sculptures by the artist. Installed on the piano mobile, the show includes twelve paintings made exclusively for the Sala del Portego, which hang on 18th-century stucco-framed panels where portraits of the Grimani family were displayed until the end of the 19th century. This show is the artist’s way of paying homage to the city of Venice and its rich artistic tradition. Baselitz establishes an art historical continuity and configures a connection between the tradition of Renaissance portrait and its contemporary equivalent.

*Georg Baselitz. Exhibition ‘Archinto’. Image Courtesy of Gagosian.*

Mary Weatherford’s show ‘The Flaying of Marsyas’ features new paintings by the artist, which are directly inspired by Titian’s late masterpiece of 1570-76. The original artwork depicts the killing of Marsyas, a satyr who challenged the god Appolo to a musical contest but lost when the god demanded they play their instruments upside-down. The set of works by Weatherford demonstrates her enduring fascination with the painting. She alludes to the Renaissance painter’s subdued palette, while also paying a tribute to the distinctive light of Venice. She uses Flashe paint and neon tubing to distil the affect of historical canvases.

*Mary Weatherford. ‘The Flaying of Marsyas - 4500 Triphosphor’ (2021-22). Image Courtesy of Gagosian.*

3. Anselm Kiefer. Exhibition ‘Questi scritti, quando verranno bruciati, daranno finalmente un po’ di luce’ at Palazzo Ducale (supported by Gagosian) - from 26th of March 2022 - 29th of October 2022.

Anselm Kiefer demonstrates a completely new body of work exhibited in the Sala dello Scrutinio and the Sala della Quarantia Civil Nova at Venice’s historical symbol - Palazzo Ducale. Kiefer presents site-specific installations, which explore the convergence between the past and the present. His work also reflects upon Venice’s unique position between north and south and the interplay of the Orient and the Occident. He explores equally meaningful connections between different societies and traditions, as well as the history of Venice as an independent centre of art and culture. His works produced in 2020 and 2021 actively engage with the 33 monumental paintings on the ceiling of the palace and with the heroic values presented by its entire decorative scheme. It was a great challenge for Kiefer to work alongside some of the most important High Renaissance painters, such as Tintoretto, Palma il Giovane and Adrea Vicentino. One of the main goals of this project was to

‘understand the need and value of public spaces to bear witness to our time, to construct an epiphany of our contemporary era, and to put on stage the present and its universal values’ .
- Gabriella Belli (Director of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia).