Highlights From Venice Art Biennale 2019: Part 01.

The 58th International Art Event La Biennale di Venezia is, as usual, drawing crowds to Italy’s city on water. Titled “May You Live In Interesting Times”, this year’s exhibition, curated by Ralph Rugoff, explores the role of art in prompting dialogue around the current zeitgeist, with works chosen for their openness to interpretation and critical engagement. Many works play on the influence of AI and technology on humanity, with the theme seeming to draw out some very Black Mirror concepts.

“From the acceleration of climate change to the resurgence of nationalist agendas across the globe, from the pervasive impact of social media to the growing disparity of wealth, contemporary matters of concern are addressed in many of the works in this exhibition”, says Rugoff.

“May You Live In Interesting Times” is split across installations in the Arsenale and those located in the Giardini’s Central Pavilion. Though under the same narrative umbrella, the distinct atmosphere of each space accentuates different aspects of each artist’s practice.

In Part 1 of our highlights roundup, we’re focusing on the events and installations that particularly caught our eye out of 79 international participants. Read on for creative inspiration, beautiful works and of course, some downright wacky ideas.

Related Articles:
Highlights from Venice Art Biennale 2017.
Highlights From The 56th Venice Art Biennale 2015.

EVENTS + INSTALLATIONS

Virgil Ablo’s Alaska ‘Sinking’ seating collection.

‘Inside A Forest Cloud’ chandelier by Nacho Carbonell.

‘Under A Light Tree’ by Nacho Carbonell.

‘Fragile Future’ chandelier by Studio Drift.

‘Ocean Memories Pieces’ by Mathieu Lehanneur.

‘Ode’ by Vincenzo De Cotiis.

‘Real Time Xl’ clock by Maarten Baas.

‘Moments Of Happiness’ by Verhoeven.

Dysfunctional by Carpenters Workshop Gallery // Over 50 works by 23 artists and designers are exhibited in the Dysfunctional exhibition by Carpenters Workshop Gallery, set amongst the gothic architecture and baroque artwork of Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca’d’Oro. In a direct reference to the tides that notoriously affect Venetian life and on a more Meta level, rising sea levels the world over, Virgil Abloh presents a series of sinking furniture, ‘acqua alta’. Polished bronze chairs, benches, and a floor lamp tilt as if sinking into the water. Other works include ‘Real Time’ by Maarten Baas, a life-sized self -portrait within a transparent clock face, and Mathieu Lehanneur‘s lagoon inspired green marble and granite sculptures ‘Ocean Memories’.

Blurry Venice by Plastique Fantastique // Berlin-based temporary architecture platform Plastique Fantastique constructed Blurry Venice to quite literally blur the boundaries between land, water, nature and built environments, where neither floor nor ceiling exists. Set at the Venice Pavilion, marble ‘briccole’ sculptures by Fabio Viale support a malleable white plastic tunnel, giving visitors the illusion that they are walking on water.

Venice in Oil by Banksy // Elusive British street artist Banksy set up an unauthorized installation, propping up a montage of gilt-framed oil paintings depicting a massive cruise ship swamping a flurry of surrounding gondolas. The artist released the work via Instagram video, a short sequence showing an anonymous man setting up the work and the reactions of local passersby, before being told to move on by police. The work is potential commentary on the Italian government’s recent ban on cruise ships in Venetian waterways, due to waves causing erosion of the canal banks.

Photography by David M. Benett.

Building Bridges by Lorenzo Quinn // Lorenzo Quinn‘s monumental Building Bridges sculpture reaches across an inlet adjacent to the entrance of the Arsenale. Six pairs of arms 15m high and 20m in length stretch out and clasp hands, each with various strength of grip. Individually titled ‘Help’, ‘Love’, ‘Friendship’, ‘Faith’, ‘Wisdom’ and ‘Hope’, the pairs represent humanity striving for collaboration and unity, and a need for contact beyond self-interest. More broadly, Quinn engages with the history of Venice as a junction of international history and culture.

Photography by Andrea Avezzù.

Barca Nostra by Christoph Büchel // Proving to be the most controversial and provocative work at the 2019 Biennale, Swiss-Icelandic artist Christoph Büchel brought the battered remains of a fishing boat that killed hundreds of migrants in 2015 to the banks of Venice. The rusting vessel is displayed as part of Arsenale, a site where warships were once produced. Titled ‘Barca Nostra’, Büchel views the shipwreck as a politically charged symbol of contemporary migration, as well as an ethical and historical artefact.

Photo by Italo Rondinella.

Photo by Francesco Galli.

Microworld by Liu Wei // Emerging Chinese artist Liu Wei presented ‘Microworld’ at Arsenale, comprised of curving aluminium plates and spheres as magnified atomic structures. Wei wants to spark wonder in this ‘microworld’, which he believes has been dulled by our increasing scientific knowledge and the rationality of technology.

Wei’s mixed media sculpture ‘Devourment’ is also on show at Giardini.

Photography by Andrea Avezzù.

The New Life by Anthea Hamilton // At Arsenale, British artist Anthea Hamilton’s immersive site-specific installation The New Life entails covering the space seamlessly from walls to floor in a coral, blue, and dusky purple tartan pattern. Sculptures evocative of nature and transformation, including a butterfly, are placed within this bright canvas, as are outfitted mannequins that indicate the artist’s ties to fashion.

Photography by Italo Rondinella.

Biologizing the Machine by Anicka Yi // Frequently recruiting biologists, scientists and engineers for her work, Korean artist Anicka Yi continues to explore the demarcations between organic and synthetic, science and fiction in ‘Biologizing the Machine’. Using algae, acrylic, LEDs, animatronic moths, water, and pumps, the body of work displayed at Arsenale contemplates how new channels of communication can be broached between AI and organic life forms.

Photo © Apichatpong Weerasethakul & Tsuyoshi Hisakado.

Synchronicity by Apichatpong Weerasethakul in collaboration with Tsuyoshi Hisakado // Apichatpong Weerasethakul explores traumatic encounters with civil war, both in his native Thailand and in more recent works, Colombia. This collaboration with Japanese screen artist Tsuyoshi Hisakado at Arsenale gives physical form to Weerasethakul’s work through a complex interplay of projected video, light, and sound.

Photo by Nicholas Knight.

Cosmorama by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster in collaboration with Joi Bittle // Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster collaborates with artist Joi Bittle on Cosmorama, a diorama inspired by Ray Bradbury’s 1950 novel The Martian Chronicles, recording the conquest of an alien Mars population by Americans. At Giardini, sculpted elements of the Martian landscape including carefully tinted rocks and sand are set against a painted background and enclosed in glass.

Photography by Nick Ash.

VOL XXVI by Haris Eponinonda // Haris Epaminonda composes found materials including sculptures, pottery, furniture and textiles into intrinsically emotive installations, of which VOL XXVI is displayed at Giardini. The home objects were chosen for their irreducible experiential qualities, allowing visitors to construct a narrative as to their provenance.

Photo by Francesco Galli.

BOB (Bag of Beliefs) by Ian Cheng // American artist Ian Cheng uses computer programming to create ‘live simulations’, living virtual ecosystems that are left to self-evolve without control or end. ‘BOB’ is one such ecosystem residing at Central – resembling a cross between a caterpillar, serpent, or coral – whose behaviour and life script are fuelled and propelled by interaction with humans, who are able to influence BOB’s actions via an iOS app. Cheng explains his evolving AI format deliberately provokes feelings of anxiety and confusion around unrelenting change.

Photo by Italo Rondinella.

March of the Valedictorians by Jesse Darling // British artist Jesse Darling presents various works at Arsenale, including the 2016 spindly sculpture ‘March of the Valedictorians’. Red plastic seats balance atop precariously tall, skinny metal legs, resembling some kind of aliens on the march. The chairs are instantly recognizable as the same used at many public primary schools, the mutation of a nostalgia-filled object feeling wrong and uncomfortable.

Photography by Francesco Galli.

Can’t Help Myself by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu // In the centre of a windowed box not unlike a cage at the zoo, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu have programmed a robot to repeatedly sweep a viscous, blood-like fluid inwards, making sure it doesn’t seep beyond a certain perimeter. The artists have programmed the robot to perform 32 uncannily human maneuvers, while the uncontainable liquid represents the essential elusiveness, indefinable nature of art itself.

Photography by Maris Mezulis.

Collage sculptures by Carol Bove // Various ‘collage’ sculptures by Swiss artist Carol Bove are displayed at Giardini, made from stainless steel, found steel, and urethane paint. The bold palette of bright red, yellow, pink and green poses a dynamic contrast to the rough untreated steel, making the material look deceptively malleable.

Images courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner.

The Beautyful Ones by Njideka Akunyili Crosby // Nigerian artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s presents his revered solo exhibition The Beautyful Ones at Victoria Miro Venice. The portrait series depicts Nigerian children including some members of her family, and photographs sourced from Nigerian pop culture and politics painstakingly layered in with an acetone transfer technique.

Photography by Italo Rondinella.

Sculptures by Yin Xiuzhen // Reflecting the excessive consumerism of postwar China, Xiuzhen works with recycled materials of contrasting textures and connotations, such as suitcases, debris, industrial objects, and textiles. Three sculptures are on display at Arsenale; Bookshelf No. 7 (2009-2013), Dong Fang Hong 1 (2014), and the imposing Trojan (2016-2017), a giant seated human form made from recycled clothing, hunching over with its head in its lap in a braced position.

Photography by Italo Rondinella.

Destination by Nabuqi // Chinese artist Nabuqi creates idealized, manufactured depictions of nature throughout her work. ‘Destination’ at Arsenale revolves around a topped billboard depicting a clichéd tropical paradise, complete with white sand, turquoise waters and of course a palm tree. The illusion is broken by the surrounding scaffolding and a mélange of houseplants littered beneath, one of which obnoxiously pokes through the billboard.

Photography by Andrea Avezzù.

Data-Verse by Ryoji Ikeda // Paris-based electronic music composer and artist Ryoji Ikeda interweaves sparse acoustic compositions with vast digital renderings. The first iteration of data-verse is on show in the Arsenale, featuring captivating HD projections of scientific data pulled from institutions including NASA, CERN, and the human genome project. Ikeda puts the data through a process of transcribing, converting, and orchestrating in order to transform the information into sight and sound.

Photography by Jack Hems.

Doppelgänger by Stan Douglas // Likening photographs to films without movement, Canadian artist Stan Douglas painstakingly re-enacts pivotal events in photo shoots with movie-level sets, speculating over moments where events may have taken a different turn – very ‘Sliding Doors’. At Central, Doppelgänger runs two stories with the same protagonist on parallel screens, which come to morbidly different endings – for example, one heading into space while the other remains on earth.

Photography by Italo Rondinella.

Portraits by Zanele Muholi // At Arsenale, South African artist Zanele Muholi presents portraits from her ongoing series Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness. Muholi tends to build the striking images into 365 images of a year in the life of a black lesbian in South Africa.

[Images courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia & The Galleries.]