Highlights From The 55th Venice Biennale 2013.

Venice Biennale 2013 (La Biennale di Venezia) is the closest thing art has to the Olympics. The 55th International Art Exhibition attempts to capture the rich diversity of the art-world, with all it’s unexpected sights and sounds. Established in 1895, the Venice Biennale is the oldest and most important event on the international contemporary visual arts calendar. It is also the world’s largest non-commercial art exhibition, and this year it features shows from 88 countries across the entire city. More than 150 artists are taking part in the Biennale, and the event attracts more than 350,000 world-wide visitors – from artists, art-lovers and collectors.

This year the event was directed by Massimiliano Gioni, a highly acclaimed contemporary art curator. Artistic Director of Fondazione Nicola Trussardi in Milan since 2003 and Associate Director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York since 2007, Gioni brought together the even titled “Il Palazzo Enciclopedico” which takes place in Venice from June, 1st to November, 24th 2013.

Here is a selection of some of my favourite things on show this year. Enjoy!

Ai Weiwei, Bang, 2010-2013, 886 antique stools. Installation view.
Image courtesy of artobserved.com.

Ai Weiwei, Bang, 2010-2013, 886 antique stools. Installation view.
Photos by Roman Mensing, courtesy of the German Pavilion.

Bang, 2010-2013, by Ai Weiwei at the German Pavilion. Installation consist of  886 three-legged timber antique stools and explores the craft traditions of Chine, ideas of cultural value and history within the context of contemporary art. This expansive structure speaks of the increasing volumes of organisms in our world’s mega-cities, where the single stool can be interpreted as a metaphor for the individual. Images © Roman Mensing.

Xoo-ang Choi, The Wing, 2008, Oil on Resin, 56x172x48 cm.
Courtesy of the Artist and the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea.

The exhibition, curated by Chu-young Lee, brings together the most significant contemporary Korean artists, who reinterpreted and transformed the period room of Spazio Lightbox. The works on display covers different media and include installations, sculptures, videos, paintings and photos realized by 16 artists.

Danaë by Vadim Zakharov. Installation view.
Photography by Daniel Zakharov.

Danaë by Vadim Zakharov. Installation view.
Image courtesy of Russian Pavilion.

Danaë by Vadim Zakharov. Installation view.
Photography by Daniel Zakharov.

Danaë by Vadim Zakharov. Installation view.
Photography by Daniel Zakharov. 

Danaë by Vadim Zakharov. Installation view.
Photography by Daniel Zakharov.

“Danaë” by conceptual artist Vadim Zakharov was inspired by Greek mythology. Created for the Russian Pavilion and curated by Udo Kittelman, the installation centers on the flow of custom-made golden coins (each representing One Danaë), symbolizing fertility and abundance. Only women are allowed to enter the room where golden coins fall from the sky. Female visitors are protected by a transparent umbrella, and allowed to take a handful of coins. These are then brought to an adjacent room to be hand-lifted to the upper floor from where they fall again and again.

Rudolf Stingel at the Palazzo Grassi, installation view.
Images courtesy of the artist.

Rudolf Stingel at the Palazzo Grassi, the estate of billionaire collector François Pinault. The exhibition is curated by the artist in partnership with Elena Geuna, and it was specifically designed for the 3-storey, 5000sqm building located on the Grand Canal. Exclusive story about this exhibition will be published on Yellowtrace later this week.

Trafaria Praia by Joana Vasconcelos.
Image courtesy of the artist and Trafaria Praia.

Trafaria Praia (2013) is a project by Portuguese representative Joana Vasconcelos. Finding herself without an exhibition space, the artist transformed the exterior and the interior an old Portuguese ferry, fitted it out with her installation. This is such a fascinating and incredibly complex project. I urge you to have a look at the photos of it’s making and the video. EPIC!!

Richard Mosse, “Platon,” North Kivu, Eastern Congo, 2012. Digital c-print.
Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery.

Richard Mosse with The Enclave at the Irish Pavilion. Mosse’s practice resides at the intersection of documentary journalism and contemporary art. See my previous post with more images about Mosse’s work here.

Photos courtesy of Swarovski.

Collaboration between Swarovski and architect John Pawson resulted in an artwork which highlights the material qualities of company’s crystal. ‘Perspectives’ is the largest ever meniscus lens to be fabricated (40cm wide) and it sits on an even larger reflective surface, installed within the central cupola of the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore, offering viewers a new architectural perspectives of the 16th century church.

Berlinde de Bruyckere, Cripplewood, 2012 – 2013.
Wax, epoxy, iron, textile, rope, paint, gypsum, roofing.
Photos © Mirjam Devriendt.

Belgium Pavilion featured the work of artist Berlinde de Bruyckere titled ‘Cripplewood’. This large scale wax installation that accurately reproduces a vast fallen tree trunk, with a disturbing resemblance to the bones, muscles and tendons of the human form.

Ai Weiwei, Straight, 2008-2012
Steel reinforcing bars, 6 x 12m
Installation view, Zuecca Project Space,Venice, 2013
Courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery.

Ai Weiwei presents a sculptural installation ‘Straight’, composed of 150 tons of steel bar recovered from the sites of the collapsed schools in Sichuan following the earth quake in 2008, which took the lives of more than five thousand school children. The Chinese artist has had all of the retrieved metal parts straightened as if new, and arranged in stacks. The installation creates an eery feeling of sadness in memory of those whose lives were lost – the action of adjusting the pieces serving as a metaphor of the artist trying to make things right.

Installation view – inside (top two images) and outside (bottom image).
Image courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery.

‘S.A.C.R.E.D’ by Ai Weiwei is an installation composed of six iron boxes, depicting scenes from the Chinese artist’s 81-day incarceration in 2011. Divided into Supper / Accusers / Cleansing /Ritual /Entropy and Doubt, each unit has small apertures, similar to those found on a prison cell door, through which viewers peer into the scenes where Ai Weiwei positioned lifelike models of himself with his captors.

Curated by Maurizio Bortolotti, ‘S.A.C.R.E.D.’ is part of Ai Weiwei’s larger exhibition ‘Dispostion’, a satellite event of the 55th international art exhibition,
presented across two venues – The Sant Antonin Church and The Zitelle Complex.

Images courtesy of designboom.

Brazil pavilion presents ‘Inside/Outside’ featuring the work of five artists. Odires Mlászho specifically created a series of book sculptures in an attempt to re-invent the possibilities of collage, particularly its developments in our digital world.

“The Garbage Patch State” by Italian artist Maria Cristina Finucci. (Source: Reuters.)

Images courtesy of artobserved.com

Nothing Between Us (Nema Ničega Između Nas) by Vladimir Perić and Miloš Tomić at the Serbian pavilion. The installation explores the relationships between objects, history and knowledge through the use of video, sound and found or replicated objects.

Images courtesy of artobserved.com

South African Pavilion featured work by Wim Botha who uses African encyclopaedias to create three dimensional portraits – amazing way to use the past to create new ideas.

Images courtesy of artobserved.com

Italian Pavilion was a series of site-specific installations by various artist. Above installation was by Elisabetta Benassi.

Images courtesy of designboom.

The 387 Houses of Peter Fritz by artist Oliver Croy, at the Italian Pavilion inside the Giardini Venue.

Sarah Sze, Triple Point (Gleaner), 2013
Tock printed on tyvek, trees, moss, rocks, aluminum, wood, steel, bricks, stone, sandbags, outdoor pump, outdoor lights, mixed media.
Image © Sarah Sze, courtesy of the artist, Tanya Bonakdar gallery, New York & Victoria Miro gallery, London.
Photo by Tom Powel

Sarah Sze, Triple Point (Pendulum), 2013
Salt, water, stone, string, projector, video, pendulum, mixed media.
Image © Sarah Sze, courtesy of the artist, Tanya Bonakdar gallery, New York & Victoria Miro gallery, London.
Photo by Tom Powel

Sarah Sze, Triple Point (Planetarium), 2013
Wood, steel, plastic, stone, string, fans, overhead projectors, photograph of rock printed on tyvek, mixed media.
Image © Sarah Sze, courtesy of the artist, Tanya Bonakdar gallery, New York & Victoria Miro gallery, London.
Photo by Tom Powel

Sarah Sze, Triple Point (Eclipse), 2013
Wood, aluminum, steel, plastic, stone, string, sand, pigment, lamps, mixed media.
Image © Sarah Sze, courtesy of the artist, Tanya Bonakdar gallery, New York & Victoria Miro gallery, London.
Photo by Tom Powel

Boston-born artist Sarah Sze, in collaboration with the Bronx Museum of the Arts, represents the US with a series of interrelated pieces. The exhibition is extended to include elements of Venice’s urban fabric, including the exterior the 1930 pavilion by Delano & Aldrich. Sze ordered systems of household items, objects from nature, solid, liquid and gas matter, connecting the viewer with architecture and art.

Installation view. Photos © Claudio Franzini.

Spanish pavilion featured work of a present-day archeologist, Lara Almarcegui. Curated by Octavio Zaya, Almarcegui’s installation was a towering mountain of construction materials – roofing tiles, cement rubble and bricks turned into gravel. Almarcegui’s practice is informed by her heightened awareness of the city, investigating urban transformation. She focuses on studying the often overlooked elements which make up a place.

Simryn Gill, Half Moon Shine, 2013.
Mild steel, diameter 158cm.
Photo by Jenni Carter.

Simryn Gill, Naught, 2010
Objects in the shape of zeros found on walks.
Photo by Jenni Carter.

Here art grows on trees, exhibition view.
Australian Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2013.
Photo by Jenni Carter.

Singapore-born artist Simryn Gill is representing Australia in her new exhibition, ‘Here art grows on trees’. Curated by Catherine de Zegher, the show is presented at the Australian Pavilion in the Giardini where the artist installed photographs, drawings and sculpture inspired by images of Australia’s pit mines, dams, lakes and waterholes.

The Bolivian pavilion features the work of artist Sonia Falcone. Falcone’s installation “Campo de Color” who uses clay pots filled with cayenne, chilli, pepper, cinnamon, turmeric, thyme, paprika and more. (Source: Reuters.)

The 55th Venice Biennale is open to the public now until 24 November 2013.