The Art World Returns to Venice, Dipping en Masse Into Nostalgia (original) (raw)
Arts|The Art World Returns to Venice, Dipping en Masse Into Nostalgia
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- June 14, 2001
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June 14, 2001
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Contemporary art has always thrived on the herd instinct, and when the herd gets wind of an event worth seeing, everybody comes. Love it or hate it, few serious contemporary art followers would dare miss a Venice Biennale, arguably one of the most important platforms for contemporary art. At this, the 49th Biennale, some 30,000 people turned out for the three preview days specially held for the art world in advance of the Biennale's formal opening to the public.
Around the shaded gardens at the tip of Venice that have been home to the Biennale for most of its 106 years, or amid the miles of art in the nearby Arsenale, the network of shipyards and warehouses where the Venetian fleets were once built, one could see dealers with artists in tow, museum directors walking arm-in-arm with important trustees and auction house experts shepherding their richest collectors through acres of exhibitions.
There were long lines and waits of up to two hours to enter the national pavilions that the crowds deemed hottest. Opinions about the state of the art world, the economy and the Biennale itself were rampant.
''I've been to the movies for a day and a half, but where's the art?'' asked Amy Simon, an American-born artist living in Stockholm.
For several Biennales now, video and installation art have eclipsed painting and sculpture, and this year is no exception. Darkened rooms with often surreal video performances are everywhere. So are built environments where viewers find themselves becoming participants. At this Biennale, the first of the millennium, nostalgia seems to be what artists have focused on most.
''You can't get to the end of a century or the beginning of a new one without looking back,'' said Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate Gallery in London. ''It's all about a very personal take on the past.''
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