Right, the 53rd Venice Biennale is completely off radar for your average person in Malaysia, for the Malaysian art scene citizens it is only a fraction more visible/important, or is it? I never know, I think not. But as the longest, biggest, grand daddy of the biennale circuit (it began in 1893), in one of the most flamboyant, decaying, atmospheric, touristic, supposedly romantic, culturally over fermented cities in the world, the Venice Biennale  needs to be brought to your attention Arteri readers. Why you might ask? Well firstly it opened to the public last week and in my jealously of not being there to stuff myself with ice cream (pistacchio, melon, and coconut all in one big cup, who needs cones??) pizza, pasta and to luxuriate my nostrils with the stench of the sinking city in the June heat, I want to know, as absent viewers, what do we think about this years selection of the Asian pavilions? Tokenism, a symbol of Asia’s rise to the International Contemporary Art Big Leagues, a gross display of ego and cash by the organisers for culture politicking? What does Asia even mean these days? We’ll let YOU be the judge. The curated exhibition in  Palazzo delle Esposizioni in the Giardini and the Arsenale is directed by Swede, Daniel Birnbaum, who has been Rector of the Staedelschule Frankfurt/Main and its Kunsthalle Portikus since 2001.  Entitled Making Worlds it looks at the power of art making to create alternate, parallel, unique and surreal worlds of their own. On the national side there are a record 77 countries participating in pavilions in the Giardini and off site venues scattered around the city. Secondly, this incredible spectacle of art tourism, cronyism, back patting, ostentatism, is an interesting model for reflection on the status of international contemporary art, and the fact that Malaysia and many others from Southeast Asia are very much absent in representation. It is also perhaps the most sumptuous disneyland ride where one can see the best, worst and mediocre that the art world has to offer which everyone should at least think about in some way.

Background

A short intro to this year’s Venice Biennale:

History of the biennale

2009 Participating Countries from Asia include:

China: What is to Come with Fang Lijun, He Jinwei, He Sen, Liu Ding, Qiu Zhijie, Zeng Fanzhi and Zeng Hao

Japanese Pavilion: Windswept Women: The Old Girls’ Troupe by Miwa Yanagi

Singapore Pavilion: by Ming Wong

Thai Pavilion, Gondola al Paradiso Co., Ltd. with Michael Shaowanasai, Sakarin Krue-on, Sudsiri Pui-ock, Suporn Shoosongdej, Wantanee Siripattananuntakul  www.gondolaalparadiso.com

Korean Pavilion: by Haegue Yang

Hong Kong Pavilion: Making (Perfect) World: Harbour, Hong Kong, Alienated Cities and Dreams by Pak Sheung Chuen

Taiwanese Pavilion: Foreign Affairs: Artists from Taiwan with Chien-Chi Chang, Chen Chieh-Jen, Hsieh Ying-Chun, Cheng-Ta Yu

Central Asian Pavilion: Making Interstices with Oksana Shatalova, Yelena Vorobyeva &Viktor Vorobyev (Kazakhstan), Ermek Jaenisch (Kyrgyzstan), Djamshed Kholikov (Tajikistan), Anzor Salidjanov (Uzbekistan)

Of course no Malaysian pavilion. :)

Yet more information….

All that you ever wanted to know about biennales in general can be found here

Ciao..

(EM)