Accessing Art in Venice

We were thrilled for the chance to meet up with our friend Lisa in Venice and had dinner with her every night we were there. As previously mentioned, Lisa, an art curator, was in Venice to see the Biennale, a biennial art showcase. In addition to a curated show, many countries host art pavilions in places around the city, and many museums hold shows in conjunction with the Biennale.

As you probably know from our previous trips' blogs, we are not really art or museum people. (My friend told me never to tell people that I did the Louvre in 45 minutes - Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo and I'm out - but those are the ones you always see in movies, so I'm totally good.) I wish wish wish I had a passion for art and could look at it for hours and hours, but I've got to own that I just can't. Hence, we do a bit of art and museums but usually only the big, historic pieces. In Berlin, we went to the Neues Museum, saw Nefertiti, and then basically peaced out. Sad, perhaps, but true.

However, after dining with Lisa for a few nights and having really interesting conversations about her work and art and not being sure what to do for our second day in Venice, we decided to visit some art...the accessible art that Lisa directed us to.

First stop, Ai Wei Wei. I actually know who Ai Weiwei is and stupidly didn't make it to his recent exhibit at the Hirschhorn in DC which I did want to go to, so I was glad for the opportunity to see a few of his installations here in Venice. The first was at a church near our accommodation and were sculptures/dioramas of this imprisonment by the Chinese authorities.


Second stop, the New Zealand pavilion. Obviously, if New Zealand is here, we're going. Their pavilion featured Bill Culbert whose installations feature light. They were very cool, and Lisa said (after we told her of our visit) that she went to it and it was one of her favorites that she saw. High praise indeed!





Third stop, Marc Quinn exhibition at the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore, on a little island across from the Doge's Palace. We'd been taking pictures for two days, since we arrived, of the sculpture in front of the church without really knowing what it was. Now, we were up close and personal.


Breath, the centerpiece of the London Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony











Next stop, Ai Weiwei #2 which was a installation of rebar recovered from this Chinese earthquake in 2008. There is one piece for every child who was killed in the quake, and each piece was straightened out to its original shape from the twisted forms they had been recovered in.

Fifth stop, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Peggy Guggenheim lived in Venice and retired here with her contemporary art collection. After she died, her house became a museum to display her collection and host exhibitions. There are is a great sculpture garden and paintings inside from artists any idiot like me would recognize like Picasso, Jackson Pollack, and Kandinsky, and lots more that anyone with any art knowledge would know.








Although that was our last art stop (in Venice - more on our continuing art adventures to come), we saw other features from the Biennale around town during our wanderings including this optical illusion sculpture.


Like the dorky students we are, we reported in on our art-filled day to Lisa at our last dinner and were given gold stars. Thanks to Lisa for encouraging us!!