58th Venice Biennale
From May 11 to November 24, Venice is the stage of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition: the Venice Biennale. Curated by Ralph Rugoff, director of London’s Hayward Gallery, the group exhibition at the Giardini and Arsenale reflects on art’s potential as an active tool for changing the way we live and think.
It was in the late 1930s when in a public speech English Member of Parliament Sir Austen Chamberlain invoked an ancient Chinese curse, learned from a British diplomat who had served in Asia – may you live in interesting times. “There is no doubt that the curse has fallen on us,” Chamberlain remarked in that same speech. “We move from one crisis to another. We suffer one disturbance and shock after another.”
Despite its spurious nature (it turned out that there never was any such “ancient Chinese curse”), this magic spell has served as an inspiration to curator Ralph Rugoff for the title and the concept behind the 58th edition of the Venice Biennale, opening this spring. Spread out between the Arsenale and the Central Pavilion in the Giardini, “May You Live in Interesting Times” features works by 79 international participants, including established artists like Jimmie Durham, Stan Douglas, Julie Mehretu, Teresa Margolles and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, as well as younger ones, including Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Jesse Darling, Avery Singer, Mari Katayama and Korakrit Arunanondchai, to name just a few. In a world alerted by an incessant state of emergency, disseminated with digital fake news and re-shaped by post-truth politics – what we could describe as an “interesting time” – art might be able to offer some guidance about how to live and prosper in such a perilous age. As Rugoff points out, the exhibition presents “artworks that reflect upon precarious aspects of existence today, including different threats to key traditions, institutions and relationships of the ‘post-war order.’” And he continues: “The 58th International Art Exhibition doesn’t have a theme per se, but highlights a general approach to making art and a view of art’s social function as embracing both pleasure and critical thinking.” A statement revealing quite an open approach to the selection of the works on display: “The Exhibition will focus on the work of artists who challenge existing habits of thought and open up our readings of objects and images, gestures and situations.” In the curator’s words, art’s potential resides in its capacity to explore topics that may be off-limits or still unknown – a humanistic tool of knowledge.
The show is accompanied by ninety national pavilions, with four countries participating for the first time in the Biennale (Algeria, Ghana, Madagascar, and Pakistan). Among the highlights, Laure Prouvost’s project for the French pavilion, Cathy Wilkes for Great Britain, Shue Lea Cheang for Taiwan, Pauline Boudry / Renate Lorenz for Switzerland, Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys for Belgium, Natascha Süder Happelmann for Germany, and Martin Puryear for the USA.
“May You Live in Interesting Times,” 58th Venice Art Biennale. Giardini and Arsenale, Venice. May 11 – November 24.