The Venice Biennale is perhaps the only contemporary art festival in the world where each and every kind of artistic expression finds its way. Here it doesn’t matter whether you like music or cinema, theater or dance, you’ll nevertheless find something for your taste!
The Venice Biennale hosts national pavilions which represent the countries, and the central exhibition. However, many museums and galleries in Venice also host important exhibitions that align with the main event. The 59th edition will be the first one after the lockdown, and its importance can also be seen in the choice of the artists.
This year – and for the first time ever – the curator of the festival will be an Italian woman: Cecilia Alemani. She’s also the Chief Curator and Jr. Director of High Line Art, which is a public art project of High Line (NY). In the past she has already worked as a curator for the Italian pavilion in the Art Biennale 2017.
The themes and title of this year’s Biennale take inspiration from Leonora Carrington’s book “The Milk of Dreams” – explained Alemani – a children’s book where its surrealist writer describes a magical world wheree life is constantly reinvented thanks to imagination. It is a reality where people can change and transform.
Many contemporary artists are imagining the new conditions that challenge the modern Western vision of the human being, especially the presumed universal idea of the white, male “Man of Reason” as a fixed centre of the universe and measure of all things. Many other themes are also represented: the pressure of technology, the outbreak of the pandemic, and the looming threat of the environmental crisis.
The last thing you should do now, is choose the exhibition you’re most attracted to!
