Well, it's Friday morning (6/22) so it appears I'm a bit behind here, doesn't it?
Wednesday was Chris' last full day in Venice and he wanted to spend the morning with San Marco leaving me to take in a whole slew of what the official Biennale program calls " Participating Countries in Town." These are installations - mostly at palazzi some at other beautiful and appropriate buildings scattered all over the city. They're small, manageable, and as amazing as the exhibits at the Giardini and Arsenale.
Just across the Accademia Bridge is a fabulous cluster of these installations. The photo at the left is from one of the two artists representing Cyprus. I hope you can tell it's huge and it took my breath away when I approached it from the corridor.
The former Eastern bloc countries continue to astound - Albania and most notably in this group Estonia which can only be described as chilling.
Little Luxembourg is proudly represented by an artist named Jill Mercedes whose series of "rooms" requires not only imagination but participation on the part of the viewer.
And Australian artist Susan Norrie exhibits a series of videos called Havoc about a devastating volcanic eruption and subsequent mudslide in Indonesia - spellbinding.
Later in the afternoon Chris and I happened onto the New Zealand installation, literally, just around the corner. It is a series of video screens suspended from the ceiling of a large waterfront building - you need to lay down on mattresses on the floor to view them. They project 21st Century Maori art in both pictures and sound and the experience is absolutely indescribable. This is one to which I will certainly return.
A word about dinner - strolling around the area of the Rialto Market we seemed to have hit the mother lode of notable restaurants. Makes sense, right?! And we chose well, a delicious dinner at a small place called Bancogiro - sitting out near the water, small plates of "new" Venetian cuisine, perfect for Chris' last supper of this trip.
He departed Thursday morning - a little sad to see him go...
It did leave me a day for mundane tasks, laundry, etc. in anticipation of Wanda's arrival today - I thought. Unfortunately, she ran into some flight problems at JFK so her arrival here is up in the air (sorry about that!). I was so looking forward to meeting her at the airport and gliding back through the lagoon with her on her first overseas trip. And so, I am left to my own devices for one more day (hopefully no more than that) and it's time to plan.
Ciao ciao
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What may not be clear about the photo of the Cyprus grapes is that it is NOT a photo of a photo! That's a painting folks, which, knowing, makes it all the more astounding. Definitely some great art in Venezia at the Biennale and elsewhere. I was quite sad to say arrivaderci, but I will be back!
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