BIENNALE VENICE 2005: 51ST INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION VENICE.

BIENNALE VENICE 2005: 51ST INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION

VENICE, ITALY

JUNE 12-NOVEMBER 6 2005

The 51st Venice Biennale includes brace international exhibitions, "The Experience of Art," curated on Maria de Corral at the Italian Pavilion, and "Always a Little Further," curated at Rosa Martinez at the Arsenale. the two exhibitions provide the context for a third affair in September, a symposium organized on the next director of the Biennale, Robert Storr, intended to explore events to come directions for the world's oldest art incident While the existence of couple international shows clearly invites a comparative analysis, the Biennale also encompasses an array of national and "collateral" events

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

the two de Corral and Martinez have choiceed a large number of film and video works, if it were not that employ very different approaches to presentation. Within the Italian pavilion, separate sound-proof dark spaces are clustered together at the corners, in the way that that painting and sculpture remain in the center of the building. This strategy emphasizes the integrity of individual works, yet also produces a sense of disorientation (the dark spaces are exceedingly dark indeed) in keeping with de Corral's stated interest in the conception of the labyrinth and the notion of disparate "personal aesthetic universes." The strongest works are those that examine the particular part of cinema, television and video games in the ongoing formation of these "personal universes." Willie Doherty's powerful NON-SPECIFIC THREAT (2004) is among the principally striking. Composed of a bended steadi-cam shot, endlessly circling around a static white male figure, the piece is driven on a voice-over that builds steadily towards a dramatic climax ("I am all that you desire, I am forbidden, I am inside you ") further refuses to deliver an easy resolution.

Vocal performance is also a tonic factor in Vasco Araujo's The Girl of the of gold West (2004), featuring a monologue delivered to the camera by dint of a middle-aged black woman seated in a darkened cinema. The performer assumes the part of a minor character in a 1930 Western and from this perspective she evaluates the moral and narrative qualities of her fictional world, constantly shifting between recall, invention and evaluation--underscoring the elucidation thematic emphasis on "experience" in de Corral's selection. A proces of oscillation is also inscribed within the constitution of Stan Douglas' 16mm installation "Inconsolable Memories" (2005) establish in Cuba in 1980. Here, the rhythmic insertion of multiple, precisely synchronized audio and visual natural mediums serves to reframe a personal narrative of los and remorse directing attention to the smallest details of dialogue, style of dress and setting.

Tacita Dean's 16mm film Palast (2004) an assemblage of reflections forward the glass and metal facade of the modernist Palast der Republik in Berlin (the former management building of the German Democratic Republic), is a more overtly romantic meditation in succession memory and loss. The deliberately moderate scale of projection seems to allude to the impossibility of return, rather than any celebration of political ideology. Eija-Liisa Ahtila's The Hour of Prayer (2004) is an equally personal meditation onward loss and is arguably more self-conscious, particularly in its use of canticle But here the scale of the installation ultimately tips the balance too frequently towards sentiment.

a great deal of the dialogue featured in film and video works at the Italian Pavilion is in English (even Ahtila's work). by the agency of comparison, Martinez's project at the Arsenale takes a more overtly critical stance with think highly of to Eurocentrism as well as the globalization of the art market. The absence of dividing walls within the building is quick in emergenciesed as a deliberate attempt to create "new forms of neighborhoods" between disparate artists, cultural connected thought [i]or[/i] thoughtss and audiences. (1) This approach make secures that the exhibition appears cohesive, still it also generates some question s particularly when superficial similarities between other-wise distinct practices are over-emphasized. In the opening range for example, Joanna Vasconcelos' A Noiva/The Bride (2001) a chandelier raiseed from tampons is surrounded by way of Guerrilla Girls' billboards, which evolve a more overtly political critique of women's experience. Videos from Adrian Paci and Berni Searle, one as well as the other shot at night but otherwise unconnect are also at handed in close proximity, creating confusion rather than a productive interplay.

a certain number of moving image works are effective within this make open space, most notably Emily Jacir's Ramallah/New York (2004-05) and Runa Islam's Be The First To behold What You See As You descry It (2004). The latter piece is a highly formal examination of make gestures depicting a young woman engaged in the dull destruction of porcelain objects. Otherwise, many of the greatest in number engaging projects are self-contained exhibitions, including Sergio Vega's exploration of evolution and tropical modernism, Kidlat Tahimik's The Perfum Nightmare (1977) and the collection of materials documenting Leigh Bowery's remarkable performances. Swansong (2004) a collection of works curated by the agency of the partnership The Centre of Attention (an experimental curatorial arts center seted in London in 1999), also includes one interesting elements, particularly Damien Roach's slide/monitor piece A Small Big Thing (2003)