Grand Tour - Venezia, Bella Sconfinata
Stefano Chiodi, Specchia Magazine, July 28, 2007

Bella Sconfinata: Think with the senses, feel with the mind: does the title of the 52nd Biennale want to reconcile opposites or create perceptual displacements? But in this solid, interesting and tidy review, the real displacement comes from the quantity of works and exhibitions. Overwhelming
by Stefano Chiodi

Unlike other editions, this 52nd Venice Biennale does not seem to have aroused strong controversy, slating or incandescent debates so far, perhaps thanks to the overall good functioning of the "machine" that welcomes the visitor, or perhaps also due to the absence of truly provocative works . However, all the commentators agreed to re-establish its size, which by now largely exceeds the historical sites of the Giardini and the Arsenale; the number of participating nations has risen to a record 76, while exhibitions and "collateral" events have multiplied dramatically. But what is the substance behind the numbers, such as the project and the concrete choices of the American curator Robert Storr? The title, the program we could say, of this Biennale, Think with the senses, feel with the mind, can be translated as the will to understand and relate the opposites heart and reason, to reconcile the different ways of seeing in the name of a deeper unity, that of a humanity aware of needing both polarities, and that of a Art that finds in its differences a possibility to renew and make its relationship with the world more intense. A classic project, one could say. Moreover, one can already feel the desire for clarity, sobriety, which animated Storr, former curator at MoMA in New York, in the clear scanning of the path room by room, in a certain museum stamp in the presentation; as well as his penchant for non-figurative painting is evident, evident in the choices of masters such as Elsworth Kelly, Robert Ryman, Sol LeWitt, The thematic subdivision, albeit with some exceptions, it appears quite definite: in the Italian pavilion, more reflective works, that is, as in the case of the two testecalchi-fountains by the great American Bruce Nauman, marked by a paradoxical and alarming figure; in other cases the inflection is more ironic and philosophical, as in the video animation Dread by the young American Joshua Mosley, one of the revelations of this Biennale, in which Pascal and Rousseau discuss the meaning of nature and humanity. Among the best things in the pavilion there are two videos: the "open letter" by the young Mexican Mario García Torres, and Congo, a work with epic and Kubrickian accents, projected on a cinematic scale, by the Englishman Steve McQueen. as in the case of the two fountainheads of the great American Bruce Nauman, marked by a paradoxical and alarming figure; in other cases the inflection is more ironic and philosophical, as in the video animation

The atmosphere at the Arsenale is different, where Storr's choice is more clearly in favor of artists who interrogate the real scenario, history, political current affairs. In very different tones, of course, at the extremes of which we could situate the installation Discussion (Property) by the Bulgarian Nedko Solakov, a provocative investigation into the most produced weapon in history, the Kalašnikov rifle, and the Bolero animated drawing by the Belgian active in Mexico Francis Alÿs. , a subtle moral allegory on a musical theme hummed by a shoe shine intent on his work. The world is often questioned in this Biennale from opposite directions, for example in the different city-forms: Gabriele Basilico's large photographs taken in a ghostly Beirut destroyed by the civil war appear to be the perfect reverse side of the utopian and visionary city dedicated to spiritual research conceived by the Russians Ilya & Emilia Kabakov in the large installation Manas. Among the national pavilions, those of the major European countries such as France, Germany and Great Britain disappoint all in all, while the retrospective that the United States dedicates to the late Felix Gonzalez-Torres is fascinating but somewhat predictable.

On the other hand, in the Polish pavilion, the 1: 1 installation by Monika Sosnowska should be remembered, a reflection on the relationship between archetectonic forms, ideologies and material conditions of existence. Among the most important innovations of this edition, the new Italian Pavilion, in which exponents of Arte Povera, Giuseppe Penone, with a complex installation, Sculture di sap, which takes up themes favored by the sculptor such as vital energy and the action of time, and one of the most successful young Italian artists, Francesco Vezzoli, who proposes, impeccably packaged by professionals in the sector, two (fake) television commercials of a hypothetical American electoral campaign. Finally, a final mention of the Young Italian Art Award, this year awarded to Nico Vascellari, who presented the installation-performance Revenge in the new space of DARC. Two novelties, the latter, which represent important steps in supporting visual creation in our country.