On the 59th Venice Biennale: A Critical Perspective on Hidden Clues

Jingjing Shi

doi:10.54097/ijeh.v3i1.399

Authors

Jingjing Shi

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/ijeh.v3i1.399

Keywords:

The 59th Venice Biennale, Anti-anthropocentrism, Clues, Critique.

Abstract

A grand global art event since the 19th Century, the Venice Biennale has pushed the envelope in many areas of art, to some extent reaching its peak in 2022. Tackling themes of feminism, identity politics, and mysticism, the 59th Venice Biennale takes on an appearance different from the past with strong themes and comparatively weak national pavilions. This paper comments on the diversity and anti-anthropocentrism of the displays, with an insight into hidden clues that can date back to the evolution in contemporary art a few decades ago, and reflects on the role and significance of the event critically.

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References

In this paper, “the Biennale” refers to the 59th Venice Biennale, similarly hereinafter.

The name comes from Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington’s fantastical book The Milk of Dreams, in which she describes “a magical world where life is constantly re-envisioned through the prism of the imagination…”.

https://aestheticamagazine.com/pavilions-of-change-venice-biennale-2022/, 08/05/2022. Also see Lloyd, Fran, ed. Displacement and Difference: Contemporary Arab Visual Culture in the Diaspora, London: Saffron Books, 2001; Preziosi, Donald, ed. The Art of Art History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

https://artreview.com/59th-venice-biennale-review-revelation-and-illusion/, 05/05/2022.

It is designed by Italy’s Studio Formafantasma.

Here it refers to Italy’s Cecilia Alemani.

FOMO refers to fear of missing out, the feeling of apprehension that one is either not in the know or missing out on information, events, experiences, or life decisions that could make one’s life better, as explained on Wikipedia, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_missing_out, 10/05/2022.

https://artreview.com/59th-venice-biennale-review-revelation-and-illusion/, 05/05/2022. Also see Brennan, Teresa, and Martin Jay, eds. Vision in Context: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Sight, London: Routledge, 1996; Elkins, James, Visual Studies: A Skeptical Introduction, London: Routledge, 2002; Jay, Martin(1988). “Scopic Regimes of Modernity.” In Foster, ed.(1988).——(1993). Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-Century French Thought, Berkeley: University of California Press.

It takes contemporary art’s temperature, along with more than 90 pavilions where nations organize their own shows.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/arts/design/venice-biennale.html, 07/05/2022.

https://artreview.com/59th-venice-biennale-review-revelation-and-illusion/, 05/05/2022.

There are also very fine new paintings in the main show by the New Yorkers Amy Sillman and Jacqueline Humphries, with the final works of Kaari Upson, and fascinating historical inclusions of overlooked 20th century figures, many Italian, all women, refer to https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/arts/design/venice-biennale.html.

Jonathan D. Katz, “ ‘The Senators Were Revolted’: Homophobia and the Culture Wars” In A Companion to Contemporary Art since 1945, ed. Amelia Jones, Oxford:Blackwell Publishing, 2006, pp.233-239.

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Here it refers to the postmodern sense of everything existing as a simulation or as a reproduction of something else equally non-original.

Jonathan D. Katz, “ ‘The Senators Were Revolted’: Homophobia and the Culture Wars” In A Companion to Contemporary Art since 1945, ed. Amelia Jones, Oxford:Blackwell Publishing, 2006, pp.242-243.

https://artreview.com/59th-venice-biennale-review-revelation-and-illusion/, 05/05/2022.

Jonathan D. Katz, “ ‘The Senators Were Revolted’: Homophobia and the Culture Wars” In A Companion to Contemporary Art since 1945, ed. Amelia Jones, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006, pp.243. Also see Araeen, Rasheed, “From Primitivism to Ethnic Arts.” In The Myth of Primitivism, ed. Susan Hiller, London: Routledge, 1987; Fusco, Coco, “Pan-American Post-Nationalism:Another World Order.” In Black Popular Culture, ed. Michele Wallace, Seattle: Bay Press, 1992; Hiller, Susan, The Myth of Primitivism, London and New York: Routledge, 1991.

https://artreview.com/59th-venice-biennale-review-revelation-and-illusion/, 05/05/2022.

Caroling A. Jones, “Biennial Culture: A Longer History”, in The Biennial Reader:An Anthology on Large-scale Perennial Exhibitions of Contemporary Art, eds. Elena Filipovic, Marieke Van Hal et al., Bergen Kunsthall, Hatje Cantz press, 2010, pp.83-85. Available: https://arts.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Jones-Biennial-Culture.pdf. Also see Sussman, Elizabeth, Thelma Golden, John Hanhardt, and Lisa Phillips, 1993 Biennial Exhibition, New York: Whitney Museum of America Art, 1993; Wollen, Peter, and Lynne Cooke, eds. Visual Display: Culture Beyond Appearances, New York: The New Press, 1999.