The milk of dreamsi/ The milk of dreams is the title of the Venice Art Biennale which will be held from 23 April to 27 November. An evocative title, linked to fantastic stories of hybrid characters and figures who can become others. We left in 2019 with edition number 58, then the void of the Architecture Biennale in 2020, due to a pandemic, which has been postponed to 2021. The 59th Art Biennale this year he chose Leonor Carringotn (1917-2011), an English artist linked to the surrealist movement and from whose production the title of this new Venetian exhibition was borrowed as a traveling companion. It is in fact the title of one of her children's books made up of stories and drawings that Carrington - who lived between England and Mexico - had originally created on the walls of her home for her children.
There are 26 Italian presences among 213 artists participating in the Biennale Arte 2022
The numbers of this edition, which will see the entry of five new countries: the Republic of Cameroon, Namibia, Nepal, the Sultanate of Omam, Uganda. The Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will present their pavilion for the first time. There are 213 artists participating, coming from 58 countries (many, as underlined by the curator Cecilia Alemani), 26 Italian presences, 180 first participations, 80 new productions, 1433 works and objects on display.
The Biennale Arte will be divided into headquarters of Central Pavilion at the Giardini and the Arsenale, as well as in various other points of the lagoon city. It will be a "monster" exhibition, as defined by the president of the Biennale Robert Cicutto. "Trans-historical" added Cecilia Alemani because she will put the present and the past in dialogue through what have been defined as the "time capsules ". Exhibits in the exhibition. Five thematic areas of a historical nature distributed along the route and entrusted with the task of presenting works by artists of the past to address some of the fundamental themes of the exhibition.
The time capsules: five micro-exhibitions of works from the past in dialogue with contemporary ones
There are three main thematic strands that will intertwine in the next Biennale Arte. The representation of bodies and their metamorphoses. La relationship between man and technology at a time when the technological optimism that characterized the pre-Covid era was replaced by the awareness of man's fragility and his precariousness. To all this is added the close connection between bodies and the earth, in the near future which could see not only the relationships of human being with other humans, but also those with different life forms. "Micro-exhibitions are the heart of the great exhibition - explained the curator Alemani - Their purpose is to provide tools for in-depth analysis and introspection. By weaving references and correspondences between historical works. Cwith important museum loans and unusual inclusions, and the experiences of contemporary artists exhibited in the neighboring spacesi ".
The first College of Art to give space to new generations of artists
Born and conceived in a period of great instability and uncertainty, the Biennale Arte 2022 has managed to pay particular attention to the new generations of artists. "It is no coincidence that the Curator agreed to study and build the first College of Art in the history of the Biennale - explains the president Cicutto - ... Three artists and one artist, chosen from among the many candidates from all over the world, will see their works exhibited out of competition at the International Exhibition. With equal dignity compared to their already established colleagues, selected by the Curator".
The Italy Pavilion, alle Tese delle Vergini in Arsenale, supported and promoted by the Ministry of Culture, will be curated by Eugenio Viola. Four posters will mark the graphic identity of this 59th edition of the Venice Biennale. With details that recall the works of the artists on display. And with particular attention to the representation of the eye that Cecilia Alemani wanted to define as the "entrance door to the body".
(photo credits: Andrea Avezzu, Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia)
