Page 53 - 50.La Biennale di Venezia issue of World of Art Magazine

GIARDINI DELLA BIENNALE - ARSENALE - MUSEO CORRER - STAZIONE SANTA LUCIA

The End of the XXth Century representative of the current status of contemporary art, its multiplicity
By Francesco Bonami of languages, and the inevitable autonomy of new geographic, political
At the last 49th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia and cultural contexts. The question of the feasibility of one curator with
Harald Szeemann presented the symbol of the show-the masterpiece one vision to embrace more than 200 artists as well as to translate
entitled “The End of the XXth Century” by the German artist Joseph the work into a comprehensible experience for the viewer motivates
Beuys. This work signalled the end of the cycle of large scale thematic the structure of ‘Dreams and Conflicts: The Dictatorship of the Viewer.’
exhibitions which began in the late 1960’s. As a result, the vision of the La Biennale of Visual Arts morphs into a body that will contain the
‘omnipresent’ curator transformed, forcing him /her to acknowledge diverse souls of contemporary art. In addition to the two exhibitions in
the broad and fragmented field of contemporary art. It became clear the Padiglione Italia (‘Delays and Revolutions) and at the Museo Correr
that any notion of the ‘global,’ (either in a formal or discursive sense) as (‘Pittura/ Painting; From Rauschenberg to Murakami’, 1964-2003), the
driven by the last three decades of curatorial practice, could no longer Giardini and Arsenale will offer the viewer eight different perspectives
be framed by the sole vision of the curator /author. of the contemporary art world. These exhibitions are: ‘Clandestine,’
The 50th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia considers ‘Individual Systems,’ ‘Fault Lines,’ ‘The Structure of Survival,’
this phenomenon as a starting point to reflect on the very idea of the ‘large ‘Contemporary Arab Representations,’ ‘The Everyday Altered,’ ‘Utopia
scale international exhibition,’ questioning the validity of this form as Station,’ ‘Zone of Urgency.’ These eight paths will allow the viewer to

THE END OF THE XXTH CENTURY
By Francesco Bonami

Damien Hirst
Untitled, 2001-2002

WORLD of ART 53