Art Review: The Biennale — The Good, the Bad, and the Bungled

Greetings from the Biennale and dreamy, miraculous Venice, La Serenissima — and this time, they’re not kidding. This beauty, built on millions of petrified wood trunks, isn’t tourist-free exactly but as close to it as I’ve ever seen except in January. I think news of Europe’s heat wave kept people away through the weekend I visited. Hardy har har on them. It’s extraordinarily cool and dry for Venice in late August, 70 degrees and low humidity. It’s warmer in Vermont.

I’m here, of course, for the Biennale, first stop the American pavilion. The 61st edition of the world’s ultimate contemporary art show is in Castello, the easternmost district in the city and the quietest, at the Arsenale, the Giardini — Venice’s public garden — and spots around town. It’s been the arts Olympics since 1895, here and there a war suspending it until further notice. This cycle, 99 countries sent official art exhibitions to Venice from May 9 to November 22.

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Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

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Greetings from the Biennale and dreamy, miraculous Venice, La Serenissima — and this time, they’re not kidding. This beauty, built on millions of petrified wood trunks, isn’t tourist-free exactly but as close to it as I’ve ever seen except in January. I think news of Europe’s heat wave kept people away through the weekend I visited. Hardy har har on them. It’s extraordinarily cool and dry for Venice in late August, 70 degrees and low humidity. It’s warmer in Vermont.

I’m here, of course, for the Biennale, first stop the American pavilion. The 61st edition of the world’s ultimate contemporary art show is in Castello, the easternmost district in the city and the quietest, at the Arsenale, the Giardini — Venice’s public garden — and spots around town. It’s been the arts Olympics since 1895, here and there a war suspending it until further notice. This cycle, 99 countries sent official art exhibitions to Venice from May 9 to November 22.