Art is similar to a flower. It requires permanent attention and admiration, just in this case it blooms and reveals its petals to the sun and warmth. And the fine art will reciprocate you for the praise and ovations. I will tell you about my mutual love for the art-field, particularly about the Venetian one in this article.

The city-flower, city-fairytale, city-postcard – Venice opens widely its gentle embrace towards the ecstatic audience for many centuries in a row. The fine Venitian art is considered one of the most honoured in the world. For me, the Italian pearl – Venice is the quintessence of different styles and directions, especially if we talk about the 57th Venice Biennale, which I recently visited.

I was surprised by everything at this international art exhibition – starting with the avant-garde installations, which makes you think about the future of this world, and ending up with bright, colourful pavilions, that looked as they were soaring in space. In order to understand all the magic of this exhibition, first of all, you have to have some knowledge regarding contemporary art. And second, you must dive into the world of the exhibits and installations, and feel them from within. And third- you must add to your normal day a little note of adventurism. I will try to share with you, my readers, this exhibition in such a way so you will feel with me all the colours of this contemporary art platform.

I must note, that the main curator of one of the art events of the year was Christine Marcel. She is the one who made the art exhibition this year go under the slogan “Viva Arte Viva”, which means “Art for the sake of art”. The organizers had decided not to discuss any political and social topics, they have shown just real, breathing art, that is essential for people, as a breath of air.

It is curious that in this art-project 85 countries were involved, the thematical principle of the combination and organization within the exhibition, was the most suitable for this event: starting with the Earth Pavilion and the Communities Pavilion and ending with the Pavilion of joy and fear. Very ingenious and memorable!

The Russian Pavilion

The commissar of the Russian Pavilion – Semion Mihailovski has chosen 3 representatives – Grisha Bruskin, the band called Recycle and Sasha Pirogova. In the lines of the contemporary composers that worked on the musical part and installations have been such musicians as Petr Aidu, Konstantin Dudakov-Kashuro and Dmitri Kurlyansky. Talking about the installations themselves, I enjoyed most of all the work by Grisha Bruskin – “Decor change”. Through his art, he could express the atmosphere of the modern world, in his work he didn’t use the art of painting in order to express his thoughts, but the sculpture. The author of the installation is interested in such topics as terrorism, immigration, aggression, in this project he has reflected all our modern history.

The next project, Recycle has created the impression of an interesting and exciting one. The admirers of the contemporary art had the possibility to download an app for the iPhone or tablet, in order to see the installation fully. In the moment of interaction between the software and, for example, the walls, an “unlock” happened – the characters were coming to life and started radiating heat.  The creators didn’t criticize the reality, they just ascertained the fact that our world becomes more and more similar to Dante’s circles of hell, which have just a small lumen.

Sasha Pirogova has demonstrated to the visitors of the Biennale a 10 minutes long video sequence called “Garden” which was about contemporary art.

The Israeli Pavilion

At the entrance to the Israeli Pavilion was a warning: allergic people should not enter. I became curious about what is happening inside, and what is so special in the pavilion? Everything is simple, the creator of the project, Gal Weistein portrays mould. Yes-yes, giant mould. When you enter the hall you feel the acute smell of dampness. An interesting and original effect, isn’t it? The idea of the installation consists in the fact that all of us are breathing in mould, and it covers the world entirely. Of course, sometimes we can see it, and sometimes it’s hidden from the eyes of the people. And whatever we do, however, we fight it, it continues to grow and absorb us, like many other things in the world. The artist and creator of the installation managed to provoke completely this feeling of absorption. Bravo!

The Japanese Pavilion

Probably, the most innovational pavilion was the Japanese one. The introduction to this interesting project can start in a very unusual way – not just entering through a door, but going down in another way. After that, you climb some stairs and throw your head back, and in a second, you become a part of the installation, seeing everything from the bottom. In front of the visitor is expanding a big white canvas, that looks like a sheet at the first sight. In the middle is located a black hole. This is the point from which the visitors admire the installation. Sincerely, I don’t even know what concept was implied during the creation of this project. Maybe it is somehow referring to the ecology problem, that is acute not only in the Eastern countries but in the whole world. The human being made his apparition in a pure world, like a white sheet of paper, and started pouring petrol in the seas and oceans, provoked the apparition of ozone holes, started a severe deforestation, polluted the water. But this is just my personal opinion. Also, from my point of view, Japan is a small country located far from the continent. It creates such an impression, that you look at the country from another angle: you see at Biennale the hinged houses, small oil platforms in the sea. It all suggests that Japan, having advanced technologies is way ahead of other countries and is the country of the future.

The North-Korean Pavilion

The North-Korean Pavilion seemed very bright and colourful to me. It made me reflect on many aspects of the life. The project is focused on the recent important events and tendencies in the world, it even touches the immigration topic.

I have told you about the first day of this massive event, and have described just a small sequence of one the most famous worldwide forum in Venice – the romantic and poetical city, where art is present in every channel and every square. I will share with you the impressions about the second day of Bienalle a little bit later.

At the end of November, I will return to Venice in order to share with you many other interesting and bright events. Follow me on Instagram, watch my Insta-Stories, you will find there many interesting things!

Photo: Yuliya Kave