Visitors to the 57th international
art Biennale which opens to the public in Venice on Saturday can
enjoy a number of corollary events in the lagoon city.
The official programme includes 23 in total, not including
the many exhibitions organised independently by private
galleries and other venues.
A possible itinerary might begin on the island of Murano,
where experimental glasswork by architect, sculptor and designer
Gaetano Pesce is on display at the local museum.
Work by Arte Povera artist Michelangelo Pistoletto can be
admired on another island, San Giorgio Maggiore, along with a
homage to fellow 'group' member, the late Alighiero Boetti.
Back in the city centre, Palazzo Fortuny presents an orgy of
old and new in the exhibition 'Intuition', born of the
collaboration between the foundations Civic Museums and Axel&May
Vervoordt.
Here, Neolithic stones stand alongside work by Paul Klee and
Anish Kapoor.
Fondazione Prada presents a cross-media project born of a
collaboration between writer and director Alexander Kluge,
artist Thomas Demand, set and costume designer Anna Viebrock and
curator Udo Kittelmann.
French multimedia artist Pierre Huyghe presents his work in
the Espace Louis Vuitton, while former 'bad boy' of the art
world Damien Hirst occupies the two spaces belonging to the
Francois Pinault Foundation.
Other shows not to be missed include the retrospective
dedicated to Jan Fabre, Mark Tobey at the Peggy Guggenheim
Collection and the exhibition devoted to luxury craftsmanship
curated by Stefano Zecchi at the Venice Pavilion in the Arsenale
gardens.
And then, of course, there is Viva Arte Viva, the central
exhibition curated by Christine Macel and featuring work by 120
artists from across the globe.
The collection is inspired by a new form of humanism in which
the artistic act is seen as "an act of resistance, of liberation
and of generosity".
Most of the artists on show are exhibiting in the Venice
Biennale for the first time.
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