Europe’s fear of massive infiltration from without lies at the heart of Gast Bouschet & Nadine Hilbert’s Collision Zone, a haunted staging of image and sound recordings collected by the artists in the border regions of the Mediterranean. [...] Collision Zone fundamentally questions the notion of borders, following the observation that continents in general, and Africa in specific, are actually moving and constantly changing their respective positions. Overpowering natural and geological forces slowly but surely extend or shift the world’s physical and geographical boundaries. Gast Bouschet & Nadine Hilbert’s work thus draws its inspiration from a series of phenomena on the brink of the visible which appear to be regulating our world. By merging biological time and deep time, their installation creates a lapse of meditative time – a purposeful introspective slowdown interrupted by sporadic violent eruptions.img: Luxembourg - Collision Zone - oddtag on flickr.com
Shame on me: after skipping the opening of one of the greatest art events this planet has to offer, I had still not been to Venice for for the breathtakingly important 53rd edition of the Biennale d'Arte in early September. Since I skipped the fashion obligations that would have called me to New York and London, I mused that I could at least busy myself with some belated commitment to art. And off I went to la bella Venezia: one of the world's most beautiful cities and one where you run a 100 % chance of getting lost in some unpenetrable Calle, Sottoportego or Ramo when looking for forlorn art pavilion outside the Giardini. Months after the opening, I found myself rummaging through the remains of the Biennale, trotting lightyears behind the glamorously jet-setting international art éliteimg: Punta della Dogana
Three days follow, throughout which you are doing pretty much nothing but looking at art, but when you leave it's clear that you've seen practically nothing at all. Did I see Krossing in Mestre? No. Did I catch Blue Zone at Campo San Zaccaria? I'm afraid not. What about Seduction into the Sign in the Campo della Chiesa? There was no time. And perhaps these are much more interesting than anything that did pass under my gaze. So the guilt sets in: what was I doing all that time? What was I thinking of?video: Sorry I'm Late by Tomas Mankovsky on vimeo.com [vimeo http://vimeo.com/4862670]
To say that everybody I spoke to offered up a different and contradictory opinion on the Biennale is to state the obvious, but most people would most likely agree that this one will go down as the Slow Biennale. But that is a good thing, like a wonderful International meal cooked and eaten in one of those pretentious but simple, snooty but friendly, obvious but obscure Slow Food restaurants that are the only pride of Italy these days. (Let’s not even talk about Berlusconi or the artists in the Italian national pavilion!) [...] Suffice it to say that the slowness of the days spent in the rooms of the Biennale felt like a pleasure rather than a duty.video: SLOW - by Xaver Xylophon on vimeo.com [vimeo http://vimeo.com/4934166]
It was the first time I’d looked out at the tourists gliding by in gondolas and not wished that I was one of them, but rather felt I was perfectly content to be here, exactly in this spot, not worrying what I should be seeing next or what else I might be missing. Meanwhile, Kjartansson proceeded with his work unhurriedly – rearranging his easel and mixing paints and stopping to chat with his mother, while his model sat on the sofa plucking a guitar and looking sulky. I know it sounds like a bad music video, but in fact the Icelandic pavilion succeeds in creating an informal atmosphere without being shabby. And, without even realizing it, that’s exactly what I had been waiting for.img: 167 - kDamo on flickr.com n
With the art world supposedly in crisis - prices dropping, profits of auction houses plummeting, museums engaged in drastic cost-cutting - a provocation like this might hit a nerve. But instead the video has passed largely unnoticed, and the art world has gone on doing what it does best: partying, partying, and more partying.txt: Venice Biennale opens to public - BBC news
"The Venice Biennale is not here to be loved, it's here to be discussed. And if people keep coming back to discuss it, that's the best result that we can have" Mr Birnbaum says. [...] Whatever else, the Biennale offers an unprecedented opportunity to see vast amounts of modern art in one of the world's most historic cities.video: Steve McQueen Talks About His Film "Giardini," His Exhibition For The 2009 Venice Biennale 2009. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G6UJwzj5Ro]
The good thing about the recession is that we will now be able to concentrate on art, on what matters. The bullshit we had to deal with before is over.video: Time Lapses - Punta della Dogana and Tadao Ando - PalazzoGrassiTV on youtube [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWfu0IqivrE]