Identity crisis - 1993 Venice Biennale art exhibition; Italy

Art in America, Sept, 1993 by Marcia E. Vetrocq

Where stands the Venice Biennale as it nears the end of its first century's own drama of resources, cargo and decay? A leviathan like the present show, grown from so muddled a program and strung together of such disparate parts, is hardly conducive to drawing the Big Conclusion. Might some small conclusions, then, forestall the urge to carp and carp and carp which has overwhelmed so much of the criticism of the show this year? It is simple enough to assert that the organization needs a better-equipped impresario, someone who knows the difference between mapping out a comprehensive thesis about art on the one hand and hauling together an elephantine assortment of all his favorite stuff on the other. It is also clear that our protracted infatuation with youth (did it begin with graffiti?) has led to completely unfounded expectations with regard to Aperto. We might consider pulling the plug on this now-institutionalized "alternative" show.

For the larger picture, serious thought needs to be given to the number, size and purpose of the satelite shows. Do they function as integral parts of a single initiative, or are they simply opportunistic attachments scheduled to capitalize on the Biennale's audience? As it is, too many visitors leave the city without seeing all, much less the best, of the Biennale. Unless Venice can hold its restless audience for as long as Cannes and Bayreuth do, Biennale organizers will have to drop the delusion that, where the visual arts are concerned, more is better. One possible solution for 1995 would be for the Biennale to pull in its sails and to concede that the ambition to cover the whole world of art in one mother-of-all-shows is as arrogant in its way as was the old imperialistic preoccupation with the superiority of European art. The first Biennale was shaped by the competitive energies of 19th-century capitalism. The postwar Biennale was revived to celebrate the unity and virtue of the Western democracies as they entered the Cold War. At the end of it all the question is, what does the Venice Biennale want to be now that it's all grown up?

Marcia E. Vetrocq is professor of fine arts at the University of New Orleans and writes frequently about contemporary art.