65populistmovementsinEurope,theU.S.,and
SouthAmerica,somethingchangedatthis
year’sbiennale.(ItrunsfromMay11 through
Nov.24.)
AttheAustralianpavilion,artistAngelica
Mesitimadea videoinstallation“thatdepicts
themanyfacesofmodernAustralia.”The
Koreanpavilionfeaturesthreedomesticartists
ina showdedicatedtoquestioningthecoun-
try’s“modernizationthathasbeeninpursuit
ofWesternmodernity.”Canada’spavilionfea-
turesworkbyanInuitartistcollectivethathas
documented,andinsomecasesre-created,
Inuitcultureinmultiplefilmsandinstallations.
TheBelgianpavilion’sexhibitionwaxes
nostalgic(andweird)fora timegoneby.It’s
filledwith 20 old-fashioned,almostlife-size
dolls,includinga potter,a knifegrinder,and,insiderooms,
“zombies,poets,psychotics.”
Thesepavilions,alongwith
more than a dozen others,
havemadea hardpivotfrom
theintellectualizedarttheory
ofyearspast.“Ithinkwhat’s
happening in the broader
politicalworldis affectingart-
ists,”Schimmelsays.Youcould
interprettheresultasnation-
alist,hecontinues,“butI see
it almostasbeingprovincialin
anisolationistway.”
“Politicallynow,welivein
terribleturmoil,”saysMikhail
Piotrovsky,thegeneraldirector
oftheStateHermitageMuseum
inSt.Petersburg,whocurated
a seriesofinstallationsatthe
Russian pavilion. “Culturematters,” he says. “We had a lot of
bridges between nations, but now
most of those bridges are blown
up. Our stance is to be a bridge over
troubledwaters.”
Hisexhibitioncentersarounda
Rembrandtmasterpiece, Return of
the Prodigal Son, a treasure that’s
owned by the Hermitage but is also
partoftheDutchartisticheritage.
It’smeanttobea vehicleforinter-
national exchange. “In general,
you have people showing [their]
national identities as a basis for dia-
logue, because we need dialogue,”
Piotrovsky continues. “We’re on the
brink of war and in the
middleofwarsofcul-
tureandmemory.”
Not everyone is
a fan of this devel-
opment. “It’s state-
inspired, do-gooder
art,” says Schimmel,
theformerMOCAcura-
tor,whovisitedduring
thebiennale’sopening.
“Thenationalpavilions
seemedhokey.”
BackattheBrazilian
pavilion, curator
Pérez-Barreiro says
he planned his show
beforetheelection of
Bolsonaro,a far-rightpoliticianknownforhisanti-gay,anti-
conservation,anti-human-rightspolicies.“I’mkeenforpeo-
plenottothinkthatthisis a reactiveproject,”hesays.
Nevertheless,theexhibitionhasbecomeaninadvertent
repudiationofBrazil’scurrentadministration.“It’sa self-
proclaimed,proud,confidentvisionofa completelydiffer-
entBrazilthanwhat’sbeingpushedbythegovernmentright
now,”Pérez-Barreirosays.
ThatmightbethedistinctionbetweentheVeniceBiennale
ofthe20thcenturyandthebiennaleoftoday.Whereas
midcenturyexhibitionsmighthaveproclaimedthepartic-
ularvaluesofnationhoodthegovernmentswantedtosee—
America’sabstractexpressionismasa radicalstatementof
self-expression, Russia’s socialist realism as an assertion of the
country’s proletarian pull—many of the artists in this year’s
pavilions are carving out ideas of patriotism and nationalism
that are often at odds with the ruling structures of the coun-
tries they’re ostensibly there to promote.
“It’s the zeitgeist,” Pérez-Barreiro says. “Artists are look-
ing to push back against these very simplified ideas of what
a nation is.” <BW>CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: JOSH RAYMOND. COURTESY LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA. ALAMY. COURTESY LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
June 17, 2019Belgians Jos de Gruyter
and Harald Thys
created Mondo Cane,
a “folkloric museum”The Hungarian
pavilion