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Two worlds
Two worlds One of the always very rewarding features of the Biennale is the placement of art works in old palazzos and other historical venues spread over the city of Venice. Here we have Martin Puryear’s sculpture ‘Shackled’ (2014) exposed in the school of music that is housed in ‘Palazzo Pisani a Santo Stefano’ (1614/15).…
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Art in context
Art in context Last week we looked at hanji paper works made by Chun Kwang Young. Here we look at some more of them, but this time within the spatial context of the venue in which they are exposed. At the Venice Biennale that venue is the Palazzo Contarini Polignac. Chun’s works are still the…
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A life’s work
A life’s work Since 1980 Korean artist Chun Kwang Young spends most of his time in making small triangular packets of printed mulberry paper. The mulberry paper (hanji), he recovers from old books. The little paper packets, he aggregates into larger objects like sculptures and reliefs. For Chun Kwang Young these art works contain the…
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When the mind says No
When the mind says No Just behind the Ukrainian Pavilion is one of those nice little squares of which Venice has so many. It has a small 13th century church, the Chiesetta della Misericordia, which houses this year the Dutch Pavilion of the Biennale with the video installation When the body says Yes by Melanie…
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Defending Freedom
Defending Freedom While Russia is invading and bombarding its neighbour Ukraine, spreading death and destruction, Ukraine is defending its freedom. At the Venice Biennale the Russian Pavilion is hermetically sealed. Russia is not welcome and is excluded from presenting itself at the exhibition. Ukraine on the other hand is proudly present with its international exhibition…
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Of loss and love
Of loss and love Before the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, more than 14.000 people had already died in the war that started back in 2014. In the Mothers Series Ukrainian photographers portray hundreds of mothers that have lost a soldier son in the early years of the war. Under each picture…
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Valeriia
Valeriia Gigantic picture banner of Valeriia, one of the millions of Ukrainian children that have fled their country to escape the horror of war. The banner, made by French artist JR, has been unrolled in different cities of the world. Last April still on the Piazza San Marco in Venice before it found a place…
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Nympha
Nympha Paolo Fantin, in his installation Lympha at the Venice Biennale, shows us a ‘nympha’ enveloped in pure white and light, but with dirty mud at her feet. It’s the nymph Daphne who has tried hard to escape from the passionate, aggressive advances by Apollo. In the end she finds a way out by turning…
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La Conca – wet
When at high tide the lower parts of the eroded rocky coast at La Conca get submerged by the sea this is how they look. The water in the small basins forms interesting turbid patterns, making the seascape look alive and beautiful. Photo of the week: Coast at La Conca, Isola di San Pietro, Sardinia,…
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La Conca – dry
La Conca – dry This is what the eroded rocky coast looks like at La Conca on the southern tip of Isola di San Pietro, just off the coast of southwest Sardinia. It doesn’t seem to receive sea water during normal high tide since the little basins are completely dried up. If it would, we…
καιρός remembered
… the right moment, position chosen, shoot …
καιρός remembered 