Monday morning we took the vaporetto along the lagoon-side of Canareggio, swinging around to get off at the Arsenale. This part of the Biennale has fewer of the big national pavilions, and I was interested in concentrating on the series of themed pavilions. Earth, Community, Shamans, Color, Time, Dionysians. Artists chose to interpret the themes in very personal ways, and I adored this installment.
Maria Lei from Sardinia used the folklore of the area as the framework of her several pieces, many of them taking the form of books, or pages embroidered with text and embellished in creative ways, or community art projects using a community-created ribbon that the residents used in individual ways to wrap their community. Here she wraps books in the traditional flatbread made by women in Sardinia.
Kosovo artist Petrit Halilaj used traditional fabrics to create huge moths, clustering around the light fixtures of the pavilion like people in Kosovo yearned for the light during the war years.
I loved Michelle Stuart’s many photo collages, especially this one called Flight of Time.
Thu Van Than from Vietnam used different forms and media to explore native plants.
And look plants in footwear. Hey, we did that at school!
Teresa Lancetta used Moroccan carpets as inspiration for her fabric and paint pieces.
Grr, I don’t have notes of who did this (I need to research) but this was one of my favorite pieces, a long hallway hung with many “curtains” of metal if varying textures and patterns, hung with gorgeous lanterns.
This was cool–Sookyoung combining his heritages with the traditional Korean practice of potters destroying work that isn’t perfect with the Japanese tradition of celebrating imperfection and damage with gold. It was constructed of thousands of shards of pottery, bound with gold and reaching toward the ceiling.
Abdoulaye Konate from Mali created this wonderful woven and painted piece which documents a trip to Brazil.
Beautifully glowing gold “drops” on black squares, so elegant. Liquid or solid, moments in time.
Here’s a lovely installation from Argentina which represented aspects of the country’s history.
And from Iceland, shimmery works centered on ice.
Since our favorite El Rofolo was closed on Mondays, I had made a reservation for a nice lunch at CoVino. Teeny, with just 5-6 tables and an open kitchen. We had fun watching the assistant chef assemble the cold dishes, working in her tiny workspace. We had a lovely lunch, the food was fresh and light and went in unexpected directions. You can do a two or three course meal, we figured what the hell and went with the three.
Larry started with a vegetable riff on the traditional Sarde en Saor, with an assortment of spring vegetables lightly marinated and showered with capers and pine nuts. I had a rich little baked pasta. We enjoyed sharing these. Larry went on to a “burger”, a wonderfully flavored meat mixture with roasted potatoes, greens and a delicious egg. I had sea bass with fennel and vegetables over an bagna caude sauce, excellent. We finished with tiramisu, and lemon curd with soft merengue. Glasses of prosecco on the house, and two glasses of excellent wine. Winner.
We went back to the apartment so I could rest my sore knee, and later went to “our” hidden deck for an aperitivo before a simple dinner of salad and salumi.
Sunset over the Lagoon from our window.
Destination Anywhere 