This time-based collage consists of computer-generated images and soundtracks produced from open source scientific data sets from institutions like CERN and NASA: a poetic index of the increasing complexity with which artificial and automated intelligence understand and interpret the natural and social worlds. That said, successful installations include Ryoji Ikeda's spectra III (2008/2019), an all-white hallway overexposed with powerful white fluorescent lights covering the ceiling, which contrasts with the artist's projection theatre in the Arsenale, where Ikeda's monumental three-part single-channel installation, Data-verse (2019), is installed behind a pair of dominating architectural columns. Unfortunately, with its stubborn floor plan, the architecture of the Central Pavilion at the Giardini was clearly an obstacle to Rugoff's curatorial efforts when compared to his remodelling of the Arsenale's spaces. Exhibition view: May You Live In Interesting Times, 58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia (11 May–24 November 2019). DCI-4K DLP projector, computer, speakers. As a whole, the project explores the political implications of transliterations, mistranslations, and semantic transformations 'as a strategy of resistance, and research, into notions such as identity, colonialism, and faith.' Hanging in the space is a tall, thick vinyl curtain printed with the image of two cucumbers, each adorned with an oversized pink nipple-a suggestive and playful image that connects with the collective's wall installation of signs at the Giardini, Tranny Tease (pour Marcel), (2009–2016), which expresses a similar sense of play when it comes to how the artists mix and match the pronunciation of words and their different meanings across languages in visual terms. Located in a large and enclosed square-shaped space at the end of the venue, a central fountain in a tiled square pool is located among other elements, from a vending machine selling sauerkraut juice to scattered green plastic garden chairs for visitors' use. Take Slavs and Tatars' installation, Dillio Plaza (2019), which acts as a bold full stop for the entire show at the Arsenale. Ocula Conversation Ralph Rugoff Read More In terms of sculpture, Nairy Baghramian stood out with Maintainers (2019) in the Giardini, a series of weirdly shaped pieces of cork and Styrofoam covered in coloured paraffin wax resembling natural forms interconnected with pieces of aluminium-a clarifying step forward for a discipline that has been suffering from an identity crisis due to its conflation with all other forms of three-dimensional art. Highlights include Njideka Akunyili Crosby's paintings at both venues of the central exhibition: large canvases depicting the interiors of Nigerian homes at the Giardini, which invoke the saturated colours, texture, and flatness of digital screens, and a series of portraits in the Arsenale utilising monochromatic backgrounds with greyscale figures that seem to function as a missing link between classic black-and-white portrait photography and digital selfies. In fact, Rugoff's curatorial approach seems to reveal a genuine interest in contemporary painting and sculpture, which was made apparent from his careful consideration of painters and sculptors in the show. Ocula Photolog Venice Biennale Performances View More With sand, light, heat, towels, umbrellas and, most importantly, tens of rotating performers dressed in beachwear enacting their day in the sun, many singing operatically, what powered this exhibit was its knowing fakeness-a nod to a future when beaches have been replaced by their imitations. From a rectangular balcony overlooking a covered courtyard, viewers gaze down at Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė, and Lina Lapelytė's performance-installation Sun & Sea (Marina) (2019), curated by Lucia Pietroiusti, which completely transformed the pavilion's historic building into an artificial beach. Not only did artistic director Ralph Rugoff inject a fresh approach to curating the central show by presenting most of the 79 participating artists in both the Giardini and Arsenale exhibition spaces, but the award of the Golden Lion for best National participation to Lithuania demonstrated how it is possible to be both socially relevant while pulling off one of the most likeable national pavilions in recent memory. Ocula Photolog The 58th Venice Biennale View More
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