Venice Biennale

One of the opportunities we've had through this program is to have experienced the Venice Biennale.  Located primarily in two large venues, and additionally in pavilions dispersed throughout the floating city, the Biennale showcases some of the world's most innovative and provocative new work.

A piece that has continued to play in my mind since my visit is a lovely animation I witnessed in the Italian pavilion at the Arsenale, by artist Valerio Berutti.  When I entered the room this piece was housed in, the first thing I noticed was a large painting of a young girl sitting in a chair framed inside a square of dripping paint.  The image is simple, using minimal line and color to poignantly convey the subject and her setting.  As I walked further into the space, I saw that there were several of these paintings, each slightly different, and each taking up its own wall on a cube structure that opened into a small theatre through one of its sides.  I was invited into this room by soothing, airy music emanating from the dark space.  I enjoyed the simple structures Berutti employed to make us aware of inhabited space and the effect it has on us.  With his painted wallls he built a house that we could enter, where we suddenly detached ourselves from all that was outside. Inside, I found the familiar images of the girl in her chair, only this time she was in motion.  She looked curious but content, safe yet trapped.  The repetition of her movement and of the music sent me into a simpler state of mind, one soothed by rhythm and cushioned containment.   

I noticed that the size of the projected animation was about equal to the scale of the paintings, both larger than life.  The connection between the moving pictures and the stills was an important part of experiencing this piece, as it allowed me to become closer to the artist's hand in the process of creating this work.  The childlike manner in which the paintings were made brought me to a timeless place where I could imagine myself painting in gestural strokes, watching the little girl emerge out of a line.