A Small World

8/20/2013 - Venice, Italy

The Venice Biennale is one of the biggest art festivals in the world, featuring art from 88 countries. It inspires the same feelings of optimism and brotherhood as the Olympics. A huge part of Venice is devoted to the festival: there are two sections devoted to it, and other art pavilions are squeezed into buildings scattered around the city. 

By the end of the day, I felt I had walked through a version of Disney's "It's a Small World" for adults. Before I even bought a ticket, I had stumbled upon art from New Zealand, Taiwan, Zimbabwe, and China. As I entered one of the two main exhibit halls, I kept a list of the nationalities of the artists. Here it is, with most of my notes deleted: 

Nigeria. Italy. USA. China. USA. France. Switzerland. France. Romania. Belgium. Russia. USA. Turkey. Portugal. UK. China. USA. Vietnam. USA (Wisconsin! Von Bruenchenhein). USA (Chicago! Jessica Jackson Hutchins). UK (Steve McQueen). Poland. UK. USA (R Crumb). Japan. Senegal. Italy. Brazil. Ivory Coast. Czech Republic. USA. Belgium. Germany. Denmark. Poland (Pawel Althamer, above). USA. USA. USA. Greece. USA. USA. USA. USA. Greece. USA. Belgium. USA. USA. Italy. USA. USA. Sweden. Switzerland. Poland. Italy. Germany. France. USA. Italy. Germany. Germany. Poland. USA. USA. UK. USA. Germany. New Zealand. UK. India. USA. UK. UK. USA. Germany. Italy. Germany. USA. Argentina. UAE. South Africa. Lebanon. Chile. Kosovo. Turkey. Bahrain. Indonesia. Latvia. "Latino American." Netherlands. Bahamas. Italy. China. China. Georgia. Brazil. Germany. Morocco. Kenya. China (the outstanding Ai Weiwei exhibit, in a beautiful old Venetian church).

Pictured: The popular exhibit featuring the work of Pawel Althamer of Poland.