Viva Art and Artists! The 2017 Venice Biennale Calls for Celebration, but is this a Time to Party?

By David Ebony

July 20, 2017

The biannual pilgrimage to Venice for the venerable, and ever more enormous international art show known as La Biennale di Venezia, is a worthwhile endeavor for anyone interested in the evolution of contemporary art. Unfailingly, the show offers a rewarding experience whether the core exhibition is a success, a failure, or something in between, as is the case with this year’s installment, the 57th. The artists and artworks highlighted in the Biennale proper—on view in Venice through November 26—and in the 86 national pavilions, and the innumerable satellite and collateral exhibitions taking place concurrently throughout the city, promise to provide a major source of art-world discourse and debate in the coming two years or more.

This year, the European Cultural Centre hosts “Personal Structures: Open Borders,” a large-scale international group exhibition held in three venues: the Palazzo Mora, Palazzo Bembo, and in one outdoor area of the Giardini. Under the auspices of the Dutch non-profit Global Art Affairs Foundation, and organized by a team of young Italian curators, the show features works by artists from 50 countries. High-profile veterans, such as Joseph Kosuth and Lawrence Weiner are represented, but the project also showcases the work of younger artists, such as Taiwan’s Li-Jen Shih, whose giant, stainless steel King Kong Rhino drew a great deal of attention near the Giardini entrance; and New York’s Richard Humann, whose high-tech contribution to the exhibition, Ascension, includes an “augmented reality app” that allows one to view imaginary constellations visible above Venice each night of the Biennale.

Link to article:
http://blog.yalebooks.com/2017/07/20/viva-art-and-artists-the-2017-venice-biennale-calls-for-celebration-but-is-this-a-time-to-party/