Paddy Johnson at The Daily: Best in Show at The Venice Biennale

by Paddy Johnson on June 7, 2011 Venice

Christian Marclay takes the Golden Lion

I discuss The Venice Biennale for The Daily this week. An excerpt below:

If the Venice Biennale were a race, no one would finish. There's too much art to see, which means people look at what's talked about and make empty promises to return in the summer – the exhibition is up through November 27th.

But how effective a viewing strategy is following the buzz? Better than one would think. The national pavilions with long lines tended to house some of the stronger work including some clear standouts: Austria's Markus Schinwald, Switzerland's Thomas Hirschhorn, Japan's Tabaimo, and Israel's Sigalit Landau. Still, as viewing plan, the method isn't exactly foolproof. The huge lines outside the Mike Nelson's installation in the British Pavilion were because organizers only let roughly 50 people an hour walk through, not because it was any good. Nelson's work – for which he gutted the building's insides, remaking it in the shape of an abandoned workshop in Istanbul – required a lot of technical skill, but didn't have much creative life.

To read the full piece click here.

 

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