After a full day at the Arsenale we started our second Biennale journey to the Giardini, where we wish to live more interesting times. The laguna opens in front of us and we experience the fresh morning air in a vaporetto trip to the Castello neighborhood, enjoying the views of Punta della Dogana and San Marco.
Sculpture
May You Live In Interesting Times (I)
‘May you live in interesting times’. With this statement as a trigger point, La Biennale welcomes the visitor with a powerful (and poetic) warning. The times we are living are indeed interesting, but they may be dangerous, violent and lived as a race against the clock. This year’s exhibition, curated by Ralph Rugoff, explores the role of art in the fascintating intersection of AI, technology and humanity.
The Wreck of the Unbelievable (I)
Citing Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Damien Hirst reveals the treasures of his exhibition “The Wreck of the Unbelievable” at Punta della Dogana in Venice. The artist proposes an extravagant excercise of believe: all statues, objects and pieces were supposedly sunk in a ship named Apistos and later discovered in the Indian Ocean.
Liebieghaus: Bronze and Myths
By the calm waters of the Main, in the Museumsufer, we find the Liebieghaus, a museum with an impressive collection that offers an overview of five thousand years of sculpture from Ancient Egypt to Neoclassicism. The splendid Liebieg Villa was built between the 1892 and 1896 by the architect Leonhard Romeis, and combines features of different architectural styles from all over Europe.
Ernst Fuchs – Fantastic Realism
In 1888, the Jugendstil architect Otto Wagner built the opulent villa surrounded by nature for himself and his wife Louise. Ernst Fuchs – leading representative of Vienna’s Fantastic Realists – opened it to the public.
Steinhof – Gold and Green
Where the golden angels are closer to heaven and the woods surround vestiges from the Viennese Jugendstil. The opulent Saint Leopold church was built between 1903 and 1907 by the architect Otto Wagner at the Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital.
Circle of Animals
Ai Weiwei reinterprets symbolism, tradition and repatriation in over-sized bronzed sculptures. After Prague, Chicago, Paris and Los Angeles, the exhibition took place in the Belvedere gardens of Vienna.
Maidens of Karyai – Greek Architecture
From ancient Greek architecture until our days, these beautifully sculpted females named caryatids support the entablatures of many classical buildings.