A pirate ship. Imaging the Biennale of the Third Millennium 1895 – 2007
On the 27th and 28th of November, the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista hosted “A pirate ship. Imaging the Biennale of the Third Millennium 1895 – 2007”: two days of international talks with the aim of starting a debate on the new Biennale, with the participation of all the leading figures of Venice cultural life.
They reflected upon and analysed future scenarios and the possibilities for an institution like the Biennale with over a century’s history that is still capable of contributing to contemporary art tout court with new ideas and projects.
For this reason they compared the image of the new Biennale to the one of a pirate ship that stays on unusual and unknown courses, often difficult and not understood.
Roberto Pugliese underlined that we should not forget the experimental vocation of the Biennale that has always been open to new technologies, and which should become a permanent workshop. As a matter of fact, all the participants in the conference agreed on the fact that the Biennale should become a permanent centre of activity: a reality active throughout the year, helped by its long presence on the territory and by the use of poorly exploited areas like Marghera or the Arsenale (as Cristiano Seganfreddo has been doing for a very long time now with Fuoribiennale) and that this way will become the real creative core of the city.
There were many topics taken into consideration, starting from the need, according to all the speakers, for a greater interdisciplinary relationship and a greater interaction between the different sectors of the Biennale.
Rinio Bruttomesso (Biennale Architecture 2006), in his caustic speech, defined the Biennale, in its current situation, as a “old institution, unable to recognize and enhance all the new things that already has” and expressed his hope for the Biennale to find new founding principles, like interdisciplinary relationships, research for novelty and experimentation.
Marco Casamonti proposed, as a way to renew the Biennale, the possibility of a greater relationship with all the small and medium enterprises that work in Italy and all their capacities from an economical and relational point of view. Enterprises should not participate in cultural initiatives only as sponsors but as real partners.
Moreover, many of the participants, like Angela Vettese (President of the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation), expressed the hope that the ASAC (Archivio Storico di Arti - Historic Archive for Contemporary Art) becomes the point of reference for the new Biennale, able to attract young people, where it is possible to find conference rooms, cinemas and other facilities, like in the Grand Bibliothèque of Paris, that collects new creative ideas and transforms the city so that the ASAC itself will become the centre for reflection on the great themes of culture and contemporaneity.
Dicembre 2nd, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Interessante questo esperimento un po’ fuori dagli schemi per cercare di ridare slancio alla Biennale. Vedremo dove questo dibattito ci porterà. Mi permetto solo un commento sull’ASAC. Tutti ne parlano come di un vero tesoretto nascosto. Non vorrei che nel tempo si trasformasse nell’Eldorado di Candido, un sogno irrealizzabile.
Marco