A Mosque, the NSA and Small Batch Tequila Feature in Venice Biennale Art
- May 07, 2015 12:07
Some talked-about installations among the 89 pavilions at the 2015 Venice Biennale (May 9-Nov. 22) include:
A 10th-century church converted into a mosque by Christoph Büchel for Iceland's pavilion has caused Italian police to deem the installation a security risk. The artist collaborated with the Muslim communities of Venice and Iceland to create the first ever mosque in the city, with "physical attributes of Muslim worship – the qibla wall, the mihrab, the minbar, and the large prayer carpet oriented in direction of Mecca – juxtaposed with the existing Catholic architecture," reads the biennale foundation website.
Irreverent nude sculptures by Sarah Lucas are lounging around the British Pavilion.
For the New Zealand pavilion, Simon Denny’s use of graphic designer David Darchicourt's work in a critique of the NSA was inspired by Edward Snowden's leaks. Darchicourt apparently did not know his illustration work was going up on the international stage in Venice, where "Secret Power" is shown in the Marco Polo Airport and on racks usually used for computer servers in Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana.
A wall-mounted arm representing the highly-monitored warehouse worker at retail giant Amazon was created by Jeremy Deller in the Central Pavilion
At the Danish Pavilion, Danh Vo's sculptures come with dirty words spoken by the demon in the 1970s movie The Exorcist. Vo was also the first artist asked to curate an exhibition in Venice. His Danh Vo Special Edition Punta della Dogana 2015 showcases a small batch tequila in handcrafted bottles along with an exhibition called "Slip of the Tongue" that spans art history, conceived with Pinault Collection curator Caroline Bourgeois.
And for those of us missing the opening events, view the slideshow of partygoers plummeting into the Grand Canal on their way to a cocktail soiree at Fondazione Prada from Italian news site La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre.