53rd Venice Biennale: A - Z
A guide
A
A Common Complaint (see: Can’t See Everything; Impossibility; Sore Feet)
Absence (see: Africa; Maps; Women)
Accademia (see: Solace)
Africa (see: Absence)
Always Incomplete (see: Lists)
Anachronisms (see: Prizes)
Apologies (see: Always Incomplete; Everything We Missed; Fallibility; Maps; Memory)
Arsenale (see: Absence; Berlusconi, Silvio; Birnbaum, Daniel; Fare Mondi; Highlights; Lowlights; Scandal)
Art (see: A Time of Uncertainty)
Art About Venice (see: Austria; Czech Republic and Slovak Republic; Great Britain; Netherlands, The; Mir, Aleksandra; Gonzalez-Foerster, Dominique; Scotland)
Artempo Part III (not a patch on Part I)
Artistic Director (see: Birnbaum, Daniel; Fare Mondi; Politics)
A Time of Uncertainty (see: Art)
Australia (see: Gladwell, Shaun; In More Than One Location; Lowlights; National Identity; Tender Machismo)
Austria (see: Self-Reflexivity; Film; Venice)
Azerbaijan, Republic of (Cogito Ergo Sum: see Maps; Translation)
B
Bathos (not enough of it. see: Pathos)
Bauer Hotel (see: Glitz; Most Mentioned; Solace)
Bearded Bird Callers (see: Highlights; White, Pae)
Beauty (see: Solace; Venice)
Berlusconi, Silvio (see: Italian Pavilion; Lowlights; Scandal)
Biennales (see: Santayana, George)
Birnbaum, Daniel (see: Artistic Director, Fare Mondi)
Bombast (see: France; Japan; Russia)
Bosoms (see: Speechless; Japan)
Bouchet, Mike (see: That Sinking Feeling; Highlights)
Boyce, Martin (see: Highlights; Maps; Scotland)
Brazil (see: Uchôa, Delson; Highlights)
British Identity (Most Regionally Specific: as well as British Pavilion, there were Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Peckham and New Forest Pavilions)
Byars, James Lee (see: Highlights; Maps)
C
Cale, John (see: Melancholy; Music; Thoughtful; Wales)
Canada (see: Highlights; Lewis, Mark; Thoughtful )
Canals (see: Lost; Maps; Off-Piste)
Can’t See Everything (see: Apologies; Impossibility)
Casavecchia, Barbara (see: Scandal, page 131)
Churches (see: Solace)
Chutzpah (see: Czech Republic and Slovak Republic; Denmark & Nordic Countries)
Climate Change (see: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; Latvia)
Collateral Events (see: Apologies; Maps; Numbers; Politics)
Collectors (see: Artempo Part III; Credit crunch …; Denmark & Nordic Countries; Pinault, François; Recession; Yachts)
Complicated (see: Absence; Identity; Maps; Memory; Politics; Translation; Venice)
Consensus, Lack of (see: Opinions; Venice)
Conservatism (see: Berlusconi, Silvio; Humourless; Italian Pavilion; Politics; Prizes)
Credit crunch, what credit crunch? (see: Collectors; Pinault, François; Yachts)
Cyprus, Republic of (see: National Identity)
Czech Republic and Slovak Republic (see: Chutzpah; Highlights; Ondák, Roman; Self-reflexivity)
D
Deicmane, Evelina & Mitrevics, Miks (see: Latvia)
Denmark & Nordic Countries (see: Chutzpah; Collectors; Gatsby, Great; Highlights)
Difficulty of Competing with the Beauty of Venice (a commonly heard criticism or excuse)
Divided Opinion (see: Gillick, Liam; July, Miranda; McQueen, Steve; Evans, Cerith Wyn & Hecker, Florian)
Don’t Look Now (Maps; Melancholy; Memory; Venice)
E
East-West Divan: Contemporary Art from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan (see: Politics; Translation)
Ecology (see: Canals; Gerrard, John; Latvia; Politics; Water Bottles)
Evans, Cerith Wyn & Hecker, Florian (see: Divided Opinion; Music; Wales)
Everything We Missed (see: Apologies; Exhaustion; Guilt; Maps; Translation )
Exhaustion (see: Apologies; Guilt Maps; Off-site)
F
Façade (see: Baldessari, John; Highlights; Venice)
Fallibility (see: Apologies; Guilt; Memory)
Fare Mondi (see: Arsenale; Birnbaum, Daniel; Making Worlds; Polite; Translation)
Favaretto, Lara (see: Highlights; Swamps)
Fear (see: Death in Venice; Lost; Maps; Number Crunching; Recession; Tedium)
Feminism (see: Absence; Wendell Holmes, Oliver)
Film (see: Austria; Fare Mondi; Great Britain; Netherlands The; Portugal; Romania; Singapore)
Finland (see: Kivi, Jussi; Municipal)
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (see: Climate Change)
Fortuny, Palazzo (see: Artempo; Collectors)
G
Gatsby, Great (‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’ see: Danish & Nordic Pavilions)
Germany (see: Gillick, Liam; Giardini; National Identity; Self-reflexivity; Talking Cats; Taxidermy)
Gerrard, John (see: Ecology; Maps; Politics)
Giardini (see: National Pavilions; Numbers)
Giardino delle Vergini (New sculpture garden! see: Favaretto, Lara; Highlights; Innovation; Jeong-A, Koo; July, Miranda; Swamps)
Gillick, Liam (see: Germany; Highlights; Taxidermy)
Giorgione (see: Accademia; Solace)
Glitz (either absent or disguised beneath a thin and unconvincing veil of modesty)
Golden Lion Award (see: Conservatism; Nauman, Bruce; Rehberger, Tobias; Nationalism; Politics)
Gonzalez-Foerster, Dominique (see: Venice, the city; Highlights)
Great Britain (see: Film; Germany; Giardini; Self-reflexivity; Tender machismo)
Greece (Matthew Higgs curates Lucas Samaras. see: Xenial)
Guilt (see: Apologies; Can’t See Everything; Exhaustion; Off-Piste Pavilions)
Gusmão, João Maria + Paiva, Pedro (see: Portugal, Highlights)
H
Highlights (see: Baldessari; Bauer Hotel; Bearded Bird Callers; John; Boucher, Mike; Brazil; Byars, James Lee; Canada; Czech and Slovak Republics; Denmark & Nordic Countries; Gonzalez-Foerster, Dominique; Iceland; Jacir, Emily; Jonas, Joan; Lucas, Renata; Mexico; Mir, Aleksandra; Palestine; Portugal; Singapore; Giardino delle Vergini; White, Pae; Pape, Lygia; Scotland; Wesley, John; Yang, Haegue )
Humour (see: Denmark & Nordic Countries; Iceland; United Arab Emirates)
Humourless (see: Australia; Conservatism; France; Japan; Politics; Russia)
Hungary (Forgacs, Péter: see: Politics)
I
Iceland (see: Humour; Music; Kjartansson, Ragnar)
Impossibility (see: Can’t See Everything)
In More than One Location (see: Australia; Humourless; Ireland; Nauman, Bruce; Pinault, François Tillmans, Wolfgang)
Innovation (see: Highlights; Giardino delle Vergini)
Invisible (see: Absence; Africa; Feminism)
Ireland (see: Music; In More than One Location)
Israel (see: Politics)
Italian Pavilion (see also: Politics; Scandal; Berlusconi, Silvio; National identity; Special report by Barbara Casaveccia, page 131)
J
Jacir, Emily (see: Highlights; Palestine c/o Venice; Politics; Translation)
Japan (see: Speechless)
Jeong-A, Koo (see: Melancholy; History; Highlights)
Jonas, Joan (see: Melancholy; History; Highlights)
July, Miranda (see: Divided Opinion; Giardino delle Vergini)
K
Kivi, Jussi (see: Finland; Municipal)
Kjartansson, Ragnar (see: Highlights; Humour: Iceland; Music; Solace)
Korea, Republic of (see: Highlights; Yang, Haegue)
L
Latvia (see: Climate Change; Deicmane, Evelina & Mitrevics, Miks)
Lists (see: Always Incomplete; Fallibility)
Lost (see: Absence; Fear; Maps; Off-Site; Tedium)
Lowlights (see: Australia; Berlusconi, Silvio; Chan, Paul; Italy; France; Japan; Queues; Russia)
Lucas, Renata (see: Highlights; Modest Gestures)
M
Making Worlds (see: Fare Mondi; Translation)
Maps (see: Apologies; Fear; Lost; Off-Site Pavilions)
Margolles, Teresa (see: Mexico; Politics)
McQueen, Steve (see: Great Britain; Self-reflexivity)
Melancholy (see: Art; A Time of Uncertainty)
Memory (see: Fallibility)
Mexico (see: Margolles, Teresa; Melancholy; Politics)
Modest Gestures (see: Czech and Slovak Republics; Lucas, Renata; New Zealand)
Most Hubristic Exhibition Title (‘Victory over the Future’: Russia; ‘Pictorial Elaboration of the Sensory and the Real’: Croatia; ‘MADDESTMAXIMVS – Planet & Stars Sequence’: Australia)
Most Mentioned (see: Bauer Hotel; Czech and Slovak Republics; Denmark & Nordic Countries; France; Great Britain; Japan; Solace; Yachts)
Most Vague Exhibition Title (see: Fare Mondi)
Municipal (see: Finland)
Music (see: Evans, Cerith Wyn & Hecker, Florian; Iceland; Ireland; Palazzi; Parties; Solace; Wales)
N
National Identity (see: Australia; Cyprus; Germany, represented by a British artist; Greece, curated by a British artist; Italian Pavilion; Xenial)
Netherlands, The (see: Art About Venice; Film; Highlights; Tan, Fiona)
New Zealand (see: Lost; Maps; Modest Gestures; Upritchard, Francis)
Not as Good as it Was in … (insert year; see: Querulous; Schadenfreude)
Number crunching (not be confused with credit crunching; 77 Countries, 29 Countries in the Giardini, 44 Collateral events, 90 artists in show curated by Daniel Birnbaum; days most visitors stay, three. see: Apologies; Fear; Guilt; Impossibility; Lists; Maps etc)
O
Off-Site Pavilions (see: Exhaustion; Highlights; Lost; Lowlights; Maps)
Opera (see: Evans, Cerith Wyn & Hecker, Florian; Divided)
Opinions (see: Consensus, Lack of)
P
Palazzi (see: Beauty; Parties; Solace; Venice)
Palestine c/o Venice (see: Highlights; Politics)
Pape, Lygia (see: Highlights; Special Mentions)
Parties (see: Absence; Fallibility; Melancholy; Solace)
Pathos (Everywhere; see: Bathos)
Pinault, François (see: Collectors; Credit crunch …)
Poland (see: Politics; Wodiczko, Krzysztof)
Polite (see: Fare Mondi)
Politics (see: Africa; Conservative; East-West Divan; Ecology; Golden Lion Awards; Hungary; Humourless; Israel; Italian Pavilion; Mexico; Poland; Scandal; United Arab Emirates; Union of the Comoros)
Portugal (see: Highlights; Film; Melancholy; Maps; Off-Site Pavilions)
Prizes (see: Anachronisms; Nationalism; Politics)
Q
Querulous (see: Not as good as it was in …; Schadenfreude)
Queues (see: Great Britain; USA; France; Romania; Denmark and Nordic; Biennale Cafés; Lowlights)
R
Recession (see: Absence; Fear; Parties: Yachts)
Rehberger, Tobias (see: Golden Lion Award; Queues)
S
Santayana, George (‘Life is not a spectacle or a feast; it is a predicament’)
Scandal (see: Absence; Casavecchia, Barbara, page 131)
Schadenfreude (Often directed towards the incumbent Artistic Director’s exhibition)
Scotland (see: Art about Venice; Boyce, Martin; Highlights; Maps; Thoughtful)
Self-reflexivity (see: Austria; Czech & Slovak Republics; Germany; Great Britain; United Arab Emirates)
Serbia (see: Politics; Translation)
Silver Lion (see: Sweden: Djurberg, Nathalie; Politics; Prizes)
Singapore (see: Film)
Solace (see: Bauer Hotel; Beauty; Bellinis; Churches; Czech and Slovak Republics; Giorgione; Palazzi; Parties; Portugal; Venice)
Sore Feet (see: Guilt; Impossibility; Maps; Solace)
South Africa (see: Absence)
Special Mentions (see: Pape, Lygia; Curating Worlds: Elmgreen and Dragset; Expanding Worlds: Ming Wong; Translating Worlds: Roberto Cuoghi)
Speechless (see: Japan)
Stendhal Syndrome (a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly beautiful or a large amount of art is in a single place; see: Venice)
Swamps (see: Favaretto, Lara; Giardino delle Vergini; Highlights)
Swine Flu (see: Apologies; Exhaustion)
T
Talking Cat (see: Divided Opinion; Germany; National Identity; Self-reflexivity)
Tan, Fiona (see: Netherlands, The; Highlights; Art About Venice)
Taxidermy (see: Germany; Denmark & Nordic Countries)
Tedium (see: Anachronisms; Lost; Maps; Wall Texts)
Tender Machismo (see: Australia; Great Britain)
That Sinking Feeling (see: Apologies; Can’t See Everything; Mike Boucher’s suburban house)
The Frequent Impossibility Of (see: Apology; Maps; Translation)
Thoughtful (see: Canada; Czech and Slovak Republics; Scotland; Gonzalez-Foerster, Dominique; Wales)
Tillmans, Wolfgang (see: In More Than One Location; Highlights)
Translation (see: The Frequent Impossibility Of; Poland; Palestine; Serbia)
Truisms (see: Accademia; Difficulty of Competing with the Beauty of Venice; Exhaustion; Impossibility; Not as Good as it Was in …)
U
Unfair Comparisons (see: Venice; Zoo)
Union of the Comoros (Paolo W. Tamburella’s restoration of traditional boats. see: Politics, Water)
United Arab Emirates (see: Humour; Self-reflexivity; Politics)
United States of America (see: In More than One Location Nauman, Bruce; Prizes)
V
Venice (see: All of Above, All of Below)
Venice, Death in (see: Fear; Lowlights; Memory)
W
Wales (see: Cale, John; Evans, Cerith Wyn & Hecker, Florian; Maps; Music)
Wall Texts (see: Conservatism; Translation; Tedium)
Water (see: Canals; Ecology)
Weight of Expectation (see: Venice)
Wendell Holmes, Oliver (‘Revolutions are not made by men in spectacles’)
Wesley, John (see: Highlights)
White, Pae (see: Bearded Bird Callers; Highlights)
Wodiczko, Krzysztof (see: Poland; Translation)
Women (see: Absence; Feminism)
X
Xenial (‘the friendly relation between host and guest, or a person and a foreign country’ see: Greece; National Identity)
Y
Yachts (count ‘em)
Yang, Haegue (see: Korea, Republic of; Highlights)
Yugoslavia (former) (see: Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia)
Z
Zambia, Zimbabwe (see: Absence)
Zdjelar, Katarina (see: Serbia; Translation)
Zoo (see: Unfair Comparisons; Venice)
Compiled by Dan Fox and Jennifer Higgie
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