Giada Valenti: From Venice With Love: Unexpected art in Venice

The Venice Biennale continues to be a landmark event in the art calendar that attracts an increasingly global audience in my hometown.

It's like the most important "rendez-vous" for art lovers and artists from all over the world.

Every odd year, over half a million people – collectors, curators, art lovers and everything in-between – land to my Venice to discover new work from over 120 artists from 51 countries. For many artists, the opportunity to show their work in Venice is a career highlight and that often leads to powerful work being created.

Now in its 57th year, the Venice Art Biennale has set the tone for artistic discourse on a global level and presents work that is both playful and challenging. The title of this year Biennale is “VIVA ARTE VIVA” "Alive Art Alive" and the exhibition is curated by Christine Macel, the chief curator of Centre Pompidou in Paris.

The Biennale’s president, Paolo Baratta has explained that Macel is “committed to emphasizing the important role artists play in inventing their own universes and injecting generous vitality into the world we live in.”

The event has been in full swing since May 13 and will continue until November 26, 2017.

The epicenter of work can be found at the Arsenale and Giardini venues. I strongly suggest you visit the Biennale, but keep your eyes open also to the many pieces of arts that you will find around the City and that not require a ticket to be seen.

Here some spectaculars ones:

Support Sculpture by Lorenzo Quinn at Ca’ Sagredo Hotel by Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn. Quinn, known to use body parts (especially hands) in his sculptures, uses the gigantic limbs as a commentary on the fragility of our built and natural environment and its vulnerability to the forces of nature and man.

Golden Tower by James Lee Byars. It's a 20-metre-tall golden totem that has been constructed in Venice’s Campo San Vio and is towering over the Grand Canal for the duration of the Biennale. The sculpture was created by the late American artist James Lee Byars in 1976 but is being exhibited in a public space for the first time.

“Qwalala” Coloured Glass Installation by Pae White for Le Stanze del Vetro is on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. Le Stanze del Vetro presents a new sculpture by the American artist Pae White. Made of solid glass bricks, the piece is a curving wall that is over 75 meters long and 2.4 meters high. The title of the piece, Qwalala, is a Native American Pomo word meaning “coming down water place.” It references the meandering flow of the Gualala river in Northern California, which the work echoes in both its structure and layout.

“Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable” by Damien Hirst. Damien Hirst’s latest exhibition “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable” fills over 5,000 square meters of space at the Palazzo Grassi and the Punta della Dogana (the old Customs House) on the Grand Canal. The exhibition consists of 190 works that express the story of a fictional ship wreck from ancient times. In the main atrium of Palazzo Grassi stands one of the most dramatic ‘discoveries’ from the underwater exploration – ‘Demon with Bowl’, a gargantuan statue over 18 meters high. After being quiet for many years, Hirst is back with a bang!

As I have said before I suggest you visit the Biennale if you are in Venice. It will be much fun and always offers a wide option of modern art and creativity. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes and feel free to dress up with your most creative and crazy outfits to fit with the very immaginative and creative audience.

Here a nice video where you can take a look at this year Venice Biennale and hear some visitors reviews.