THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE CURATOR - The Venice Biennale

Polly: eyeline 52 pg 36, I found a 4 page article on The 50th Venice Biennale, 2003 written by Graham Coulter-Smith who will be refered to as 'Wanker' in my blog. The theme for the 2003 Venice Biennale was 'The Dictatorship of the Viewer', a phrase that highlights the artist/curator/spectator relationship to the work itself. The article is long and alot of it is bollicks but I've picked out some of the cool stuff that was entered into the 2003 Biennale. In the entrance featured the word work of Francesco Bonami and Daniel Birnbaum's, titled; 'Delays and Revolutions', quote from the first bit;

"Art survives as its caricature. Its charm lies in its irrelevance. Everything concerning it is a justification of its gratuitousness. Its arbitrary values confirm the fact that they are vacuous. Art is a circensian mode of expression."

I think it's kinda funny/intriguing that the exhibition is so self-conscious in the theme.. I really like it.. I can certainly relate there! Art and expression is very much about self-questioning and making decisions etc. The piece of work that I couldn't miss (above) was a video of a crowd of naked people having sex, then behind is another crowd of spectators (clothed) who cheered them on at 'climaxes' of the film.. hehe.. wouldn't you love to take your grandparents to see this?!

Anyhoo Wanker talks about all the different medium and highlights from the show. Wanker also has a go at Patricia Piccinini (who's great I reckon!) saying that if she were a man she'd be a multi-millionaire by mass-producing her cuddly creatures. It really aggravated me that Wanker had such a gold intro that talks about artists freedom nowadays in expression.. then he goes on for 3 more pages critising great artwork. It was interesting nevertheless and lead me to check out some really cool international artists.