When entering the Romanian Pavilion you are greeted by empty space, which is what you would expect from the title, an Immaterial Retrospective of the Venice Biennale. What you find inside of this blank space are actors, portraying past exhibits at the Biennale. Quite frankly I find the idea genius. Its appropriation in a different way, and I find it interesting to watch. I feel though, that it would be even more interesting to watch if I knew exactly what they were portraying. While they tell you which piece they are performing, prior knowledge of the previous work would definitely be beneficial.
Some of my favorite works were ones where either you interact with the work or it has some type of auditory sounds. This exhibit in the Polish Pavilion contained 2 bells that rang on the hour every hour. The position of the bells, and the amplification through the speakers make this exhibit easily heard from all around the Giardini. This is a great example of architectural amplification, and I find this piece very interesting. The bells were handmade by the artist, Konrad Smolenski, and is defined as a sound sculpture. I find the idea of a sound sculpture very interesting, and may want to pursue something relating to sound in my future works, especially in regards to the installation pieces.
One of my favorite things when we were in Murano was sea glass hunting on the mini "beach" that we found on our way to Burano. The colorful collection we dug for will create an amazing piece of art. There were many colorful pieces, of all sizes, and I tended towards the smaller pieces, to complete my collection.
I have a few ideas for my sea glass, one where the sea glass is tied with clear string inside of a picture frame, similar to a piece of artwork I saw at the Biennale. My idea is to create a hybrid of tied pieces and dangling pieces of sea glass, and to play with the light and reflections on the walls. I want it to be hanging from the ceiling with space between the piece and the wall. By using transparent string, the shapes the glass creats on the wall will be the only thing seen.
Things I want to play with:
- Light
- Color
- Reflections
- Space
- Transparency
- framing
- 3 Dimensional Design
I may even use wire as a drawn line flat piece of work with either the shadow or the actual wire piece on the wall, in which I use the shadows from the sea glass as the shadows within the sculptural piece. I am not sure of the scale I want to use yet, or if I want the piece to be uplit or downlit, and which direction i want the shadows to go, but I think playing around with the sea glass and using the shadows on the wall to create a design would be a fun and interesting way to work with the glass. Although this idea has helped me develop another idea for a 3 dimensional piece.
"Sound sculpture (related to sound art and sound installation) is an intermedia and time based art form in which sculpture or any kind of art object produces sound, or the reverse (in the sense that sound is manipulated in such a way as to create a sculptural as opposed to temporal form or mass). Most often sound sculpture artists were primarily either visual artists or composers, not having started out directly making sound sculpture. Cymatics and kinetic art have influenced sound sculpture. Sound sculpture is sometimes site-specific."
- Wikipedia
Being at the Biennale really inspired me to work more with the senses, other than what we visually see. The one that sticks out to me the most is sound. Every piece at the Biennale that had sound held my attention for a while(except for the video pieces, which I find i didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would) and the idea of working with sound is exciting to me. I would really like to create a sound sculpture, because I was so inspired by the Romanian Pavilion. To me, sound gives the work another element of surprise, and can add dimension and meaning to a piece if effectively used. I feel like I will make a sound sculpture at some point in my career, it is just a matter of finding the right materials, the right space, and having the right ideas.
Other well known sound sculptures(that most people have heard of) would have to be musical roads. There are musical roads in 4 different countries, and the idea that just driving over the road creates sounds through the vibrations of your car is interesting to me.
The graphics design majors were very lucky to have the opportunity to tour a graphics design studio when we were in Venice. The Hangar Design Group was very welcoming and we were excited to tour their workspace. Their aesthetic is very clean and minimalist, using classic fonts and lots of black and white around their office. They had many different wine bottles on display that they had created, and also showed us a catalog of different things that they had designed. The firm creates everything from logo design, to architectural work, from packaging to display to video promotion. It was very inspiring to see graphic design in action and it really made me excited for the graphics class I have this fall.
While in Murano, Erin and I sat on the edge of the walkway with our feet toward the water, and sketched. It was so relaxing to just take the time to sit down and sketch in such a beautiful place. At the time we were sketching when Slagle walked by, so we met back up with part of the group for the rest of the night. After Murano is when we went to Burano, and I think this day was my favorite day of the trip.
"The metaphor follows the myth of Danaë, who was locked up in a cave by her father, King Acrisius of Argos, to prevent her from bearing children. A prophecy stated that the King would be killed by Danaë's son. Zeus, however, came to her in the form of golden rain and impregnated her. Soon after, their child Perseus was born, who would later fulfill the dark prophecy. This piece, called Danae, is a modern take on the myth and is also a statement on the greed, cynicism, wastefulness and gluttony of the 21st century."
- http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/vadim-zakharov-russian-pavilion-venice-biennale  Definitely one of my favorites! This pavilion was thought provoking and an interesting concept. The fact that men were only allowed to participate in part of the exhibit, keeps with the story of Zeus coming to Danae in the form of golden rain, as the women were the only ones allowed under the gold coin rain. The golden rain is a cycle that the women have to keep going, by bringing a handful of coins back to a bucket that would then be cycled back to be showered on future guests. Overall the concept of greed, wastefulness, and gluttony are all represented well, from the quotes on the wall, to the active participation in the exhibit itself. I think it was my favorite of them all, I think because it was interactive, and very memorable.
"Curator Udo Kittelmann says: “The Greek myth of the impregnation of Danaë is subjected to numerous readings: a falling shower of gold makes reference to the seduction of Danaë as an allegory for human desire and greed, but also to the corrupting influence of money. Through his artistic staging, Zakharov allows this ancient myth to find a contemporary temporal dimension. Philosophical, sexual, psychological, and cultural fragments become concentrated into a theater-like overall composition throughout the Pavilion rooms. The project has sculptural and pictorial elements and invites active participation by visitors to guarantee the flow of material goods (coins, peanuts, rose petals, people) as an ongoing process.”"
- http://vernissage.tv/blog/2013/06/14/vadim-zakharov-danae-russian-pavilion-at-the-venice-biennale-2013/
Writing about this exhibit previous to visiting the Biennale, had me excited to see it in person. And I was not disappointed! The space this takes up is quite large, and as soon as you enter the door you are greeted with the smell of the spices. I enjoy seeing all of the colors exhibited in this display, which are either natural or man-made. This was one of the only exhibits where smell was used to heighten the visual stimulus.The vibrancy of the colors, along with the combined smell of the spices, make these small mountains even more interesting.
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