magnifico!!

The first week in Venice has been nothing but exciting. I have always held the notion that Venice was a just small cluster of islands..sprinkled with canals, homely Italian restaurants and just a handful of ornate buildings where one could take a lazy gondola ride through. Well, as it turns out, Venice is a cluster of rather big islands filled with thousands of the most beautiful and ornate buildings you would ever see, immense yachts floating around the Grand canal, a few hundred Gondola's blasting out accordion music from built in sound systems..and most importantly the biggest art exhibition in the world going on for its 52nd time, The Venice Biennale. Boom. It was quite overwhelming- to say the least. I am interning in paradise for the lovers of the aesthetic. Who could ask for anything better?

Arriving at Palazzo Franchetti was a bit of a mission.. seeing as I am the quintessential Singaporean-where walking long distances is a massive task. Nevertheless, the walk was well worth the moans (and a sprained ankle) seeing as the Palazzo turned out to be absolutely magnificent.

Palazzo Franchetti is a 15th century building situated next to the Accademia Bridge, that is quite a popular area in Venice. This is due to being one of the few bridges linking the popular area of San Marco to a neighbouring island . Palazzo Franchetti immediately jumps out at you, due to its quiet yellow facade, beautifully maintained private garden, ornate metal gates, and gothic stone venetian lions looking down at you from the second floor. As you enter the building, one is immediatly blown away by the stunning Baroque interiors, corinthien columns inlaid with peach colored marble, grand marble staircases, immense windows looking over the grand canal and delicate pastel colored fresco's on the ceilings.

It would be hard to get bored of this place.. no..what i meant was.. palace.

What impressed me the most (and i am not saying this since they are technically my bosses) is how Lindy (the curator) and the artists integrated their works with the details of the palazzo. The exhibition space in the Palazzo is basically ten rooms with deep red colored walls. Each room, except for Zul's Sound Dome, contained chandeliers. A visitor commented to me a few days ago, that an inferior artists work would be overpowered by the ornateness of the palazzo. However, this was not the case, for the ideaologies and beauty of the art was accentuate by the Palazzo. It was a brilliant fusion, which left a lot of people impressed.

The Pavilion launch was extremely exciting. Before the launch, one could cut the tension with a knife. Nevertheless, it turned out to be an absolute success, thanks to lots of Prosecco..great works.. and some symbolic iconoclasm. Jason's chandelier, Just Dharma, which symbolized the Buddhist ideals of hope- and the subsequent loss of it, through the smashing of it during the pavilion opening- really got the party started. It was a powerful introduction to what the exhibition held. All very dramatic and fabulous.

On the whole, the response to the art work has been amazing. I don't think many people expect the art coming out of Singapore to hold much weight (for reasons i would never know!).. and despite their presumptions..a lot of the visitors come out amazed and impressed. Its a great feeling to see, especially when I am Singaporean, and have seen the steps leading up the Biennale due to a previous internship in the National Arts Council. This newly developed patriotism, which is odd for my flaming liberal tendencies, showed itself a couple of days ago. A woman got annoyed by the fact that she could not receive a catalogue (through no fault of our own..Italian customs wont let it through), so she declared Singapore 'Inefficient'. Man oh man, that really elicited quite the response from me.

Manning the pavilion has been a really insightful experience. For instance, a long discussion I had with an English visitor, who related the entire exhibit to a principle from Aristotle, in regards to existence.

Joel, my intern partner in crime, and prodigious photographer, has really enjoyed the docent aspect to the internship. Taking gaggle's of school girls around the exhibit for a thorough explanation of the works.

Ah well..

Seeing as I am currently lacking a few cerebral capabilities due to an excessive amount of coffee, ciggerettes and nocciola gelato.. i should take the responsible step and stop writing.

Till tomorrow...
the city calls!