Sara Catenacci (2010) – Beyond the Giardini of the Biennale: Some considerations on a supposed model

Sara Catenacci (2010) “Beyond the Giardini of the Biennale: Some considerations on a supposed model”– Published as part of: Starting from Venice. Studies on the Biennale. Ed. Clarissa Ricci

(the full article is freely available on research gate https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304415597_Beyond_the_Giardini_of_the_Biennale_Some_considerations_on_a_supposed_model)

The article we’re presenting this week brings us for the first time to the Venice Biennial, as the author emphatically calls it “The mother of all biennials”. One would excused to think of the article as pledging in favour of the model being shaped by its most well known example, however, in reading the article the rather witty, almost ironic tone, of this slogan becomes clear. Sara Catenacci throughout her article, the result of her master research at Ca’ Foscari in Venice on the subject, actually brightly articulates how the mutation of the model is a dual-process in which other biennials and generally changes in artistic and curatorial practices have influenced Venice at least in as much as it has.

The main focus of the article however is Venice itself and in particular a spatial analysis considering the relationship between the exhibition and the city, from its origin in a specific area (the Giardini) to the current situation in which the “external pavillion” often give the impression that for its duration the whole city is the biennial’s stage. Through Catenacci’s  analysis  we are also reminded that in fact, the official move “outside” the Giardini only happened in the mid 1990s. This is a considerable time after other biennials had already adopted this model as a signature to exhibit art works outside a canonical setting.

There had been two experimental projects earlier (in the 70s and 80s) to expand the exhibition but both were abandoned for practical reasons, however the article does not go into details as to why they were abandoned. What the article does do instead is bring us quite compelling arguments for the difference approaches held by countries with a pavilion inside the Giardini/arsenale area and those who don’t. In Catenacci’s words the external pavilions can make use of the peculiarities of Venice as a vantage point

“This opportunity however forces these national delegations to eval-uate not only the buildings which host them, but also the social and urban aspects of Venice, creating a different rapport with visitors and simple passers-by, as the exhibitions organized in the city are free.”

However it is also clear that this produces a controversial competition between nations to secure specific locations, with repercussions also on the overall impact the exhibition has on the city. In this sense, the article leaves open a series of questions on the model attaining an area of research which we haven’t touched upon yet in our series which deals more specifically with urban spaces, urban ecology and economy.

We hope you take this, as we did, as an encouragement to explore this aspect of the biennial model more which we will follow up in the next readings.