Saturday – November 5, 2011
The Sirocco wind continued to blow and we had another rainy morning in Venice. From the breakfast room window of the hotel we could see the tourists with umbrellas unfurled. We also noticed that the small plaza was full of water and the wooden walkways were stretched out in a line.
The Saturday Morning Tourist Line to Get Into St. Mark’s
We had read about “alta aqua” before we arrived in Venice but had never experienced it. “Oh boy!” We thought, “What fun!”
Aqua Alta
The Venetians take the high water, which they call “alta aqua”, in their stride. The walkways had been piled up in all the low-lying places in the city and they were stretched-out in a line early in the morning as the lagoon water rises.
Workers Connecting the Walkways
The Venetians going to work are not too inconvenienced by the tide, but the tourists snapping photos get in their way. Early in the morning we heard the siren which warns the people that the sea is rising. One of the workers in our hotel told us they have “gum boots” for the guests, if we wanted to walk through the water of the rising tide. We didn’t think we needed them.
Tourists At The Doge’s Palace
Later in the morning, the water slowly receded, then the tourists and Venetians resume their daily lives. The shop keepers mop their floors and the walkways get piled up again ready for the next invasion of “alta aqua”.
Venice sparkles and is truly “magical” in the brilliant sun of summer, but now in the rain it takes on a mystical cloak of quiet beauty.
Working Gondolas in the Rain
I took this photo through the glass in the floating vaporetto station. The gondoliers, who look like they’re walking on water, were taking eager tourists out for rides despite the rain. Notice the tourists with their umbrellas open in the photo. :-)
Entrance to La Biennale
We decided that this was another museum day. During odd-numbered years, Venice hosts an International Art Exposition known simply as “The Biennial”. This is a celebration of all forms of contemporary art: visual, dance, theater, music, cinema, photography, video, poetry, spoken and written art. The art pieces are exhibited and performed all over the city of Venice from June 4th through November 27th. The general theme this year is “Illuminations”.
Map of the Main Exhibits and Performance Spaces
One of the largest exhibition spaces is in the Giardini which is a lovely park at the end of the main island. It had stopped raining by the time we took the vaporetto and got off at the Giardini station. Because this has been an important international cultural event since 1895, there are permanent exhibition buildings in the park.
Art and Pigeons
We entered the main building and immediately noticed the still pigeons staring down at us. We never saw an attribution to a particular artist, but the pigeons were amusing. We had wondered why there were fewer pigeons in the Piazza!
Interactive Art
I won’t bore you with too many photos of “other people’s art”, but there were a few really interesting pieces like the above “interactive” piece. The entire room was full of red and black clay which visitors could either write a smear on the walls or stick the clay onto the walls in a self-expressive gesture. Many people were participating and wrote words on the walls.
Photographing Art
Photography was permitted throughout the entire exhibit in every room, except in the central room which had three gigantic Tintoretto paintings hanging under some stuffed pigeons.
Photographs and The Ever-Present Pigeons
The works of art were very interesting and the exhibition spaces were excellent places to show the pieces.
Venetian Art
This multi-media wooden piece was in the Venetian building. The upright structures resembled the hulls of boats, perhaps gondolas. Each hull had a video of water rushing by with the appropriate whooshing sound. I thought it was a good representation of a watery Venice, especially in the rain.
Library and Seating Area
After all the walking, we needed a place to sit and rest. This area near the end of the exhibition building was called the library and also provided free WiFi.
Bienniale Cafe
Just outside the library we found this whimsically decorated Cafe. What a visual treat!! The seating wasn’t too practical, but it was a fun place for a cappuccino. The far wall was covered with large pieces of reflecting mirrors which were mounted in a helter-skelter random manner. It provided an interesting backdrop for the cafe!
Place Your Orders!
Angled mirrors behind the coffee bar reflected interesting and varied pieces of the room and the people. The decorators must have had fun designing this room.
Reflections on the Back Wall
Outdoor Cube
We found “art” everywhere! Perhaps that is what “Art” is…….
Brazilian Art
Probably the most thought-provoking and unusual work of art was the installation by a Brazilian artist whose name I can’t remember now. (my apologies!) The open room was a sparse chaotic mix of litter, pieces of twine and wood, graffiti, dirt, empty plastic bottles and other garbage. In the center of the path which crossed the room was a wooden box with rotten smelly fish-heads placed on rock salt.
Room Full of Water
One of my favorite works was a minimalist empty room that had been flooded with water. Visitors had to walk into the room on the L-shaped boards that traversed the room above the water. It reminded me of the walkways above alta aqua in Venice today!
A Bit of Humorous Comment
We found the neoclassical 1930s brick building which houses art from the “Stati Uniti d’America”. The contemporary artistic team of Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla are representing the United States at this year’s Biennial, with their collaboration named: Gloria.
Poster for The American Exhibit
Outside the American pavilion was an up-side-down military tank with a tread-mill mounted on top, which had been a performance art piece during the summer season. You can see it in action on a UTube video. Just inside the front door, in the rotunda, was a copy of a classical bronze statue of “The Statue of Freedom” lying down in a tanning bed.
Freedom on the Tanning Bed
According to the New York Times, “Thomas Crawford’s “Statue of Freedom,” also known as “Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace” — a classical female figure, her right hand resting on the hilt of a sword and her left holding a wreath of victory — which has stood atop the United States Capitol since 1863.” Imagine the statue on a tanning bed. Interesting comment about our current social culture.
Inverted Tank With Treadmill
There were old first-class convertible airline seats which commanded the center of two bare rooms. Shabby testaments to wealth and power.
American Tourists
Convertible Airline Seats
In the center of another room there was a tall wooden organ mounted on top of a round pedestal. We walked around the organ and admired the beautiful wood and organ pipes. At the back in the center of the organ, there was a built-in video screen and keyboard which looked like an ATM machine.
ATM Organ
We were more than a bit surprised when a young American woman stepped up on the platform and approached the ATM Organ with her bank card and proceeded to type in her codes on the keyboard. When she finished her transaction, the organ automatically played a short tune. She withdrew just a token amount, which demonstrated her naïvety given the current exchange rate and bank fees, but we onlookers were thrilled to hear the organ pipes blast out the loud tune.
The Danish Pavilion
Similar to a World’s Fair there were many interesting permanent buildings in the Giardini which were designed to exhibit artistic works from different countries. There were also many buildings throughout Venice which were transformed into exhibition spaces. It was as if the entire city of Venice became an artistic palette once again, as it has been doing for hundreds of years.
Fruits & Vegetables For Sale Along the Quay
We left the Biennial Exhibit in the Giardini and walked behind the park. This was a new neighborhood for us and we thought it would be fun to explore. It had stopped raining and the narrow streets were deserted. Sounds of voices and scents of garlic and onions wafted out from the buildings. It was lunch time!
Resident Parking
It was still early, but we were tired of walking, so we hopped on the vaporetto and returned to our hotel for a rest.
Inside the Cabin of the Vaporetto
Because of the time change and approaching winter, it became dark about five o’clock. Venice is safe at night and the city lights are beautiful. We just a little worried about getting lost on unfamiliar and dark alleyways. There are signs painted on the corners of many buildings which point to either “Rialto” or “San Marco”.
A Campo At NIght
For dinner we went to Do Forno which was right near our hotel. It had a small entrance but the restaurant had several large rooms in the back. Do Forno is an old fashioned Venetian restaurant with attentive service and good food. Someone wrote somewhere that the interior was decorated like the Orient Express Train because of the elegant highly polished wood and silvered mirrors. I had Grandma’s tortellini soup and sea bass which were excellent. Jeff had a delicious chicken Provençal. It was good to have a wonderful meal in a warm and inviting restaurant at the end of a misty rainy day.