The striking jet-set art that gives as much space to the party as to the presentation of the work infers the proximity of the Biennale without actually being part of it: that's what's happening in Venice today. The list of vernissages in palaces, art spaces, halls or churches around the opening of the Biennale is unmanageable. One took place on Wednesday evening with a strong Austrian participation.
The location is actually within sight of the Biennale exhibition grounds, but to get to the Arsenale on foot on the other side of the harbor basin, Fondazione Berengo has rented two vacant halls on the north side, requiring a long trip through the winding road. The streets of the less touristy Castello district are a must. Fondazione Berengo was founded to promote the medium of glass in modern art, and in 2009, the exhibition Glasstress was held as a co-event of the Biennale. Viennese artist Sabine Wiedenhofer was already in 2017. This time, together with the Belgian artist Goen van Mechelen, he was allowed to play at the eighth Claustruse event, Tessa 99, this time in Murano.
Almost everything here is made of glass – the great ark of Belgium, which will probably escape the coming disaster again, and the bold warnings of Austria. “So Sorry” was scrawled in large red letters on the wall with NATO bullets. In front of it is a four-square-meter, neck-deep water on a Don't Annoy-You board with colorful Murano glass figures. The large play cube next to it gives the installation its title “Alea iacta est”.
At the opening, attended by celebrities such as Cornelius Oponia, Katja Reimann and Hervik Jamernik, large doll figures walked through the audience, who knew how to combine a yearning for peace with a celebratory mood. Is the party early? After the biennale…
Other Austrian artists are currently in Venice. 81-year-old Eduard Angeli holds his first exhibition at the Fondazione Vedova since 2008, “In a way, he has decided to return from Austria to the lake city and live and work in the Lido. Again after the great flood disaster,” in 2019, he destroyed his studio in his adopted home. and damaged or completely destroyed many pictures,” it says. “Silentium” is a showcase that pays homage to the “other” Venice, not as beautiful, but above all less hectic and busy. From May 4, the works of Hermann Nietzsche will be on view at the Spazio Vedova in Zattere, “Amendola. Burry, Wedoa, Nicht: Accioni e Gesti” will be on display at the event.
At the Palazzo Cine in Campo San Vio, the 84-year-old painter Martha Jungwirth shows her impressive series of works entitled “Heart of Darkness” “Port Tori”, while at the Palazzo Pisano Santa Marina the 69-year-old Tyrolean Hans Weygand presents his exhibition “Rising Waters / is with Falling Skies”. Xenia Hausner's first solo show at Patricia Lo Gallery. The title “Stranger Things” refers to the main program of this year's biennale, “Stranger Ounque – Foreigners Everywhere”. Not only paintings but also sculptures can be seen.
On April 20th, Vienna-based Tyrolean artist Andrea Bischoff invites you to an open studio day at the Lido. Fondazione Bonotto invites you to a 150-minute performance by the Linz dancer Silk Grabinger at the Venice Venice Hotel (sic) on the same day. Under the title “SpotshotBeuys,” he interacts with Boston Dynamics' robotic dog Spot and references Joseph Beuys' “I Like America and America Likes Me,” for which the artist locked himself in a room with an American coyote for three days. to allow
Finally, Austria is also represented in the 7th edition of the “Personal Structures” art show organized by the European Cultural Center (ECC) in Venice. Alois Lindenbauer, Ernestine Faux and 28-year-old John Petschinger and others show their work at the Palazzo Mora. Don Fink has installed “Five Block Chair” in the sculpture garden of the reopened Giardino Marinaressa. Anyone rushing past the small park on the Riva dei Sette Martiri towards the Biennale site could hardly believe their eyes: Gottfried Kumpf's bronze elephant had also gone to Venice.
