Great photography. An inspiring combination of Venice at her best and creativity at work in a wonderful setting.

Art in entropic decay.............................modern art is a hyperbole of {non}creative schizophrenia. Some critic will compare these works to those of Michelangelo and other great artists. HOW SAD. I absolutely agree the comments made by Julie, Sophie and toosinbeymen, Where is the beauty?

For Mercedes#44 and Julie#38: Much of the popularized art that you may deem beautiful created prior to '40's was actually seen as very ugly in it's time. Van Gogh, Manet, David, even certain pieces from the Renaissance were highly criticized at the time of there making. Furthermore, most of these artist's intentions were not to show joy, morals and passion most but were rather highly political for the time. Degas' ballet dancers, for instance, seem beautiful to us, but ballet dancers at the time were also prostitutes, so to depict them dressing and undressing in paint was extremely scandalous. It is in this spirit that artists are continue to work today.

@31... agreed. yoko ono is not an artist.

They call THIS art? Whatever for!! This is crap!

venezia l'è la pì bela città del mondo :D

Serge Moati, a famous french reporter is on the third image

I can't help but wonder who decides what "art" will go into a gallery. How does one become an "artist" who's work will hang/ stand in a museum. I wouldn't call most of these art but I guess to someone it is. I have thought about creating some strange mix of garbage, rentin a space to display it and see what happens.

I try so hard to view art exhibits with an open mind, however mostly what I feel when I see these kinds of works is bafflement! I can't even pretend to be emotionally moved. I want to enjoy & appreciate art but it certainly is an uphill battle!

I can not know what there mean.

Well, Yoko Ono did several art exhibitions. But honored with a Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement? Hmm..

It is wonderful to sit here thousands of miles away and to enjoy every breat taking photo. Thank You All who allow this experience to be so enjoyed.

aweessssssssssssssssooooooooooooomeeeeeee

BIENNALE

I've always wanted to go to the Venice Bienele...I suspect this is the closest I'll get. Wonderful pictures.

A quote from Banksy: "The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little."

Two of my favorite things Venice,and art ,whats not to like!!!!

Okay, one, it annoys me, but not surprises, that so many comments are along the lines of, "where are the pretty pictures, this crap isn't art." Yes it is, and if you think the world needs more big-eyed puppy dogs and little sad girls with flowers, run on down to the flea market and you'll get your wish. Two, as I scrolled through the photos (great documentary photography is art unto itself, btw) I thought repeatedly, "wow, this is really inspiring and brilliant." So which one of us goes to art museums and exhibits and spends hours online perusing visual art sites and reads art books and even occasionally tries to make something called art, and which one of us just looks at things they don't understand and says "bah." Put a sock it it.

Last one's simply AMAZING !!!!!!!!!

David B. (#69), I agree with you that some simpletons will dismiss what they don't get and call it garbage. But this? Seriously? I'm sure you've seen the Uffizi, Louvre, Prado, etc. There's precious little of that quality in the last 150 years or so. And this Biennale is pathetic.

I'm baffled by the apparent need to "agree" on what is and what isn't "art". Why does that matter at all?

If a piece provokes thought or feelings or a new way of looking at things in even one other person, it has done its job. I agree that some art is rather self-indulgent on the part of the artist ("Look what I can do, look what I've done!") and is consequently less successful, but I would hate to live in a world where "truth" and "beauty" were rigidly defined/

Interesting pictures of an interesting exhibit.

i like what the person up top had to say, Nice to see what people create, instead of destroy.

Loved them, and #22 above all for some reason.

Also felt good to revive memories of Venice just about a year from the last visit

Gracias :)

To all of y'all who say this is crap...

You need someone to love you, I mean obviously someone hurt you in your childhood or something...

because seriosly?

You need to get over it.

I love #9, #11, and #22

#5 is also quite awesome

Yoko?? Really?? The only reason people even glance her way is because of John. She has no soul and is bufugly.

Leonardo Da Vinci said art should be intelligent, moral and ethical. I wonder what he would think about this? If all it takes to be an artist is to place colored light in a box or a horse on a wall, where is the intelligence? A dead body in a pool, where is the moral and ethical side of art? When a dead body is considered art I think it is time to ask if these people are stoned stupid or both. Dead body, that's real creative and not destructive. #38 hit the bullseyephilobedo@yahoo.com

I already did number 23 back in RISD in my junior year (96). Except I didn't call it "black holes".LOL. How is that title at all relevant? I really have no idea what is happening in most of this "art". But the one with the gorillas and the one with the geometric shapes made from string were my favorites. Really. I felt the sacred geometry happening in the string piece.

Some of the names are so incredibly pretentious it is recockulous..."buddha's hands"?? What are the lights coming down from ceiling? Buddha's pubes? ...mmm..c'mon. What was the freaking G.I. Joe figures playing Soccer? Really??? And the guy with the floating white thing who caught the fake fish??? Who is the audience for this artwork? Other artists? No one? I mean who did the artists think the audience was going to be? Did they care? Or are they just making the artwork for themselves? I mean did any of this communicate anything to you? With such an abundance of low craftsmanship you have to reach the conclusion that the work is conceptual and so what was the concept???? Anyone want to venture a guess? That would be all you could do unless you read some interviews with the artists where they spout some nonsense to justify their artsterbation. Well since most of this doesn't involve actual mastery of a craft I have to assume that the artists were trying to communicate something...(which they failed to do in most cases unless their message was so broad as to include everyone's imaginative wanderings that were sparked by their work) and I guess that since they failed to really communicate anything about their concept I would have to say it's not craft but just really bad art. What would be good art? Is that your question? Try somehting that cannot miss communicating the artists concept. If it is for the public then it should speak to the public. For instance the Vietnam Memorial in DC. Or how about the Holocaust Museum (a brilliant "installation piece if I ever saw one). So I will grant this the status of art but sorry it is mostly bad. Of course I am viewing it in such a mediated way that who can say if my opinion is even accurate and I would maybe change my tune if I saw and experienced it in RL. But well that isn't going to happen. Sad but true.

Photo #29 reminds me of the work of Gilbert & George.

Only, you know, good.

Type your comment here...
I don't like fish. I don't waste time talking about how much I hate fish, I order chicken instead.
Plenty of art out there folks, enough to fit every taste. Instead of spreading your negativity, why don't you go look for "real art" and celebrate it, or better yet, try to create this "ideal, universal" art yourself...
Thanks for the photos, wish I could have been there!

Lol@35, this is crap! Although, I'm intrigued by the floating man.

I love modern art, it just shows how incredibly gullible people are in pretending they "understand" this rubbish. It's like the time I was walking around Florence and came upon this group being led by some one "in the know" who was able to explain exactly what Botticelli meant in his paintings - like I know she was fairly old but to actually have been there and listened to the man himself - what an honour - or of course she might just as well have been spouting bullsh*t because there was nobody there to contradict her. This stuff is very questionable, some is quite good, but the majority is just utter rubbish to con the pretentious. Get a grip people, its profound crap.

N'importe quoi !!
Morbide ou grotesque, c'est selon. Ou simplement dépourvu de sens.
Vive l'art contemporain !

14, 20 and 8 are especially great - some humor in the mix without the slap-in-the-face, maudlin crap. Some great maudlin crap here, but enough! And YES, we know we are at odds with this earth!! We get it.

Very good! Pictures excellent.

Impressionante.
arte? vamos esperar mais tempo.
Veneza, sem dúvida.

I live here in Venice and just let me say that 99% of this so called "contemporary art" that we see every two years around the city is rubbish (I worked one year for the biennale and i had to explain to a lot of people that a pile of piperworks were just a pile of piperworks left in an angle and not a piece of art!). If you come here please take a bit more time to visit the Tiziano paintings at the Frari basilica or at the mosaics of saint Mark church iinstead...

hope,someday I can be a part of this momentous event.

A lot of this art seems like it is made with the same skill as a child completing their project assignment the morning before school after realizing they forgot to do it in the two week time lead they had...

Still some stunning shots of Venice though. Some day perhaps I shall see it in person, some day!

Congratulations to Boston Globe¡¡¡¡¡ Great work made by Mr. Alan Taylor.. Great, fine and accurate.....

Before Ivan Navarro from Chile, was Gonzalo Diaz.
Does anybody has information about him and his exhibition there at Venice Biennale?

From Chile.

Awesome photography as always!
The "untitled 2007" installation in photos #6 and #13 is the work of the artist Richard PriNce, not Richard Price.

Art doesn't conquer all, but it should.

Nice Art Work..... Specially figure 3, 12, 13, 17, 18, 23, 26..... They are very good.....

Big Picture, please correct the mis-spelling of Pic#8.
"Chinses"=>"Chinese"

Yoko get out of my mınd.....Im 57...everytime ı dont like ono...

My aunt used to be a modern artist. She used to take Barbie dolls, pipes, cement, metal and other odds and ends and throw it together and sell it for $80,000 or more. Then, she had some sort of moment where she woke up and realized that everything she made was absolute pretentious crap and has moved on with her life. I wish every one of these artists would wake up.

The photos are wonderful! The artwork provokes a spectrum of thought---- like a mixed palette, I have doubly enjoyed the on line exhibit,
---- photos and comments!! ------ Wow!!

Some of the comments here are from people who think that unless it's religious, paid for by the church or a king, grandiose, a painting or sculpture on traditional media, etc. then it isn't art. All that stuff was made by such repressive and cruel regimes. People used to get hanged for art that the king or the church found offensive. Was that a true expression?

Modern art is in your face and it's true that a lot of them can't even draw, but I love it as a total backlash against all that churchy "proper" art.

The Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto has copied my breaking mirrors performance I did in 2008, at the 'Octubre Centre Cultura Contemporanea' in Valencia. (Please see Youtube: 'jordi valls + vagina dentata organ').
I think it is very shameful that a established artist like Pistoletto has to lower himself to make such plagiarism out of my beautiful and unique work.
I despise so called artists. His action it's a rape against your intelligence.
Hail Satan!
Jordi Valls
Vagina Dentata Organ

Yoko? come on...

#26 reminds me of the movie "Tremors". HA

i hate art. but love venice :)

I definetly admire what these people are doing.

However that said, the "over the top in your face" nature of much modern art is sooo booorriing. Indeed, most "modern art" is so kitsch and see through. Ohhh a sinking ship in white and a red herring! Childish metaphorical posturing if you ask me.

There will be another revolution in art, when the real artists will be discovered having been quietly at work out of the limelight for years, creating beauty and truth while this gross whoring out of art was selling millions on page 1.

good art i like it

#13 - Well, you can't beat a dead horse.

This has nothing, nothing, on the art one can find at Burning Man.

captions on photos 9 and 10 are backwards...i think

Seriously, "crap"-people, open your mind at last! Isn't in interesting to see other people's ideas?

Rubbish, just disgusting rubbish. Where is art?

Image # 17 is the best one here....WOW!

Venice is the best of all.

The girl in #23 is the work of art. I'm in love!

watching this pics waiting to be there sometime.

it's true that this work was made for other artists, critics, curators, buyers and dealers. it was not made for the public. if you want to look at work that displays real "mastery of the craft," is a figurative painting, or otherwise subscribes to the antiquated canon, crack open an art history book from 50 years ago or search "art" on google images. welcome to post-modernism.

wow its amazing how many crazy people are in this world.....

Art?! this is pure crap!!

omggggggg

You need some keys to understand contemporary art, otherwise you won't be able to understand it fully. That is as simple as this.

There is theories behind all this, that you need to know.

By the way, I totally recommand this book, that I just finished reading : http://www.amazon.com/reader/8881186888

It is introduced as "an informative handbook rather than a volume of serious art criticism, a valid instrument for the viewer to walk, without feeling lost, through the field of contemporary art"

I'm kind of shocked by the overall dissent of this art work. I had a chance to visit the Biennale this year and would suggest that the artworks selected by this blog are some of the better work there. Sure there was some bad artworks, mostly these were over the top massive instillation's that were cluttered and had little or no entry. As for people saying these are not art clearly have no education of what art is, and instead have only a loose grasp on art. How, for example, could these pieces not be art?
As for those who are Yoko critics, you can certainly dislike her work but she is much more than Lennon's wife. Her involvment in the Fluxist movement inspired the Coceptual art movement that has forever altered and defined contemporary art.

i was just there and saw all of these pieces of art!! it was amazing!

I hate Yoko Ono as well...

For Mercedes#44, Julie #38 and Norman#55:
As an artist and an art lover, I understand the point of view of all of you. I do question about conteporary art all the time.
When Marcel Duchamp’s put his porcelain urinal as an art work on an art exhibition back on his time, it was a sock. People hated, and still do. Art work is to be questioned all the time. It's to shake us a bit, to make us to feel diferent feelings, no matter with are they. Love or Hate!

I love the horse in #13. lol

Incredible.

I saw curator Daniel Birnbaum speak about putting together the Venice Biennale at the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford last week -- about the art of curation as an unseen force that shapes the art experience beyond the individual objects.

Now, looking at these after his talk, there's a whole new layer of appreciation for not only the artists' work, but also that of the exhibition curators and the intricate relationship between art and space.

The problem with photography of installation art is that it takes it out of the context of its space. This blimp in photo number 14 looks a bit silly as it is, but if you were to view it live it would have a greater impact- if only for being large, and unexpected. Does this make it good? Well, that is matter for debate. One must remember there is good art and there is bad art. If you don't like this art it doesn't mean that all art being produced now is bad. My personal problem with much of what's being done now is a depressing move away from painting and sculpture for being passe.

Also, quoting Leonardo does not make you right. He worked several centuries ago, largely under the sway of king and pope. His statements from that perspective have nothing to do with the modern era. He was also up his own a$$ with inventing giant war machines and squandered much of his talent.

As for Banksy. Well, his art is great. Especially when he made that really out there statement that Paris Hilton is famous without discernible talent. About time someone took THAT sacred cow down a peg!

To #40 franknbeans: Of course this is another kind of art. Pseudo art. And it's perfect for people who want to pretend they are intellectuals, who want to be "pretty cool with whatever happens now", and for people who don't have a mind of their own. If you believe so much in mediocrity, try defending it with some sense, and stop telling people that they are "just silly and to please go away". How weak! Most of these pseudo artists are just ineffective designers and mediocre actors, who are destroying the essence of art, by calling obvious anti-art objects: art. And to the pseudo art lovers that just want to desperately be part of the “pretty damn cool group”, let me tell you that some of these pseudo artists do have some sense and they will just laugh at you: the golluble, easily amused crowd that will just buy anything.

Pretty nice and really beautiful :O :D

Art expands your mind. The more you know about art, the more you appreciate diversity of expression.

La beauté n'est plus un but,on le sait,au moins depuis cinquente ans!Parfois,je pense qu'i serait suffisant de suivre un bulletin d'information télévisé et ne rien y ajouter pour pouvoir exposer.Au fond,il s'agit toujours de s'exprimer,non?

I love the obvious excitement and energy of creativity, but so much enjoyed the illumination of the buildings and knowing that Copland's exurberant "Billy the Kid" was celebrated there!

Salem College Arts Management major alulm

todo muy buen gusto viva venezia

i've already posted in n.110. Yes, that's me. This time i want to leave a comment in my language, italian language.

"Nella foto numero 1 è ben visibile il rapporto che c'è tra colui che visita una mostra del genere e il cosidetto artista. Quelli riflessi nello specchio sono tutti quelli che rimangono a bocca aperta, sorpresi, stupiti, affascinati. Da questa parte dello dello specchio c'è quello che incassa l'assegno. Se fossi io quello con il martello non l'avrei lanciato sullo specchio. L'avrei lanciato su tutti quei fessi" (e avrei rinunciato all'assegno)

I cant believe Ive seen such words as i hate art that its not art. First of all artists are inventors and image makers they create new images and ideas. Thats there role and job, their not going to do that by painting a portrait for the king. No contemporary artist wants to do that because its boring and they simply do not have the desire to. If the work in the biennale is not art then what is it ?Maths. The comments that people have written sound really similar to what people have said throughout history about artists. The artists that have turned out to be masters. Contemporary art is interesting and stimulating. At the end of the day art is not going to get any easier. Adapt to the times while you still can.

If I have to have the artist explain to me what I am looking on then you have lost me.
So if I bought one of these pieces for my living room is the artist included in the price?

There has to be a place were creative experimentation and art work is not didactic and cliche. Art needs to get the viewer thinking to stimulate a creative and imaginative process in the viewer. So no having the artist with the artwork would probably ruin that idea. Not everything can be spelt out in black and white there needs to be a creative area in the world and it is art. Just like there is an area where there is an answer like maths or sport where it is the best physical performance. Its not such a bad thing you know. It has been proven that complexity and critical thinking lets out neurons and endorphins that make us feel good so we dont get depressed. To many people are angry and deprressed.

Les pauvres ringards cherchent toujours des moyens pour attirer l'attention. Vraiment il y a longtemps que ce clan ne survit qu'à coups forcés de dooping misérable et tristounet. Même dans le morbide, ils sont nuls.

My Lady Linda Dimitroff is a great artist and has opened her own Gallery : Graffia Gallery in Spring Lake Michigan, USA. I have allowed myself to see through her eyes. I Love to watch her view art. If she likes a piece you can see her fall in love with the art as she views it. That all being said. She is taking me to Venice Sept. 15, 2009. I have never been there before. A bonus we will be there during the La Biennale di Venezia. Looking to over dose on great art and history.

This is not Art !

I love Venezia and Silvio Berlosconni

Foi uma sensação incrivel esta ultima semana em Veneza. A arte abre o cérebro.

For the ones that know better,stop criticizing Venice and the Biennale, it is modern art and it will stick to our history as much as what we consider "classic" art, you might like it or hate it it's irrelevant, at the end of the day the world is full of people who know better however "for now" no one has invited you lot to expose there and probably nowhere else.
If you know better PROVE IT or simply shut up.

very nice picture thanks to showing

But the very best was the InternetPavilion by Miltos Manetas and the PirateBay people. Their Embassy of Piracy was something!

art is a train,
the rails made later
(...so where in the creation this is happening?)

I loved Miquel Barcelo - a real artist. I hated Pistoleto - Still the 60`s in the bad way.

WOW, just returned from Venice, and in the process of going online to find out things I couldn't grasp while there I found this site. There is plenty of room for everyone to have their feelings & opinions about art. There were certainly some things I thought were at best silly, but I think there were many that were thought provoking, quirky and delightful. I married an artist once, it was a gift to have the benefit of an artist's perspective, and I am grateful for what I learned from her. Artists are everywhere. Real art comes from the artist's need to create, nobody gets it right all the time, and the people here who kept talking about hate, wow? what stimulates such anger of that kind ? There are some truly beautiful pieces in that work. Do yourselves a favor & try to let go of that brittle negativity, you'll live longer & be happier.

I think that those of you who say that you love art but hate this obviously are not engaged with what fundamentally is art. Art has always sort to challenge our perceptions of the world around us. From the beautiful paintings of Monet and Van Gough who were ridiculed at first. Art has always shocked. You need to allow time to explore and really question what is this all about. It’s because art is intellectually challenging and beautiful that you need to allow it be absorbed by you. You’re not really looking. You’re not allowing your minds to open. You want art to instantly entertain but that is not what art is. It’s to give you time to think, feel. See beyond what you are actually seeing. All the art that has been created here is skillful and technically challenging, not just through the way that it has been created but in the way that it engages the audience.

I loved this year's Biennale, but if anything I like your pictures even more!

I am living in Venice for a few months and have visited the Biennale exhibits and love the Dogana exhibit. It isn't all great, perhaps, but some of the pieces must be seen in person to appreciate. I loved the Mike Kelly "Kandors" piece and have taken my son to see it. Very evocative and melancholy.
Not everything has to be worthy of Micheangelo to have value. Some of the dismissive comments might just stem from a lack of exposure or context.

Look all of you who commented negatively----- Try to wrap your mind around this:

CONTEMPORARY ART IS ABOUT IDEAS!!!