For now this will be my third and last slideshow video of my recent trips. Again the slideshow is almost an hour long and condenses a week of adventures into a continuous stream of images and short clips. So let's dive in.
This video is about my trip to Venice in late summer of 2024. My main focus of this trip was watching the Venice Art Biennale of 2024 and their various venues. I've also been visiting some of the Collaterali events, these are like add ons to the main exhibition spread all across the city of Venice and its lagoon. But of course what's a trip to Venice without actually watching Venice and all its glory. There's a reason why it's called the Serenissima and of course I can't let you go without showing you at least some of the marvels of this often so unexpected but still beautiful city.
Venice' heart is San Marco, the famous cathedral on one edge of the so unique St. Mark's square with its campanile. And this is where the video starts. I had the chance to visit the interiors of San Marco with their famous golden mosaics as well. If you have time to do so and manage to get one of these skip the line tickets I highly recommend going inside the cathedral as well.
Next stop are two collaterali exhibitions on the island San Giorgio Maggiore right on the opposite side of the Giudecca Canal. Here I've been watching Berlinde de Bruyckere's "City of Refuge III" and Alex Katz' "Claire, Grass and Water".
The Venice Art Biennale in full swing presented to you with the Giardini first and the Arsenale second. This year's exhibition felt very classical to me, a lot of paintings, a lot of art for the white cube but also a lot of native and indigenous works from areas of the world that still feel like second row citizens of the planet. Also don't miss some sneak peeks at the famous Rialto Bridge and the Mercato del Pesce next to it.
A special interest of myself was visiting the island of La Certosa where I have never been before until then. The island lies very close to the city of Venice, but also it feels like it's miles away. In stark contrast to the dense and stacked environment of the city La Certosa is open and green and full of natural vegetation. It's a good place if you need a little timeout of the sometimes hectic urban environment. But mind the gnats! In 2024 La Certosa was part of the Venice Art Biennale as an outpost of the German pavillon.
Next some Collaterali again. First Pierre Huyghe and his exhibition "liminal" in the Punta della Dogana, often dark and beautiful with a focus on large scale video works. After that I've been visiting the Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti housing three small exhibitions in total, Qatar and "Your Ghosts Are Mine", Portugal and "Greenhouse" and an exhibition called "Breasts", well about breasts. Towards the end of that day I was also visiting Juli Mehretu and her exhibition "ensemble" in the Palazzo Grassi, which felt more impressive to me than I originally thought it would. Her work still feels a bit academic, but nonetheless it's gigantic.
Towards the end of the video you'll find images of Christoph Büchels' "Monte di Pieta" in the Fondazione Prada. I had so much fun going through all that mess, don't miss the video that I captured while walking through the interiors of the exhibition. Last but not least the Chanakya Foundation and their exhibition "Cosmic Garden" presented in the Salone Verde.
And that's it. You'll find quite a few images of the usual suspects of Venice that no one can pass without taking a photo of, so this slideshow is definitely both, a tour through the Venice Art Biennale as well as a tour through the city of Venice. Again I've been adding detailed chapter marks to the original video description on YouTube, so you can jump around and pick only those parts that feel interesting to you. I hope you enjoy this video: