Ars Adriatica, No. 7, 2017.
Book review
https://doi.org/10.15291/ars.1392
The Venice Biennale in the Light of Artistic Concepts (2003-2017)
Vinko Srhoj
; Department of Art History, University of Zadar
Abstract
This retrospective overview of the oldest exhibition of contemporary art, the Venice Biennale, focuses on the artistic concepts of its selectors from the 50th exhibition in 2003 until the latest, 57th, which took place in 2017. The central thematic exhibitions of the Biennale have become the benchmark for evaluating the entire artistic production of the two-year interval, the main trends on the global art scene, and the spirit of the time. Analysing the selectors’ concepts, the author has indicated some of their qualities and deficiencies and assessed the state of theoretical superstructure of curatorial concepts at the time and their comparability with the actual, converging or diverging state of artistic production. His conclusion is that the Biennale has been losing momentum and flow, and that the selectors’ concepts are often imposed at the cost of artistic quality. The exhibition of Damien Hirst (2017) has confirmed the already present trend in which the collateral exhibitions taking place during the Biennale tend to overshadow the Biennale itself and shift the focus on the more compact and artistically more appealing exhibitions of individuals, art groups, or phenomena.
Keywords
Venice Biennale; artistic concepts (2003-2017); Damien Hirst
Hrčak ID:
191276
URI
Publication date:
20.12.2017.
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