Florence Biennale 2007

We visited the Florence Biennale today spending about 5 hours. We still didn’t see everything. The event is at the Fortezza da Basso. There was definitely a lot of art to see – “…more than 800 artists from 74 countries, the Biennial of Florence is the largest Contemporary Art [Exhibit] in the world.” Each artist had space to show a few pieces (3-5). In about 50% of the spaces, the actual artists were there to speak with. It was a bit intimidating and frustrating because even in several hours you couldn’t talk to or stop and admire all that you wanted to. There were a large number of curators and gallery owners at the Biennale (we think) perusing. The goal isn’t about selling, but about the “diffusion” of art, though most pieces if not sold already probably, could be purchased.

The list of artists’ work we saw is long, here are a couple of things that stood out for us:
--Spent an hour or so talking with artist Nancy Reyner from Santa Fe.
--Played around with the multimedia exhibit named “Se mi sei vicinio” (“if you are near me”) by Sonia Cillari.
--Admired an exhibit named “s.h.e.” by Natasa Teofilovic
--Found a marble bust of Bill Gates - we just can’t escape Microsoft is seems