Art + Design at the Venice Biennale

Columbia College continues its "hands-on, minds-on" approach to learning with this intensive course centered on the Venice Biennale, which opens the day before the class begins. Through exposure to the national pavilions in the Giardini and elsewhere, as well as the Aperto and ancillary project spaces, students experience a wide range of work by global contemporary artists. Studio production will be informed by not only the day-to-day experience of visiting the Biennale sites, but also through an understanding of the history of the Biennale (the world’s oldest and, arguably, most prestigious art exposition) and the unique nature and history of the city of Venice itself.

The Francois Pinault Collection

Douglas Gabriel writes, "it appears that Pinault owns the entire canon of contemporary art. The chance to see the likes of Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy and Rachel Whiteread, to name just a few, all in the same vicinity, in conversation with one another was a rare opportunity. This feeling is especially emphasized by a tight restriction on all photography..."

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Storms and Steve McQueen

Nicholas Steindorf writes, "It has been storming for days now. No better preparation for the film. Entering through the gates of the Napoleon built Giardini Publicci that has housed la Biennale di Venezia since 1895, the colonial British Pavilion is firmly perched at the end of the somber grand avenue like a castle atop a mountain. The British Pavilion has the utmost control of when, where, and how their visual information is presented..."

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Peep-Hole

Anna Trier writes, "The goal of Peep·Hole is 'to weed out useless superstructures replacing them with a leaner relationship between artwork and viewer.” Every issue contains work by a single artist, who is selected and then has complete freedom of subject and format, so long as the writing is previously unpublished...'"

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It isn't all nature, elves, and Sigur Rós in Iceland

Nicholas Steindorf writes, "Welcome to the end, as posed by Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson in the Palazzo Michiel dal Bruasà. The Baroque-style structure has been transformed into a studio for the six month run of the Venice Biennial. Kjartansson spends his days painting portraits of his friend, model, and fellow artist Pall Haukur Bjornsson, wearing the same Speedo each day, under the tender Venetian light..."

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Worldmaking as We Know It

Douglas Gabriel writes, "We enter the white cube and shrink beneath an impressive network of elastic ropes that appear frozen in a moment of making...

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La Accademia & The Biennale

Jackie Capozzoli writes,"Over the past few days we visited La Accademia, a museum filled with Venetian Renaissance artwork on the South Bank of Venice, and also got our passes for the Biennale. We all took the Vaporetto, the public water "bus" to both places. It was thrilling to see all the works of art I've only seen in Art History books, and also to experience my first day at The Biennale, one of the largest contemporary art festivals in the world."

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Venizian Strangeness

Torreyanna Barley writes, "Venizia is very strange. It is old. There is a lot of seawater flowing through the “streets” and the buildings have had a hard life. Italians who live here stick colorful pinwheels in their planter boxes, grow tomatoes and basil, drive boats around the city to get to and from their jobs..."

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First Impressions

Jackie Capozzoli writes,"Venice is more unusual than it is romantic. The buildings here are painted soft colors, sun orange, yellow, salmon and rich cream. The green canals wind everywhere, and the boats line the canal streets and houses like cars..."

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