![]() Alemani found it fitting to the times that we live in because of ongoing issues concerning race, gender, and identity, and the pandemic itself. The concept of metamorphosis has been present in art history before as well. She gathered artists who look at our relationship with our own bodies, metamorphosing with technology and with Planet Earth. However, as the curator states, these directions do not create three separate sections of the exhibition, but somehow manage to intertwine the works. ![]() Venice Biennale exhibition view, via La Biennale websiteĬecilia Alemani looked at works that tried to answer these questions and when searching for the answers she found herself looking in three big directions. The charming side of the Venice Biennale is seen in the fact that the exhibition reflects so many different points of view, it positions the visitors out of their comfort zones and makes them confront other realities and other possibilities of the future through art. These are the huge questions that this international exhibition is trying to find answers to. The questions she asked are: How is the definition of a human being changing? What differentiates plants and animals, humans and non-humans? What are our responsibilities toward our planet, other beings, and other forms of life? and What would life look like without us?. She had come up with four big questions that seemed to interest the artists and tried to give possible answers through her selection of artworks in the exhibition. The themes in the show also came from the conversations Alemani had with her chosen artists. The three main themes present at the 2022 Venice Biennale have become easily accessible when learning about the curator and her choice for the title of the exhibition. Intertwining Themes Venice Biennale exhibition view, via La Biennale website The reduced human interactions, no travel allowed, as well as viewing art through technology while isolated in our homes have inevitably created footprints on the ways in which we perceive information. During the pandemic, the curator could have pondered upon the connections between human beings, magic, technology, and nature. This has certainly influenced the whole concept of the show. Alemani didn’t just have to face the challenge of curating the biggest international art exhibition, but she faced this in a time of crisis too, during the pandemic. The title, though hard to correlate without reading into the subject, can also be taken out of the book’s context and thought of as a metaphor for the infinite number of possibilities in everyday life that we dare to experience only in dreams. Page from The Milk of Dreams by Leonora Carrington, via New York Review Books The book speaks of hybrid beings who have the power of transformation and change. These drawings and stories were later documented and put together in a book that was published in 2017. This year’s title Milk of Dreams comes from a children’s fairytale book written by Leonora Carrington during World War II when the artist fled from England to Mexico and started writing stories and coming up with fictional characters to entertain her children. The Milk of Dreams by Leonore Carrington The Milk of Dreams by Leonora Carrington book cover, via Penguin Random HouseĮach edition of the Venice Biennale has its own special theme chosen by its artistic director and curator. The curator has often stated in interviews that though her agenda is not to speak just about inequality itself, art is supposed to be a reflection of the world that we live in and so far it has not been. Since then, the famous curator became the Junior Director and Chief Curator of the High Line in New York City, constantly working with art in public spaces.Įxhibition view at Giardini, via La Biennale websiteĬecilia Alemani has also made history by presenting the first-ever Biennale where women represent over 80% of the exhibited artists. In 2018, Alemani was made the Artistic Director of Buenos Aires’ first Art Basel Cities. ![]() She also curated the Italian pavilion at the 2017 Biennale. Alemani is no stranger to challenging debates on the connection between humans and technology, humans and mother nature, and exploring fantastic beings through the eyes of contemporary artists. For the past decade, she has been focusing on art in public spaces and on the relationships between the art world and the viewers. Holding a BA in Philosophy from the Università degli Studi in Milan and an MA in Curatorial Studies from Bard College in New York, Cecilia Alemani became the first Italian woman Artistic Director of the Venice Art Biennale. Alemani: The First Italian Woman to Curate the Venice Biennale Cecilia Alemani, photo by Andrea Avezzù, via Juliet Art Magazine
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