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The Venice Biennale previewed its 61st and most chaotic edition ever early this week, just days after the unprecedented resignation of its jury over the participation of Israel and Russia undermined the structure of the world\u2019s oldest contemporary art exhibition.<\/p>\n
Tensions were evident as Ukrainian artists stood by a truck that had brought a statue of an origami deer from their country\u2019s war-ravaged eastern front to the Biennale\u2019s storied Giardini. Just metres away, a handful of participants in the Russian Pavilion danced to house music played by an Argentine DJ.<\/p>\n
At the same time, a group of Palestinians marched through the Giardini wearing the names of artists who have been killed in Gaza. More protests were expected as the preview week continues.<\/p>\n
Few inside the Biennale were surprised that global politics were spilling over into the international art exhibition, putting new pressure on its structure of national pavilions alongside a curated exhibition and raising old questions: is the representation of nations outmoded in a globalised system where artists often operate internationally, and does it give states an undue platform for propaganda?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what has been contested very much is the existence of the nation state within the space of the exhibition,\u201d says Marie Helene Pereira, one of the five curators of the main exhibition, \u201cIn Minor Keys\u201d, who have taken up the mantle of the late curator Koyo Kouoh.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can see how much that can bring tension, especially in the midst of the political chaos [in which] we find ourselves. It\u2019s important to be able to rethink structure, rethink institutions, in a way that allows for them to cater more to artists and artmaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n