français /
Claude CLOSKY | MY JOURNEY THROUGH THE 49TH INTERNATIONAL VENICE BIENNIAL |
mudam.lu, juillet 2001.
The exhibition of art opened up before me on June 10th 2001. I felt a new challenge, a new surge of vital energy issuing from this new Biennial which is undergoing continual expansion and transformation. The International Exhibition of Art of 2001 takes the form of a PLATEA DELL'UMANITA, Plateau der Menschheit, Plateau de l'humanité, Plateau of Humankind, a vantage-point from which I saw and was seen: I was not only a spectator but also a leading participant in a large space that provided an encounter between myself and artists and their works. It was with APERTO 80 that the doors of the BIENNIAL were first thrown open to the up-and-coming generations and to their new artistic languages; then came APERTutto, which abolished all distinction between the established and the young artists, with no single style taking precedence over another. When I visited the BIENNIAL, my journey through the arts as proposed by Harald SZEEMANN, the Director of the Visual Arts Section of the BIENNIAL di Venezia, passed into a fruitful stage, emerging onto a PLATEAU OF HUMANKIND, from which I could gaze and reach out beyond my own limits. I understood that The Plateau of Humankind is not a theme as such, but rather a declaration of responsibility to history and to the events of the present day. It opened up another dimension to me. I relized artists look at the world and address the world, searching out and recounting all the multiple dimensions of contemporary humanity. The Plateau of Humankind made me observe and capture the feelings and stories that are narrated in and throughout the works of young artists; there are social problems, environmental issues, rhythms of everyday life, new technologies and the world wide web of information, work and sports, happiness and tragedy... On a single large platform (Plateau), from where I looked out to view humankind, young artists from all over the world were offering me their vision of the present day; while alongside them were standing figures who had contributed to the artistic revolutions of the twentieth century—all of this was given to me in a single exhibition, without divisions of time or space.
It is no coincidence if my steps in that International exhibition took me back to the social utopia of Joseph BEUYS and his sculpture The End of the Twentieth Century (1968), which opened the way for me to a single huge exhibition extending from the Italian Pavilion in the Castello Gardens to the Arsenale spaces of the Corderie, the Artiglierie and the Gaggiandre—a single itinerary which led me from one discovery to another.
It appeared to me that this enormous PLATEAU OF HUMANKIND embraces not only the works that are displayed in the International Exhibition proper, but also the national participations in the GIARDINI pavilions and those organised at various other venues throughout the city.
To conclude, I would like to add that The PLATEAU OF HUMANKIND does not set any limits to geography or theme; it is open to contributions from all the other arts: cinema, poetry, music, theatre and dance. Some of the artists of the cinema have taken up the challenge and opportunity offered to them, by abandoning their usual space (the cinema) and their usual public, to measure their art against the exhibition space itself. In the same way, poets were offering me their work alongside the projects of visual artists. Theatre, dance and music also dedicated part of their own programmes to participate in the great event. This is why I am sure the Biennale di Venezia will carry on with its long-term project of promoting interaction among the arts, with all the various sections of the organisation involved in continual creative commitment.
