Raffie De Guingand, Year 12
Over the midterm break Year 12 students were offered the opportunity to go to Venice and attend the Venice Art Biennale. The Venice Biennale is one of the most prestigious and recognised art exhibitions in the world- it only takes place every 2 years. The Venice Biennale is most recognized for its art exhibitions, but it also has theatrical, dance, musical, cinema and architectural exhibits. The art biennale has 2 locations, the Arsenale and the Gardini; in each venue there is a main hall and pavilions of collection of works from each country.
The opportunity to exhibit and represent for an artist’s country is a huge honour; the art can be anything from paintings to sculptures and installations. The artists have complete freedom of how they decide to use their space and which works will be displayed. The Biennale is truly magnificent due to its sheer enormity and the stark contrasts of each pavilion – there was so much to take in, and it was a truly amazing experience, even for those who don’t study art.
I think that the Venice Biennale is such a unique exhibition because the architecture of each pavilion is incorporated into the artist’s work. All of the art is so different and innovative: I’ve never seen anything like it. The different medias and materials themselves are truly impressive. The amount of art is actually quite overwhelming, but an amazing experience, especially for the art students as it is so inspiring and really exposes students to new ideas and art concepts.
“I would say that my favourite part of the trip was probably eating all the lovely Italian food and seeing all the national pavilions” – Gerhard Weber
“The biennale was absolutely amazing! It’s something I’ve never seen before! All the art was so different but all so amazing! My favourite pavilion would have to be the Norwegian pavilion! They had sculptures of what I thought was a broken glass window it was incredible to see!” – Olivia Verderese
Japanese Pavilion
Photo by Louise Bertherat
