The Venice Biennal is expected to amaze the world of art once again next year (2019). The world of art has its shoes on and is getting ready for the next big exhibition. The selected artists representing different countries are obviously super excited about the show. Technically the Venice Biennale is not an immediate-selling exhibition but it has a tremendous effect on the career of the artists selected to show their work. You know why? Because it is such a great honor to have to represent your country; to be the only one chosen among so many talented minds. Trust you me, being part of such an event is a goal for every artist; to show the world what you are made of as an artist. It is also a must-see for every art lover.
25 countries among them France, Hong Kong, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Iceland, Great Britain and Canada among others have so far announced the names of the artists that will be representing them and are ready to get rolling. In the Gardini Section, which is home to 29 permanent country pavilions, nearly half of the countries have submitted the names of artists representing them. For instance the France pavilion will hold the work of Artist Laure Prouvost, the Great Britain pavilion will hold the work of Artist Cathy Wilkes and the Australia pavilion will hole the work of Artist Angelica Mesiti among others.
It is uncommon for the United States of America not to be on the list of countries that have submitted the name of the artist that will represent the country considering the fact that it is usually among one of the first countries to announce the selected artist. The announcement is normally made more than a year before in order to give the artist time to create new work that can fit into the pavilions. For instance the artists Mark Bardford-2017 Venice Biennale and Joan Joans-2015 Venice Biennale were announced respectively by April exactly one year before. Sarah Sze-2013 was announced in February 2012 and Bruce Nauman-2009 was announced in January 2008. This provided time for them to prepare new works and do it perfectly.
However, this time round Trump’s State Department seems to be taking its time to make this major announcement because up to now no artist has been chosen. This is going to be the first time an artist is being chosen by the State Department in a government run by President Donald Trump and it is taking longer than usual. We can only imagine the kind of tension that artists as well as the art lovers are sitting on right now. Having to wonder whether your work will be chosen or the criteria that will be used to choose an artist is just an issue contributing to so much anxiety. That anxiety is more or less equal to that where you have to wait for your end term results in school or even the test results of a certain disease, or the results after a poll for instance the presidential poll.
There are roughly 9 months left to go and artists are worried that no artist might be selected by the State Department. The only thing the department has offered is silence. Hopefully, the selected artist, if any, will have ample time to prepare himself/herself and get a chance to stand out in the exhibition and begin a new journey as far as creating art is concerned.
Artists and art lovers hope that this silence will soon come to an end and they will soon applaud the “the chosen one.”
Leave a comment