Hello from Venice, where I have spent the day at the Palazzo Pisani, the venue for the Scotland + Venice show this year.
My initial review of the show by Duncan Campbell, Corin Sworn and Hayley Tompkins will be in tomorrow's Herald, and look out too for a longer review and my views of some of the other shows later this week.
It is 10 years and around 50 artist shows since Scotland has had a separate show from the main UK pavilion. If there is a Yes vote next year, could this be the last as a 'collateral' event? Maybe so. The organisers of La Biennale di Venezia would have to decide whether to admit Scotland as a new national show or not. There are 10 new national shows this year.
Ten years ago I arrived in Venice at night, not having been before, and hitched a lift in a private water taxi from the airport with several young artists and gallery attendents. We arrived in darkness, with the lights of the city bobbing in the inky night. We weren't sure what the coming few days would bring. As it turned out, 2003 was a success and laid the foundations for a constant Scottish presence at the Biennale. Some of those young artists are now rather well known. And Scotland's presence here now seems obligatory.
That year, a group of us ended up in a late night cafe. A man at the bar had a large, rustling coat on, which was making odd noises. In his pockets were several puppies.
The Biennale is always a complex and sometimes baffling place to be. Dozens and dozens of exhibitions, hundreds of artists, and scores of openings, previews, special shows and - yes - parties. Seeing and absorbing everything in a few days is nigh on impossible, from the national shows at the Giardini gardens, to the always extensive events at the Arsenale, to the numerous 'collateral' events in venues all around the canal city.
And, of course, getting around this city is confined to water - bus or taxi - or by foot. No roads and plenty of ways to get completely lost. In fact I was a bit lost this morning. The Vaporettos - the lurching, groaning public water buses - are splendid things but not always on schedule or quick. Which makes meeting times somewhat hazy - 'see you at 9am' is always taken with a little pinch of salt.
I bumped into Jeremy Deller, the artist whose work (currently a mystery) will fill the official UK Pavilion, last night. His inflatable Stonehenge, Sacrilege, was a popular part of the last Glasgow GI Festival. He was full of praise for Glasgow and Scotland and the way the public responded to his work. He also noted that Nigel Farage, the UKIP politician, went to his school - Dulwich College - at the same time (though they were in different years). Deller, who won the Turner Prize in 2004, is particularly well known for his re-enactment of the Battle of Orgeave, one of the pivotal moments in the miners' strike. It's fair to say Deller and Farage's lives have gone in pretty different directions.
We met at the Peckham Pavilion (if an area of London can have its own show, why not Kelvinbridge, Pollockshields, New Town or Bruntsfield?) in the Castello area of the city (close to where Scotland had its show at the Architecture Biennale last year). Amy Petra Woodward's clever installation, which provides startling images when shot with a camera flash, distracted many patrons of the show.
Tomorrow I will hopefully see as many shows as I can in the Giardini gardens, the Arsenale and elsewhere. I will make sure I see the art of Cathy Wilkes, the influential Glasgow-based artist who represented Scotland in a past show. She's at the Giardini as part of the extensive Encyclopedic Palace exhibition.
A team from Creative Scotland, who are supporting the Scottish show, arrived this afternoon. Will it announce a new CEO this week? I am not a betting man, but I would think not.
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