Four summers ago, Tim and I took our family to Italy for the first time, which included a train ride from Verona to Venice. I remember the train ride well because my daughter, who was six at the time, read Harry Potter to me all the way to Venice.

Upon our arrival, Tim looked at the clouds overhead and then said, "We have approximately fifty seconds to get across that bridge and under cover before rain falls." He was spot on. Fortunately, we took cover right in front of the most delicious take-out pizza place. We all indulged in our first slice of Venetian pizza and waited from the rain to stop. When it did, we stood in the sunshine and sang The Beatles' Here Comes The Sun. This photograph captured by AFP photographer Filippo Monteforte not only reminded me of that magical moment, it made me want to book the next flight to Milan and train ride to Venice.

The 51st International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale

Tomorrow the 51st International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, opens to the public. It is the first time, in the history of the exhibition, that a woman is running the show.

Venice Biennale 2005 curators Maria de Corral (left) and Rosa Martinez

For the first time in 110 years, actually two women are overseeing the Venice Biennale. And they are not Italian.

Maria de Corral (The Experience of Art, in Giardini della Biennale) and Rosa Martinez (Always a Little Further, in the Venice Arsenale) are from Spain.

The festival will host two main exhibitions curated by de Corral and Martinez.

De Corral will direct the retrospective exhibition.

Martinez will produce the exhibition devoted to innovation in art.

De Corral and Martinez are also the authors of 51st International Exhibition of Visual Arts 2005: Venice Biennale

Later in 2005, the Biennale will promote an international symposium on contemporary art, moderated by Robert Storr from the United States.

Storr, a former curator of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, will direct the 2007 Biennale.

On June 9th, 10th and 11th, the exhibition is reserved for art collectors and dealers.

The arts festival will be open to the public from June 12th - November 6th 2005.

On June 9th, Reuters photographer Chris Helgren shot this gondolier paddling his craft past a mural advertising the Arts Biennale.

A Veritable Marathon for Aficionados of Contemporary Art

Each year, the festival attracts artists from around the world to showcase their creations.

Approximately 300 artists from 73 nations will participate in the 51st Venice Biennale including Australia, Britain, China, France, Russia, Scotland, Spain, South Korea, and the United States.

The United States 2005 representative is painter, printmaker and filmmaker Edward Ruscha, who has cast a critical eye on American popular culture for over four decades.

At the invitation of the U.S Department of State, four distinguished American museums recommended noted American artist Ed Ruscha to represent the United States at the 2005 Venice Biennale.

The group consisted of the directors and curatorial representatives of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden of the Smithsonian Institution, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In making their selection last October, the museums considered: the overall merit of the artist's work; the suitability of the work for presentation at the Venice Biennale; the extent to which the work is representative of the vitality and diversity of contemporary art in the United States; and the feasibility of exhibiting the work in Venice.

Mr. Ruscha nominated Linda Norden, the Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Fogg Art Museum of Harvard University, to serve as curator of his exhibition.

The U.S. Department of State approved these recommendations.

A Global Survey of Contemporary Artists

China will make its debut at the event with the opening a temporary pavilion.

South Korea, one country to open a pavilion at the 2005 Venice Biennale, introduces a landscape of Korean contemporary arts at it entrance. This year, participants on view are Bae Young-whan, the late Bahc Yi-so, Choi Jeong-hwa, Gim hong-sok, Ham Jin, Jung Yeon-doo, Kim Beom, Kim So-ra, NAKION, Park Ki-won, Park Se-jin, Oh Hein-kuhn, Moon Sung-shic, Rhii Jew-yo and Sung Nak-hee.

As reported in The Korea Times yesterday:

At the venue, the artists present the attitude and method of their works, taken to cope with the changes in Korean society in its relationship with international art scene, according to the Korean Arts and Culture Foundation.

Other nations expected to join the world's largest arts festival for the first time include:

Afghanistan

Albania

Morocco

Belarus

Kazakhstan

Kyrgyzstan

Uzbekistan

In 2003, the 50th edition of this magnificent exhibition of contemporary art attracted more than 260,000 visitors.

An artist whose work is awarded a prize at the Venice Biennale typically can command far higher prices thereafter.

In 2003, Peter & David Fischli & Weiss received the "Golden Lion" for the best work in the International Exhibition. Two years later the Artprice index shows that their prices have tripled.

51st Venice Biennale Award Winners

On July 10th, the International Juries of the 51st International Art Exhibition, coordinated by President Ida Gianelli and composed of Hendrik Driessen, Kathy Halbreich, Geeta Kapur, and Ousseynou Wade for the International Exhibitions, and Dan Cameron, Udo Kittelmann, Llilian Llanes, and Fumio Nanjo for the National Participations, assigned the following awards:

A Golden Lion to an artist exhibited in the International Exhibitions to Thomas Schutte from Germany, in the exhibition The Experience of Art (Italian Pavilion), "whose sculptural and graphic work has developed into a kaleidoscopic and yet very coherent oeuvre. Picturing the human figure, the work raises questions about modernity and the role of the individual. Schutte rejuvinates classical methods while maintaining a critical distance to the heroic tradition".

A Golden Lion to a young artist (under 35) exhibited in the International Exhibitions to Regina Jose Galindo (Guatemala), in the exhibition Always a Little Further (Arsenale, Corderie), "for embodying courageous action against power in her visually precise triptych of performance and documentation".

A Golden Lion for Best National Participation to France. "From the moment one reads 'casino' superimposed over the word 'France', Annette Messager signals that she will take us into a realm where creative imagination can transform reality. Reconceiving the story of Pinocchio as the soul's odyssey - beginning with birth, continuing through a blood-red satin sea, and ending in exhilaration and danger - Messager transforms space, material and light into a visceral tale that speaks to people of all ages and cultures".

The Award for Young Italian Art 2004-2005, promoted by the DARC, has been assigned to Lara Favaretto (Padiglione Venezia), "for having created through her video a real experience of life, which develops through festive magic, transforming life into an invention of fantasy".

For the first time, a special Golden Lion has been attributed to Harald Szeemann, who directed the Visual Arts section of the Venice Biennale from 1998 to 2001. The award was presented to Mrs. Ingeborg Luscher Szeemann.

As recommended by Maria de Corral and Rosa Martinez, the Biennale Board has attributed the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 51st Exhibition to Barbara Kruger. Kruger's award was announced in May.

Another Reason for Art Lovers to Go to Europe

After Venice, art aficionados can travel north to Basel where -- from June 15th to the 20th -- the finest works of some 270 galleries worldwide will be exhibited to a dedicated international congregation of some 50,000 art market professionals and dealers at Art Basel.

Both La Biennale di Venezia and Art Basel are excellent opportunities to discover the works of young artists before the combined effects of an international reputation and strong demand have a significant impact on their prices.

The Venice Biennale organizes the International Art Exhibition, the International Architecture Exhibition, the Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica, and international Festivals of performing arts.

We are setting our sights on the 52nd Venice Biennale while living vicariously through those who are fortunate enough to attend this year's exhibition.

For further information on the The 51st International Art Exhibition go to:

Venues

Giardini: closed on Mondays (except Monday, June 14th 2005)
Arsenale: closed on Tuesdays (except Tuesday, June 14th 2005)

Hours

10 am - 6 pm

For a family of two adults + two children under 14 years old, the cost to the exhibition? 34 euros.

Inspire & Be Inspired.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "creative influences" living!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King, Rugged Elegance, LLC