4/30/2023 0 Comments Venice biennale vernissageChoose an obvious one: Britain, America or Germany, each of which dominate the entrance to the Biennale. Keep a couple of favourite pavilions in your conversation arsenal. Even in Italy, you will be surprised by just how bad pizza can get. Beware, lest you find yourself resigned to a late-night pizza slice from the type of seedy joint you wouldn’t look twice at in daylight hours. Besides, they make for a good supplement to the canapés served at each party, which inevitably leave you still hungry at the end of the night. Follow this simple rule: one can never eat too many cicchetti. 10.Ĭicchetti are small snacks served in traditional Venetian bars. Yes, you will even queue to cross the Rialto bridge. Outside every party, in the foyer of exhibitions, for the bar, the loos… And that’s not to mention the congestion of Biennale-goers, cruise-liner tourists and infuriated locals in the streets. 9.īe prepared for queues, queues, queues. Neither mode of transport is much quicker than walking, but they can be lifesavers for tired feet. When all else fails, water taxis are an unrivalled pleasure, while water buses make for a highly enjoyable ride too. Prepare for wrong-turns and dead-ends in the maze-like twists and turns of the floating city. Forget Google Maps, whose geolocation becomes patchy amidst the narrow streets. 7.Īccept the unavoidable fact that you will get horribly lost at least once a day, and try not to cry with frustration. Otherwise, head to the esteemed (cough) club Piccolo Mondo, where disco has been the soundtrack to ill-advised late nights since 1963. Campo Santa Margherita is a good bet, located in the student quarter. Keep tabs on which square will be the designated hangout for Biennale stragglers either done with their parties or never invited at all. Meanwhile, the nights when you are completely free will remain untouched by invites. As Geoff Dyer describes in the satirical Jeff in Venice: “This was it, the start of the Biennale proper: the onset of party-anxiety and invite-envy, the fear that there were better parties you’d not been invited to, a higher tier of pleasure that was forbidden to you.” Hear a mention of a party you’ve not been invited to? Follow up with a few oh-so-casual requests for details, but remember… 5.Īny parties that you do score an invite to will inevitably come clustered on a single evening, forcing you to suddenly choose between them. “Will I see you at the British pavilion party?” Spare yourself the potential awkwardness of two hours of small-talk by travelling with a friend. It’s inevitable that seemingly every other passenger on your budget airline flight will be a half-remembered face eager to compare plans for the week. 3.ĭon’t be surprised when it all starts at the airport. That aside, it’s trainers not heels a good waterproof lots of jewellery. Forget about looking cool and collected in linen pack a suit only if you can truly pull off the artfully dishevelled look. Cue countless ill-advised, suitcase-crumpled linen suited gentlemen (and ladies) swarming San Marco. The vibe is glamour-meets-comfort-on-the-riviera. Next, the inevitable conundrum: what on earth to pack? Even the most experienced party-goers have been known to crumble at this first hurdle. You might think you’ll be able to figure it out on the ground, but the temptation of just one more Aperol spritz will be greater than you imagine. Do your research before you arrive, and identify the shows you cannot miss. It is difficult to anticipate quite how many exhibitions, artists and events can actually be crammed into such a small island. For a first-timer, the experience is overwhelming, bordering on madness. After all, this spectacle has been in place for over a hundred years, since 1895.īut beyond its history, the Venice Biennale vernissage remains a modern-day hotspot for every art-world luvvie, socialite and influencer from around the globe, who converge with artists and curators in the city’s cobbled back streets and rickety piers. A Great Exhibition of sorts, the Biennale’s nationalistic structure (each country presents in a pavilion of its own) feels undeniably archaic. On a tiny stretch of sinking ground, the artists of the world come together in a cultural showcase that takes over the entire city every two years. Behold, La Biennale di Venezia, the grande dame of the art world calendar.
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