Traditionally I try to photograph the status of world through Architecture Biennale, but this year I visited the Art Biennale, and here also I found stimulus to understand better the main world trends. The wars made absence of Russia Federation and Israel, among the most interesting pavilions, just when we should to understand exactly what their people express. The main countries in Western World in this year are aligned to basic principles of woke culture (Title; Foreigners Everywhere): any type of art, also the more primitive, originated in the most poor countries, especially in Africa, is better than any white culture of once called civilised world. Starting from Italian pavilion, with a colourful Mexican facade, where only one or two Italians artists are. presented, and which is full of operas coming from any South American country, the most primitive and Indios type you can imagine. USA show rich operas of Jeffrey Gibson made by cheap gifts of white people to American Natives, small mirrors and coloured glass pearls, representing an homage to the Natives culture. Sculptures, statues. portraits, in a natural scenario of primitive landscape are filling the big space, putting the visitors in an hypnotic vision of tribes life. Traditional dancing and relative sumptuous dresses give rhythm through videos. UK pavilion is full of Africa arts exhibitions, remembering cultures not so empowered during British colonisation, again in a wonderful natural environment created through many videos. Nordic countries insist on local Natives culture with a lot of products artisanal manufactured, in wood, coloured tissues and dresses, with Denmark exhibition of Inuit culture of a remote north area of Greenland, very poor, semidesert and with ice-limited conditions of people, through renna bones sculptures and photos of real living scenes.
Germany breaks this woke homogenous approach, but with a more catastrophic one: people must abandon the Earth totally polluted and destroyed by human being (a mountain of waste is discharged on the facade) and looking for other mythical planets, where joy and dancing are available, represented through videos very similar to the Olympic movies of Leni Riefenstahl, while a scientist woman describes the disasters of present Earth and space vessel models rotate in the rooms. A sad impression was to see a queuing up of so many people to this depressing approach. French exhibition continues on woke-African operas. Hungarian pavilion returns to traditional mindset, presenting classical abstract operas, remembering the geometric vision of Mondrian. The most realistic and innovative show is in Japan area, where extraordinary lighting devices get their electricity from fruits, connected with copper and zinc electrode: always Japan is at top in Biennale, transmitting happiness and strength with simple real things, also this year technology based. China is not focused in a specific area, but distributed in many Venezia palaces, mainly represented in Scuola Grande della Misericordia by 20 new paintings of Zeng Fanzhi, masterpieces out of easy fashion presented by Los Angeles County Museum of Art, with title Near and Far/ Now and Then. A testimony of the golden times which China is living, in economy as in culture.
So the main trends of world cultures confirm the deep splitting between the most rich white western countries, largely involved in a sense of being guilty to all the other people and nations, and the countries building up on their peculiar traditions and hopes for the future, without any apocalyptic vision or cancel culture in their mindset. The practical absence of Italian artists is a real vulnus to a tradition of excellence in arts and humanities, always recognised in all the world and a passive attitude to future creation, if not also negative vision like the German one.
