From Imperialism to Transnational Capitalism: The Venice Biennial as a “Transitional Conjuncture”

Abstract

This essay offers a critical review of the 51st Venice Biennial (12 June–6 November 2005), situating it in the context of the recent history of the Venice Biennial. The review identifies a dual institutional structure (national pavilions and international survey shows) in the Venice Biennial, and argues that this constitutes a “transitional conjuncture” overdetermined by the radicalization and pluralization of art practices (performances, site-specific installations, etc.), the privatization of art funding in the form of corporate sponsorship, and the global proliferation and consolidation of the institutional form of the biennial—biannual survey exhibitions of transnational art practices. The review argues that, while a number of artists and curators have succeeded in the past and in this year's edition in producing self-reflective and acutely critical art works in relation to the older structure of the Venice Biennial where art was displayed and appropriated in national pavilions, the two survey exhibitions of the 2005 edition (curated by Rosa Martínez and María de Corral) have failed to reflect critically upon the new, corporate-sponsored institutional form of the biennial that the Venice Biennial is moving toward.