So while on exchange I’ve managed to visit Venice twice now and both times have been fantastic! It does get incredibly crowded in some areas by tourists but as it is quite a small place with very narrow streets it does feel more crowded than it really is-unless you go to the Piazza San Marco! As it is a major tourist town nearly all the shops are souvenir shops and can be quite pricey! But the place is absolutely wonderful! Its very beautiful and has a lot of wonderful buildings-although because it is rather cramped in terms of the narrow streets you can sometimes miss it! The Doge’s Palace is an incredible site with people queuing for hours around the building to visit inside. The only way you can travel through the town is by walking- you can go by gondola but its very expensive for a 30 minute guide around. If you want to visit the other surrounding islands you have to travel by water taxi.
On my second trip I went to visit my friend who was also on exchange at the time but in Slovenia and we met in Venice to visit the Biennale in Arsenale, as there was a major art exhibition that is Viva Arte Viva-one of the worlds most famous art exhibitions. Personally, I thought that it was the best exhibitions that i’d ever been to due to the mass variety of work and the venue was incredible- it was in an old pre-industrial work site that manufactured stuff for the military.
The artworks ranged from major installations to slightly more intimate and interactive pieces from artists around the globe-most exhibit buildings were separated for the different themes of countries. It was an incredibly inspiring show and I feel that it will feed into how I create work continuing my semester. Here are a few pieces from the show;
