Venice Biennale

     I have been wondering the reason to visit Venice again, it is a weird city that most of the people who live there, who are forming phrases to capture its beauty are tourists in spite the fact that the Grand canal might be the most disgusting H20 collective ever, all the gondonian looks the same and shouting at you the same words.  Venice lost its beauty probably many years ago, what remains is just repetition of cliche.

     The first Biennale visit starts from here, I got lost all the time, drinking too much expresso or spritz seems to bring me brain damage.  I am going to start with the work by Olafur Elliason & Libia Castro

IL TUO PAESE NON ESISTE.  Your country doesn't exist. 

Coming from Taiwan, I recall it was such a shock when I heard one of the lecturer from school was telling me nationalism and authority is a fiction, I thought of all the reasons that I have been arguing with my friends about our national identity, trying to describe my language as Mandarin instead of chinese.  There are emails passing between my friends that saying buying products which is made in Taiwan instead of China or Korea.  I still can remember the anger when I saw the flag of my nation being tare off by Chinese, the intensity of the emotion was very strong and I might still can feel it whenever I repete those events orally, but now I rethink of it again, it was such an abstract idea.

I was so alienated from the situation, I wasn't even aware of such event was happening (sport competition) neither I had any personal disagreement with any chinese people, but somehow I hate the idea of China so much.  The national proud is something that has no clue, composed by absurdity, and illogically, a combination of narcissist and prejudice. 

Just had a short thought of what Nationalism brought us, bombing Japan during the WWII, invading China causes a tremendous death number of citizens, in 2011 tsunami in Japan, Taiwan is devoting to a competition of donation with China.  This is so absurd, a donation, sympathetic behaviour, and personal success will eventually become an input to the nationalism.  We are proud of him because he is from Taiwan.  

Venice biennale itself is also a competition between the nations, most of the pavilion represent artists from its own country except Danmark pavilion and the main pavilion Illuminazioni.  

I felt somehow fooled by the idea that I have valued for years just gone like foam, nothing beautiful within it, I felt patriotic but also irrelevant.  

Living in Scotland for almost 1.5 year, I can also see how much scottish value their identity and this Scottishness.  Art galleries and art-related prize are specifically designed to award scottish artists.  It seems that scottish is an enfant that need to be paying attention constantly, competing within people who has already selected according to a absurd factor "Geography?"