新西蘭英語(yǔ) 155 The Venice Art Biennale
New Zealand has chosen two artists to represent our country in Venice for the Biennale Art Exhibition, Judy Millar and Francis Upritchard. They will be among artists from 90 other countries. This is the most famous biennale (which means every two years) in the world and countries have to be invited. The first Venice Biennale was 114 years ago. New Zealand has only exhibited three times before. The cost is huge – more than $1 million, with money coming from Creative NZ and Te Papa. New Zealand opened their exhibition at dawn today with a Maori welcome, 200 VIPs (very important persons) at a breakfast, and New Zealand food. Tomorrow, the exhibitions are open to the media then the public opening is on June 7th. The Biennale closes on 22nd November.
Works of art are in different buildings around Venice. Judy Millar’s work, called “Giraffe – Bottle – Gun” is in a beautiful old church. She has a large painting in the centre in the shape of a cylinder, with seven other paintings leaning against the walls. They are digitally produced, that is produced by a computer. Just 10 minutes walk away is the work of the sculptor, Francis Upritchard, which is called “Save Yourself”. They are figures which she says are “searchers, dreamers and dancers” lost in a dream.
Next year, these works of art will be exhibited in Te Papa in Wellington for us all to see.
