Every other year since 1895, artists and art lovers from around the world have flocked to Venice, Italy, for the Venice Biennale, the most prestigious international art exposition in the world. It's a bit like the World's Fair for contemporary art.
The Biennale's official site has 30 national pavilions, but there are satellite locations and official collateral exhibits throughout the historic city. This is a very special Biennale for the Hudson Valley, as one of the official entrants is from Beacon.
Brothers Doug and Mike Starn, the acclaimed artists who have a studio in Beacon, are in Venice right now, creating the next iteration of their Big Bambú project in a palazzo adjacent to the estimable Guggenheim Collection on the Grand Canal.
Big Bambú, which was prototyped in Beacon, is part sculpture, part installation, part performance — the project involves a team of experienced climbers lashing bamboo poles together to create a dwelling-sized, sculpture-like form which is in a perpetual state of creation. And while it looks like a chaotic bird's nest, there is a design concept that changes with each location: On the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art last year, the work resembled a wave, but in Venice, Big Bambú has taken on a cylindrical form that spirals many feet over the iconic cityscape of bridges and gondola-filled canals. Visitors to Big Bambú traverse winding walkways, becoming integral parts of the work.
"It is a sculpture, but not a static sculpture," Mike Starn said. "It's something that exists through the presence of the people inside it. It's an organism that we, and the crew of rock climbers, are just a part of — helping to move it along."
The Big Bambú installation at the Metropolitan Museum was ranked fourth in the world for total attendance of a contemporary art exhibition in 2010 and was the ninth highest attended exhibit in the history of the museum. Press reports from Venice indicate that Big Bambú continues to enchant visitors by the thousands.