Critical review of ILLUMInations at the 2011 Venice Biennale

Richard Leydier's review of the 54th Venice Biennale, titled ILLUMInations and curated by Bice Curiger, criticizes the international exhibition at the Giardini and Arsenale for its lack of coherence and reliance on gimmicks. He notes the pun in the title combining 'illumination' and 'nations,' referencing Venetian painting tradition and geopolitical art world obsessions. At the Giardini, works by Latifa Echakhch (flagless poles), Philippe Parreno (flashing bulbs), and three Tintoretto paintings are highlighted, but Leydier dismisses the inclusion of Old Masters as a confidence-lacking strategy. At the Arsenale, he finds a disjointed sequence of trendy artists: Christopher Wool's chic but bland paintings, Gabriel Kuri's Arte Povera revival, Norma Jeane's relational aesthetics, Cindy Sherman's self-derision, and Maurizio Cattelan's stuffed pigeons. He criticizes Josh Smith's paintings as beginner-level, Carol Bove's installation as incomprehensible, and Urs Fischer's melting wax copy of Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women as parasitic on Old Masters. Barry X Ball's 3D-scanned reinterpretations of antique sculptures are deemed decorative. Positive exceptions include Jean-Luc Mylayne's bird photographs, Thomas Hirschhorn's Swiss Pavilion (a labyrinth with rock crystals and TVs), and Julian Schnabel's retrospective at Museo Correr, praised for its heroic freedom. Leydier concludes that the Biennale reflects a disoriented art world, with the labyrinth as its recurrent motif.