Dark Side of the 2017 Venice Biennale: From Hirst to Imhof

The 2017 Venice Biennale, curated by Christine Macel, features a dark, maudit undercurrent. Damien Hirst's 'Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable' at Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana blurs fiction and reality with recovered artifacts, but the conceptual balance falters into kitsch. Anne Imhof's 'Faust' at the German Pavilion won the Golden Lion, combining hardcore-decadence performance with Sunn O)))-style guitar drones and a glass house inhabited by zombie-like youths. Carol Rama's collateral exhibition at Palazzo Ca' Nova (until late June) offers a retrospective from the 1930s to 1980s, showcasing her presocratic visionary style with erotic, animal figures. At the Arsenale, Miķelis Fišers (Latvian Pavilion) presents a Bosch-like dystopia with engravings, paintings, and installations, including a hexagonal piece titled 'Farewell to Selfness.' Roberto Cuoghi's Italian Pavilion features a walkable installation with enigmatic machinery and multiple crucified Christ figures, evoking eugenics and horror. Thomas Braida's solo show 'Solo' at Palazzo Nani Bernardo displays irreverent paintings and sculptures amid antique furnishings, with a Bruegelian triumph of death.