Sailing in Venice is a wonderful experience. The lagoon waters are shallow and unpredictable. The winds turn and twist between the many islands and just as you’ve decided what to do when to turn, and what sails to use, the winds change and you have to start all over again.
The environment is spectacular… Of course. We’re talking about one of the most famous cities in the world and the background with the Belltower and the Doge’s palace is like a dream scenography.
On the 19th of October 2019, this was the spot for the 6th edition of Venice Hospitality Challenge, the first of two major yacht racing, sailing events in Venice. The other one being the Veneziana, the day after.
The 2019 race
Here Arca loses the race.
Anyway, at 13.30 on Saturday, the yacht took off. Going east right in front of the Doge’s palace, with Vaporettos, taxis, and all kinds of watercraft crossing from here to there in the middle of the yachts. It was a chaotic order that resulted in a perfect start without incidents and without major pronìblems for public transport as well as any other of the many boats running back and forth in the Saint Mark’s basin. That alone was something of a miracle.
Sailing in Venice – missing the departure
The Arca – Cà Segredo Hotel, one of the favorites, got a head start, flying away in the head of the field. Just seconds after the start, the jury with the President of the Regatta Alfredo Ricci called back the five first yacht to restart since they had crossed the line in advance. And there Arca lost the race.
Way of Life – Gritti Palace
Instead, the Way of Life – Gritti Palace could dominate from start to finish. With no tactical mistakes and no need to take risks, the skipper Gasper Vincec could easily maintain the distance to the others. The second boat was Golfo di Trieste – Molino Stucky, who boarded a full women crew with the skipper Francesca Clapcich.
In the second category, Classe 2, the winner was Idrusa – Palazzina Grassi with the skipper Paolo Montefusco.
It’s getting colder. It’s not like the air is making clouds coming out of my mouth, but it’s colder. Autumn in Venice is a very nice period. The tropical heat from the summer months is gone and finally, you can breathe. Some days you can see the mountains, the red mountains of the Dolomiti. Those are the best days. The air is clear and silverish, and you walk easily with a cool breeze on your face.
Autumn in Venice. Once October was a slow month. The tourists were all gone home and we had the town for ourselves. November was even slower. But now the season stretches out in spring and autumn, and soon you can’t even speak of a season. It will be the same all year round.
The autumn in Venice offers some very interesting events. Especially if you’re interested in sports. The somewhat lower temperature makes October a perfect month for sports. So here are some of the things going on right now:
Sailing in Venice
courtesy of Lucia Falzari
Next Saturday, the 19th, there’s the Venice Hospitality Challenge. A spectacular yacht race with maxi yachts, some of the fastest in the world. And the course is right outside Saint Mark’s Square. You can stand at the dock, where the Gondolas are, and watch the huge sailboats right there, on the Saint Mark’s basin.
Every yacht is promoted and sponsored by a hotel. Obviously, they’re the big 5-star hotels as they’re the ones with enough funds to be able to pull something like this off. There’s Gritti Palace, of course, and Molino Stucky, Excelsior at Lido, and Danieli and 8 others. 12 in total.
The extraordinary thing about this race is that it can be seen right there, from the center of Venice. That’s something out of the ordinary, and if you’re around Venice Saturday, you definitely should check it out.
The day after, the 20th of October there’s the Veneziana. This race is maybe a little more serious and less of a spectacle. At around one a clock, the yachts start at two points outside the northern harbor mouth of the lagoon, the one called Bocca di Porto del Lido. From there they sail into the lagoon and the finish is right in front of Saint Mark’s Square… Yes, this race too, ends there.
More boats participate and many of the ones from the race Saturday will be present on Sunday too. So it’s a busy weekend for sailing lovers.
Venice Marathon
Next weekend it’s time for the Venice Marathon. A spectacular Marathon that follows a path between ancient palaces and villas, passes through the urban centers of Marghera and Mestre, continues over the bridge to Venice, and ends up at the dock alongside the Doge’s palace, passing Saint Mark’s Square.
The first time it was held was in 1986 and since then every year thousands of elite runners show up. In the first years, it was a small event but it soon grew until it was clear that this was a very attractive route. This year it gathers almost 14.000 athletes. 5.700 will run the shorter, non-competitive, version that starts at San Giuliano at Mestre. This race is only 10 kilometers and ends up at the same finish as the 42-kilometer run.
The main race counts as many as a record 8.000 athletes. But only one of them will cross the line first. For many years the winners were Italians, but since 1995 for the men and 1999 for the women, only foreigners made it to the first price… Until 2018, when Eyob Faniel won. This year 77 nations are represented, so to have another Italian winner is unlikely. We still hope though.
Autumn in Venice – Sport as a brain trainer
Yes, October is a sports month. But even if you, like me, wouldn’t run 42 kilometers on time even if they put a gun to your head, October still is a wonderful time for an active lifestyle. In Venice, the cool breeze is a key factor. For three or four months we haven’t been able to move much more than an occasional rise of a hand, just to order another fruit cocktail, another beer, or a spritz. Now we have to reconquer our moving limbs. And walking, rowing, and playing football in the square suddenly becomes the essence of life.
And I remember an article I read some time ago. It was about connections in the brain or something like that. The theory was that the human brain becomes more effective with physical activity.
A study in the US had two groups of people, adults, resolving simple mathematical problems. One group walked right in and started. The other group did a 20-minutes fast walk and then started with the maths. The second group had a better result, but not by little or with insignificantly higher results. They were 60% better than the other group… And that just by doing a short walk right before the intellectual effort.
Another study in the north of Europe put gymnastics 1 hour every day instead of two days a week for the students in a school. The total learning results for the students increased by 9%. And that was although the students had less time for studying since the gymnastics occupied three hours of lesson time.
So, if you wanna be smart and succeed in your academic career, it’s actually better to do sports than to study… And October is the perfect time to start.
The Venice Film Festival 2019 is over. It started August 28 and ended September 7. 21 films competed for the Golden Lion, the two Silver lions and 5 other prizes in the main festival. 24 films were shown out of competition. 98 films participated in other festivals connected to the Venice International Film Festival, such as Horizons, Venice Classics (restored classical movies), Sconfini (Trespassing), International Critics’ Week, and Venice Days.
The Mandatory scandal
When it became known that the direction of the Venice film festival 2019 had invited Roman Polanski to participate with his film A Gentleman and a spy – J’Accuse, a lot of criticism from inside the festival organization as well as from outside began.
Alberto Barbera
In 1977 Polanski was arrested for the sexual assault of 13-year-old Samantha Gailey. As a result of the plea bargain, Polanski should be guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, other 5 charges should be dropped. After Polanski had been told that the judge, Laurence J. Rittenband, planned to disregard the plea bargain and send him to jail instead of letting him serve his sentence as probation, he fled the US and have since then lived in Europe. And since he never turned up at the court sentencing, the charges are still pending.
Anyway, the director of the Venice film festival 2019, Alberto Barbera, defended his choice of artists and films, saying: I’m convinced that we must distinguish the artist from the man. “The history of art is full of artists who have committed crimes of different nature, but we have continued to admire their works. The same goes for Polanski, which I think is one of the last masters of European cinema still in business ”
Lucrecia Martel
Then the president of the jury, Lucrecia Martel, right at the beginning of the festival stated that: “When we talk about a film we talk about the work of a human being. The worst thing we could do is to separate the man from his work. Anyone who thinks this is good, is wrong”
And when the result was out about the winners, and everybody knew that the first price, The Golden Lion, didn’t go to Polanski but he had to settle for the second price, The Silver Lion, The grand jury prize. Then Martel stated: “I can not separate man from art. I think an important aspect of a man emerges in his work. The presence of Roman Polanski in the competition, after what he has done in the past, makes me so uncomfortable that I will not participate in the gala in honor of his film. It would not be fair to all the women I represent, the Argentine women, victims of rape “.
I, for one, would have given anything to be a little fly on the wall, and hear the discussion at the jury’s meetings.
All the winners of the 76th Venice Film Festival 2019
These are the winners of the 76th Venice International Film Festival, the main competition.
Chairman of the jury: Lucrecia Martel, members: Stacy Martin, Mary Harron, PiersHandling, Rodrigo Prieto, ShinyaTsukamoto, PaoloVirzì :
GOLDEN LION for Best Film to: JOKER
by Todd Phillips (USA)
SILVER LION – GRAND JURY PRIZE to: J’ACCUSE (AN OFFICER AND A SPY)
by Roman Polanski (France, Italy)
SILVER LION – AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR to: Roy Andersson
for the film OM DET OÄNDLIGA (ABOUT ENDLESSNESS) (Sweden, Germany, Norway)
COPPA VOLPI for Best Actress: Ariane Ascaride
in the film GLORIA MUNDI by Robert Guédiguian (France, Italy)
COPPA VOLPI for Best Actor: Luca Marinelli
in the film MARTIN EDEN by Pietro Marcello (Italy, France)
AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY to: Yonfan
for the film JI YUAN TAI QI HAO (No.7 CHERRY LANE) by Yonfan (Hong Kong SAR, China)
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE to: LA MAFIA NON È PIÙ QUELLA DI UNA VOLTA
by Franco Maresco (Italy)
MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD for Best Young Actor or Actress to: Toby Wallace
in the film BABYTEETH by Shannon Murphy (Australia)
The three top films
Joker
Todd Philips
The winner, Joker, is a very good movie, no doubt on that one.
But if I’m not completely wrong… And I’m not, it’s not the usual winner-type of a movie. Let’s look at the last five years of winners:
2014 A pigeon sitting on a branch reflects on existence by Roy Andersson
2015 I Look at you by Lorenzo Vigas
2016 The Woman Who Left by Lav Diaz
2017 The Shape of Water Guillermo del Toro. (This one is a Hollywood reasonably mainstream movie, but still kind of out on the water so to speak…)
2018 Rome by Alfonso Cuarón
Joaquin Phoenix
Joker does not at all fit into this list. And it probably has something to do with the conflict between Polanski as a representative of the old, male film-industry and Lucretia Martel.
It’s a very good film though. Todd Philips enlists Joaquin Phoenix and the result is a very dark and very convincing film. The fictional character debuted in 1940 in the first issue of the comic book series “Batman”, and it’s maybe the psychopath most told on the big screen. The Joker of 1966, Cesar Romero, in the film by Leslie H. Martinson, the late Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (2008) by Christopher Nolan and Jared Leto in “Suicide Squad” (2016) by David Ayer are just a few of them.
Superheroes often have a double identity, but not in the case of Arthur Fleck’s Joker, a failed actor who is the son of a sick woman. He is Joker even if he doesn’t know he is. In life, he wears a mask with a false smile, but it is a metaphorical mask that is not part of the man destined to become a hero in spite of himself, having accidentally killed two imprudent white-collar workers in the subway.
I’m a great fan of Joaquin Phoenix, but I must say, in this film he’s better than he ever was. He has a depth and an essence to the character, to himself, that is seldom seen. His marked face is almost too true, even though the story is told straight forward in a theatrical way. A particularly successful soundtrack closes the circle, it is “Smile” in the Jimmy Durante version, which paradoxically underlines the most tragic moments of the opera. A perfect film from all points of view
It’s a documentary about Batman and Gotham City, through the eyes of his worst enemy.
Robert de Niro takes on the role of Murray Franklin the talk show host, and he does it with the authority of the great movie star that he is.
J’accuse (An officer and a spy)
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
At the press conference at the beginning of the festival, the whole production team was present, but without Polanski. The co-producer Luca Barbareschi tried to clear the air a little saying that, since the director wasn’t present, the rest of the crew would gladly answer any questions about the film but would leave out any comment about the direction of the film. He also said that this isn’t a court to judge in favor of this or that, but a wonderful festival of cinema. As such it should deal with the art, and no more.
Then he started thanking everybody for their contribution, as usual. Very interestingly, he then went on thanking God for his collaboration with Polanski in giving us this marvelous film. When the collaborators entered the room at the beginning, all the journalists took up spontaneous applause.
The film is a masterpiece. It tells the story of Alfred Dreyfus (Louis Garrel) who was a Jewish captain in the French general staff, accused of selling military secrets to the Germans. He was convicted and exiled to the Devil’s Island off the South American coast, just like the film Papillon from 1973 with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. Here too the main character is innocent and we actually get to follow the figure of Colonel Picquart, played by Jean Dujardin.
This is a smart move and we get to follow Picquart’s work to find the truth about the supposed Spy-affair, more than Dreyfus life on the island. Picquart has just been promoted to lead the office of military intelligence and discovers how disorganized and corrupt the whole office really is. To this, there’s a strong antisemite blanket covering the whole french military as well as the society. Picquart doesn’t oppose this but carries out his duties more of a conviction that it’s the right thing to do.
There’s an obvious similarity between Polanski’s situation and that of Dreyfus in the film. And I don’t think it’s just a coincident that he choose this story for his newest film.
Om det oändliga (About endlessness)
Roy Andersson
Roy Andersson
Not everybody likes the films of Roy Andersson, but he’s still a phenomenon without equals in the modern film industry. He won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival in 2014 with A pigeon sitting on a branch reflects on existence. And now he’s won again, not the Golden Lion but the prize for best director’s prize. And I think this is extremely important for a man who’s brought something completely new into the business.
Roy Andersson started out as a conventional filmmaker, but after having flopped and exceded the budget on his second film, he got “blacklisted” by the Swedish film society. Nobody wanted to work with him anymore and he had to live on commercials for 25 years. Doing these extremely short publicity films he developed a special technique, and his failure in film turned into a success in the commercial business … And he made some money.
When he started making film again in 2000 the style was something no one had ever seen before. Andersson says he saw a painting of the Dutch painter Pieter Bruegel, and he was amazed how the image grew into the distance rather than from left to right or from top to bottom.
In his films, all scenes are static, filmed with one fixed camera. The action then takes place in a prolonged depth-axel. Things happen upfront but also behind, in the background and even at the horizon.
My family all hates his films. Andersson is not for everybody. But I think in a world of conformity, it’s very refreshing with someone who dares to stand out. And it brings hope to the film industry when you see that the medium still can evolve.
The new entry follows the same tradition. It’s a series of paintings of man in the present and the past. Ironical and sharp in the telling, pale and beige in the style. The criticism of society and Andersson’s own reflections become obvious as if it was written out on the screen. It’s a very slow, very foggy and dusty, but extremely complex entry.
The other day I read an article by Nicolò Porcelluzzi. The name of the article was The Aliens of the Venice Lagoon and if you’re familiar with the Italian language you can find it here.
In the article, Porcelluzzi is talking about the Lagoon and about the radical changes we’ve seen in recent years. Modern civilization, as always, puts the natural balance out of order. One might think that for eons nature was always the same, the trees, the grass, the birds, the fish, and the mud… It has always been there until man started destroying everything by using concrete, building factories, and starting industrialism.
But in the case of the Venice lagoon, it’s not so. In fact, the lagoon as we see it today is a product of human activity. The huge city of Venice, as it was in the middle ages and even before that, needed water, waterways, wood, and food. So the Venetians changed nature to fit the demands of their population. Because Venice was one of the very few Metropolis in the middle ages, and it was situated in a spot where nothing was for free, it had to be created.
Rivers were diverted, islands were created and canals were built. Just look at the big landmass at Punta Sabbioni. 150 years ago that didn’t exist. The border between the lagoon and the sea was Sant’Erasmo, an island that is now well inside the lagoon.
So, the environment around Venice is constantly evolving and it has always been that way. But Porcelluzzi’s article is uncovering the acceleration of the changes. Accelerations to a point where we maybe cannot defend its uniqueness anymore. And the responsibility is in fact, as I mentioned before, in the hands of man, and human activity… Concrete and factories… And ships. But while man in the middle ages had moderate resources to alter his surroundings (…still the Venetians did a good job of changing land, sea, and the in-betweens…), we now are more able in that sense.
The threats to the Venice Lagoon
Porto Marghera, the huge harbor to the west of Venice, on the landside, has always been a love-hate affair to the Venetians. It offered richness and jobs, but the petrochemical industry polluted the water. After the crisis and political changes of modern times, this particular industrial activity is more or less closed down. There’s still a lot of business, but not as pollutive as in the 50s, 60s, and the 70s. Good! Instead, we have the other industries, the trade, and the tourism that for every year increase the impact on the lagoon.
Every year around 3500 ships moor in Venice. That’s 10 ships every day. The cruise ships go through Canale della Giudecca in the center of Venice, while the others travel the Malamocco-Marghera canal. The ships’ propellers whip the water together with the sludge and the microorganisms. And they ad their own microfauna to the mix… Fish, invertebrates, and plants from other parts of the Mediterranean or other parts of the world, far away from Venice, Aliens.
This is all normal. Every lifeform tries to survive and expand, that’s the whole idea of nature. So, as the lagoon changes over the centuries, even the animals and plants that populate it change, adapting. In recent decades, however, unforeseen evolutions of this equilibrium are occurring, and the cause is, of course, the human introduction of vertebrates and invertebrates who lived for millennia or millions of years in other parts of the world.
Venice Aliens – Catching mussels
Between 1995 and 2000, a few kilometers from Piazza San Marco, 40.000 tons of clams were collected every year. Venice from one year to the other became the European capital of shellfish thanks to an animal that has nothing to do with the history of Venice: the Manila clam.
This animal was imported from the Philippines. Thanks to its fertility it soon competed strongly for the territory and pushed back the domestic clam Chamelea gallina. An alien introduction that has created wealth, a lot of it, and in a short time. But in the end, it was a total disaster. Apart from the ecological and environmental problems it caused, in 2012 the production had gone down to 2.000 tons a year. A few glorious years of commerce that in the end cost many times more than it earned.
Not only the Manila clam has arrived from the Far East; alongside it, there are the prawns of Louisiana and the zebra mussels of Eastern Europe, exterminating biodiversity. And somewhere in the mud hides the Japanese oyster. In the humid areas, the Asian tiger mosquitoes, the hornet, and the woodworm proliferate, transported in the last twenty years by tires, porcelains, and bonsai.
Venice Aliens – Fishing
Wels Catfish. Photo courtesy of Carlos Recalde.
But there’s more… The Balkan frog, pelophylax kurtmuelleri is growing its population and the catfishes are slowly taking over the whole sweetwater river- and lake system. The huge Wels Catfish, silurus glanis is now completely dominant in the northern Italian rivers. While in northern Europe this is a protected species, in Italy it has found a perfect environment though and is becoming more or less the only species in the river Po, much to the joy of the many specimen fishers. Catches of over 100 kilograms happen regularly. The rivers inside the lagoon have similar problems. Soon the catfish will be the only fish there too.
“Watercourses are very vulnerable to the invasion of foreign organisms, te Venice Aliens, also because water facilitates the mobility of species, and aquatic species tend to expand very rapidly.” This is said by Piero Genovesi, known as Papik, the highest Italian authority on the subject, and head of the wildlife coordination department of the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra).
“The presence of allochthonous appears to be constantly increasing”, and has now reached and exceeded 50 percent of the entire regional fish fauna. Half of all the fishes come from other parts of the world…The picture becomes even scarier if you look at the entire biomass, including microorganisms and plants. Then the figure is 80% aliens… four-fifth of the living things in the water around Venice shouldn’t even be there!
A global problem
The situation is similar in all coastal regions in the Mediterranean but nowhere is it as serious as in Venice. But still what is an alien? When do you become local? How many years, decades, centuries do you have to live in a place before you’ve become a part of it?
Many of the species that we may think are ours, in reality, were introduced in our biosphere from outside. The Italian landscape is full of Prickly pears, Opuntia. It’s so full of it that we think we kind of invented it, together with the Cypress, standing in rows as in attention in Tuscany. They’re both non-Italian. As are the mouflons, the porcupines, the poppies, and thousands of other species. But we still regard them as ours.
It made me think about something a friend of mine told me. She’s a politician from northern Europe and was once part of a big congress in Africa. Sitting at the dinner she had a politician from Tanzania at the table and they talked about this and that. At a point where the conversation was going a bit slowly, she suddenly said: “You know, one of our smallest birds go all the way to Tanzania for the winter residence…” The African colleague looked at her and said: “What makes you think it’s yours?”
Brothers: Unify the World!
Often we think of nature, as we think about everything else, in a very local, shortsighted way. We travel, animals travel, and things, ideas, and concepts travel. But when 80% of the biomass is alien, then there’s a genuine risk of conformity. The whole world is getting exactly the same. And what a boring world it would be.
And this is where Life ASAPAlien Species Awareness Program is inserted, a project co-financed by the European Union that tries to contain the consequences of alien invasions through information and awareness campaigns and support. Thanks to Life ASAP, schools, horticulturists, and veterinarians are kept informed. But, as always, information, debate, and good intentions can do only so much. As bad as the situation is right now, it will become worse in the future. The climate change will make the Mediterranean warmer, more tropical, and the living conditions for “our” species will get tougher, more suitable for African- and Asian ones.
The problem of invasive alien species is three-dimensional: It is an environmental-, perceptive- and political problem.
Environment: By burning fossil fuels we are on a road that we do not know where it will lead us. We know, though, that if we do not stop burning petrol, coal, and gas, these issues will become harder and harder to resolve. And it will cost more money for every step we take in the wrong way.
Perception. This involves the education of citizens, in homes and schools, young and old. People will have to understand the consequences of every action they take, they need to know what the cost is for their choices, not only in money but also in health, well being’ and future. And when they do, the third part is inevitable…
Political awareness. And the politicians can no longer waver: Urgent measures must be taken to contain at least the economic and health consequences of the problem.
80% of the living things in the lagoon and the rivers and canals around it are aliens. That’s bad, that’s very bad. But I still think that it could even be 100%, a complete flora, and fauna that doesn’t belong here… A complete take over by the allochthonous. It could very well come to a future where we have to accept conformity, boredom just to survive. We could have the same trees, flowers, insects, and fishes all over the planet. Goodbye biodiversity!
And if it would come to that, if all life in the Venetian lagoon would be the same as everywhere else… Then, at least, let’s save it, let’s make it live on and not perish. A dead environment is still worse than a boring one… And maybe in a thousand years, we can again call it our own very special Laguna di Venezia… And the Venice aliens won’t be nor aliens nor Venetians.
Venice Art Biennale at Giardini and Arsenale costs 25 euro. Not much in Venice is free. Actually not much even has a reasonable price tag, especially if you move between the big tourist attractions like Saint Mark’s Belltower, the Basilica, and the Doges Palace. Then if you sit down on the square and have your 12:50 euro-coffee, then the wallet really starts emptying in a worrying way.
So what if I told you that you can visit 33 national exhibitions, all part of the 58th edition of the Venice Art Biennale. Artists from every corner of the world come to Venice to display and express their thoughts about the world in which we live… And you can visit them for free. No cost whatsoever. Nor before you go in, neither after you’re done. Just respect the opening hours and you can move from one end of the city to the other experiencing new, innovative, artistically fabulous art and installations, videos, and performing artists… And it costs nothing… Nada, Rien.
Venetian Addresses.
I’ve made a map of all the 33 national participations spread around the city. I haven’t put any address on the dots but the position should be reasonably close. In Venice, the Address isn’t of much help anyway. Even the postmen don’t know where the numbers of the streets are. It’s all close to this, behind that, cross the bridge on your right… So if you don’t find the door, ask. There will be someone who can indicate the entrance, don’t worry.
The history of the Biennale
Venice Art Biennale is an old lady. Already back at the end of 1800, it started out around the central building in the Biennale area at Giardini.Padiglione Centrale it’s called today. It went on for a few decades all alone, attracting the finest artists from Europe. I was going to say the world but back then Europe and the world was more or less the same thing for the Europeans. Then in the thirties, during the fascism, the Art-festival got company… The theatre festival, the contemporary music festival, and of course, the famous Venice film festival. All these are now held every year. The Venice film festival is the second oldest in the world, after the Academy Awards.
In the 80s the Architecture-festival was added and is now held every two years, just like the Art-festival. Odd years Art, even years Architecture. Biennaleactually means every two years. 1999 the festival of contemporary dance was introduced and so the calendar was complete.
My own suggestions
the Pavilion of Azerbaijan
It makes you think. Especially those, like me, who are active inside the internet world, with headlines, keywords, followers, likes, visitors, and Google algorithms. What is it all about? Why are there more words, pages, and images on the internet than the whole world’s population can read and see even if every word is watched only by one person? How can you get through the tsunami of information that we are flooded with every day? Is it even possible to determine what’s true, almost true or false? And does it matter? … Is there even such a thing as truth?
The Lithuanian Pavilion
A musical performance. A beach inside a military warehouse. You watch the performing artists from above as they lie on the sand. As they put sun oil on their pink bodies and chitchat about the little things. As they drink some water from the bottle, eat ice cream, and let their lazy characters enjoy the holiday while sleeping under the hot sun. Peace.
Then they sing because it’s a musical performance. The music is theatrical, word-based… An opera. As we move on the different characters reveal more personal worries and concerns, but it doesn’t really change anything. Our little thoughts about gossip and unimportant facts make us stop and sit down instead of getting up and do something. It’s slow and discouraging because, outside this little box of tranquillity, the world is going to pieces. It’s dying… While we wait.
The Lithuanian Pavilion won the Golden Lion this year and the motivation was this:
Courtesy of Angelo Greco
For the Pavilion’s experimental approach and its unexpected way in facing national representation. The jury was impressed by the original use of the display space, which stages a Brecht-inspired work, and by the active efforts of the Pavilion as regards Venice and its inhabitants. Sun & Sea (Marina) is a critique of leisure and of contemporaneity, sung by the voices of a group of performers and volunteers who interpret everyday people.
Performances every Wednesday and Saturday, though the exhibition is open every day except Monday.
If you’d like to see all the rest at Giardini and Arsenale, then 25 euro isn’t very much. For 35 euro you can go in three days, and you might need that to be able to let it all in. And then you’ll have an opportunity to see Arsenale. That is normally not open to the public, but with a ticket, you get in, at least to a part of it. Should you need a hotel close to the Biennale area, there’s a good one right here: Hotel Indigo Venice.
Any way you choose it’s a great possibility to see some of the world’s finest contemporary art by invited artists as well as national participators.
Autumn in Venice. Once October was a slow month. The tourists were all gone home and we had the town for ourselves. November was even slower. But now the season stretches out in spring and autumn, and soon you can’t even speak of a season. It will be the same all year round.
Next weekend it’s time for the 
Yes, October is a sports month. But even if you, like me, wouldn’t run 42 kilometers on time even if they put a gun to your head, October still is a wonderful time for an active lifestyle. 
But in the case of the Venice lagoon, it’s not so. In fact, the lagoon as we see it today is a product of human activity. The huge city of Venice, as it was in the middle ages and even before that, needed water, waterways, wood, and food. So the Venetians changed nature to fit the demands of their population. Because Venice was one of the very few Metropolis in the middle ages, and it was situated in a spot where nothing was for free, 
80% of the living things in the lagoon and the rivers and canals around it are aliens. That’s bad, that’s very bad. But I still think that it could even be 100%, a complete flora, and fauna that doesn’t belong here… A complete take over by the allochthonous. It could very well come to a future where we have to accept conformity, boredom just to survive. We could have the same trees, flowers, insects, and fishes all over the planet. Goodbye biodiversity!
In the 80s the Architecture-festival was added and is now held every two years, just like the Art-festival. Odd years Art, even years Architecture. Biennale actually means every two years. 1999 the festival of contemporary dance was introduced and so the calendar was complete. 
