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As a contemporary Native American artist/art historian  at the 53^rd Venice Biennale, I really had to open up my mind to some conceptual realities.

The idea of so much an overload in conceptual art choices of artists is in direct proportion of the curators’ choosing. Confrontation and confusion is easy when traditional means of art are used to see contemporary art. Open your mind and allow me to take you on a little adventure through Pavilions of international art.

Imagine an oversized NDN  in a small canoe paddling his way through the murky green waters of the Grand Canal. I had to dodge public waterbuses, the boats which deliver goods to the land based market places, and taxi boats, and costly gondolas (2009 marks the first time a woman will be allowed to guide gondolas in the canals in Venice).

As my canoe was docked the unexpected waited. Nearly 100 artists were represented from 77 countries. Being Native American from a sovereign nation it should be possible for each nation to submit an artist representative for 2011. (Hmmm?)

But, before I stray away here are some examples of some of the artists and what they brought to the international art show.

At the entrance of the Biennale one is welcomed by a large 4 meter globe structure of aluminium, steel, and neon lettering by Chen Zhen, representing human rights (fullness). Other art works may or may not take a person’s imagination to a country’s point of origin. Open your mind.

An artist, Italian Michelangelo Pistolet breaking giant mirrors, saving one “17 one less”.Another brings a whole house to put into the Venice waters. It sinks.
Within the Czech / Slovak pavilion there are trees and shrubs which are also outside the pavilion. Think of bringing in all the plant life from outside indoors. There it is.
Two artists had the bright idea to have cages of sorts, one in the French pavilion, Le Grand Soir by French artist Claude Leveque and another housed in a church, Chiesa S.Stae, by Swiss artist Gygi. Economat. There is something for everyone to laugh at or puzzle over. For example, Scandinavian Elmgreen and Dragnet’s Death of a Collector; a drowned gay lover in a shallow swimming pool is a sample of realism which viewers want to touch; and why hang up male underwear in a glass frame for the world to stare at?
Outside this Nordic and Danish pavilion is a “FOR SALE” sign. A cat which is about as alive as our drowned gay dude by British artist Liam Gillick, explains , “How to become an artist”, An installation titled, How are you going to behave?” A kitchen cat speaks., is a series of wood kitchen cabinets in the German pavilion.

This is a “gooder” one for Native Peoples: in the Biennale pavilion, Tomas Saraceno’s “Galaxies Forming Along Filaments, Like Droplets Along their Strands of a Spider’s Web”.This installation could be a giant dreamcatcher of globes interconnected by elastic ropes.

There is a message of our times in the Argentina pavilion titled, “Disorient”. Visual image show the poverty and environment which populations live in, while the rich and opposite greed continues. Hearing and seeing opposing truths can be disorienting!

 Bruce Nauman representing the American pavilion brought a retrospective of sorts with his classic word neon art: “the true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths”. He won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. His art work covers four decades.

 Many Native Peoples will relate to once having to deal with identity. Today our youth are wannabe hip hop Indians. In the Singapore pavilion video installations address an issue of an Asian woman wanting to pass as a white person.

The Japan pavilion was represented by Miwa Yanagi’s work titled “Windswept Women: The Old Girls’ Troup”. It was an installation of large photos of women displaying their bodies caught in a black and white surreal storm. The images also shown in a video had the mystic element:“…key to expressing ambivalent themes such as tensions between “life and death,” “past and future,” “confinement and mobility” and everyday life and festival.”.We are all growing old and probably should find some humor to celebrate in everyday life.

Discovering a Russian submarine by Alexander Ponomarev – Subtiziano displaying the Russian red star and  applied graffiti in the Grand Canal is about the same as finding a blimp by Mexican artist Hector Zamora stuck between the buildings of the Arsenal. This section of the Biennale houses the younger generation of artists. Many were influenced by conceptual art ideas and have gone for ready made visual art objects. Ever wonder how cardboard boxes made it to the Biennale? “Behold 2009”. Bumpers from cars tied together, hanging from ceiling to the floor against the wall, by Indian artist Sheela Gowda. Sections of the floor are removed and filled with some substitute material shaped into rectangles. Wire hanging on the wall and snaked across the Arsenal space. These are mistaken for art, make no mistake about that.

Now, tying a simple white string to a rock attached to a column might be a visual joke. I kicked the rock by accident and moved it about a foot. I doubt anyone noticed. Within the Hong Kong installation was a stack of plastic bags filled with the artist’s breath: “Breathing in a house” by Pak Sheung Chuen. Now, it would be difficult to make this up.

These are only a few examples of the many faces of the 2009 Venice Biennale. I was day dreaming while floating around in my canoe. Many masks from different Native Peoples of the world could be a metaphor for the facades of the Pavilions. Like the false face mask of the middle America. The northern cravings of totem spirits and the southwest dance masks – Take these and mix them up in a bag of human expression and an amazing presence in imagery may emerge. There is re-emerging pains of the question: Where is art going in the near future?

Art critics seem to be too kind in by not saying what the public was saying. So, let me say it.

Once I had this uncle who went fishing one early morning in his boat. He rowed down river and realized he forgot his fishing gear, and he forgot his clothes. Then he couldn’t remember his way home. If I was going to be inspired by art at the Biennale or impressed  by the curators I suppose the disappointment I left with would be the same as finding a hole in my canoe.

Venice 53rd Biennale  website