Here is the 2019 Venice Biennale. It will be titled May you live in interesting times.

May youlive in interesting times: that is what the title of the 2019 Venice Biennale, curated by Ralph Rugoff and titled May you live in interesting times, hopes for. The 58th edition of the most important international art exhibition, unveiled in the past few hours, will run from May 11 to November 24, 2019 at the Giardini, Arsenale and various venues in Venice, and intends to initiate a reflection starting precisely from the English expression in the title, which has long been mistakenly attributed to an ancient Chinese curse, evoking periods of uncertainty, crisis and unrest. In short, “interesting times,” like the ones we are currently experiencing. There will be no particular theme, but, Rugoff stressed, the 2019 Biennial “will emphasize a general approach to art making and a vision of the social function of art that includes both pleasure and critical thinking.”

“In an age in which the digital spread of fake news and ’alternative facts’ undermines political debate and the trust on which it is based,” the curator said, “it is worth pausing, if possible, to question our reference points. In this specific example, it just so happens that there has never been an ’ancient Chinese anathema,’ despite the fact that Western politicians have been quoting it in their speeches for more than a century. This expression, while a figment of imagination, a cultural ersatz, has nevertheless had a real effect in rhetoric and public debate. Such an artifact of uncertain nature, suspicious but also rich in meaning, opens up potential avenues of inquiry worth pursuing, especially at this moment in history when the ’interesting times’ it invokes seem to be with us again. That is why the 58th. International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale will take its title from a false anathema. May You Live in Interesting Times will seek to offer its audience a well-rounded experience, which is proper to the deep involvement, transport and creative learning made possible by art. This will mean engaging visitors in a series of encounters that will be essentially playful, for it is when we play that we are most fully ’human.’ It will also mean curating aspects of the format of the Exhibition, where possible, to ensure that it is in keeping with the character of the art that will be presented.”

Moreover, Rugoff concludes, the 2019 Biennial “will be grounded in the belief that human happiness comes from real conversations, because as social animals we are driven to create, find meaning and relate to one another. In this light, the Exhibition will aim to emphasize the idea that the meaning of artworks lies not so much in objects as in conversations-first between the artist and the artwork, then between the artwork and the audience, and then between different audiences. Ultimately, the 2019 Art Biennale aspires to this ideal: what matters most in an exhibition is not what is exhibited, but how the audience can then use the experience of the exhibition to look at everyday reality from broader points of view and with new energy. An exhibition should open people’s eyes to unexplored ways of being in the world, thus changing their view of that world.”

President of the Biennale, Paolo Baratta, remarked that “the Biennale should be the place where the individual visitor is strongly challenged to confront the work of art. The institution, the places, the works convened by the Curator, their location in space, the climate that the institution knows how to create, everything must contribute to building favorable conditions so that the visitor feels engaged in front of the individual work that he or she encounters, almost as if he or she were on a platform for a fencing match.”

So the appointment is for next year: as usual, there will be no shortage of National Participations and a full program of side events. The event’s official website is www.labiennale.org and the hashtags are #BiennaleArte2019 #MayYouLiveinInterestingTimes.

Here is the 2019 Venice Biennale. It will be titled May you live in interesting times.

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