A Venetian miscellany: Biennale, Kiefer, windows, shadows, and kitsch

Let's start with some gondoliers having breakfast, and their dalmatian.

Then on to the Giardini part of the Biennale, and all the pavilions ... my favorite by far was the Nordic pavilion, which has been transformed into The Sámi Pavilion, in honor of Sápmi, the Sámi homeland that spans all three - and of course is fragmented by the national boundaries, different power relations when it comes to indigenous peoples, and so on.  So much representation of Sápmi spirits, materials, discrimination, healing --- I wish I'd been able to go to another show, Pera + Flora + Fauna  yesterday - about indigenousness and nature - but it was closed - unexpectedly, no reason given, so I didn't try going back - yesterday.  In the background of this is the firmly shut and guarded Russian pavilion.

The countries' names are hidden behind a curtain of birch bark.

But other than that - I was glad to have seen the women and surrealism mini-exhibition, but became a little weary of forms of transformation - there was too much that was just obvious.

But I loved the shadows whilst waiting for the bathroom;

and this window on the way back;

and another lamp-post shadow;

and a couple of views from the Palazzo Ducale.

I'd gone there for the Anselm Kiefer installation, Questi scritti, quando varranno bruciati, daranno finalmente un po' di luce (These writings, when they are burned, will finally give off a little light) - which was huge - in size - and stunning, and terrible: it seemed to reference the end of Venice, and environmental apocalypse, and the inferno, and memory, and the lagoon, and wasteland.

My iPhone, which has been in a thoroughly temperamental state since I left, refused (as it did yesterday) to upload a whole lot of pictures that I took close together - I'm missing the most terrifying images of the lot, just as (and more irritatingly) I'm lacking some kudzu close-ups.  (And for that matter, it's dropped all my Contacts).

But this may give a sense ...

And then - some real Venice kitsch, and, finally, the view this evening, just outside my front door.