Occupy comes to the biennale

Finn reports on Occupy Venice.

While we have been living here in Venice, with no English-language radio, it has been podcasts that have been our main link to the outside world. Our daily fix, say Morning Report equivalent, has been a programme called Democracy Now! It is a bit American-centric but gives you a run down of world news with an activist edge, and then about 3 interviews, for a one hour programme. So anyway, the Occupy movement has been a hot topic these last two months and so I was excited when we arrived to the work gate to see that the occupy movement had made to to Venice. 

To put it into context, Venice is a city of extremes. Mega rich tourists have taken almost exclusive use of Venice and are being serviced by people living in Mestre on the mainland. I would have thought that such blatant income inequality would be prime material for social unrest; it might just be lost in translation, but we've not seen any obvious signs of it. 

The Giardini entrance.

There is also the question of how the Bianale is able to privitise the Giardini. The Giadini is a large green space with permanent pavilions dotted throughout. When the space is not being used for either the art or architecture biennale it is a public park, of which there are very few in Venice. For the last six months people have had to pay 20 euro to get into this park. So for me it seemed right that Occupy should use this space as a focal point for their disquiet. It was only through the invitation of the Nordic pavilion however that they were allowed entrance without paying. Also interesting was the idea that by bringing Occupy Venice within the space of the Biennale, each country represented here could be symbolically occupied.

The make up of the Pavilions themselves is interesting, with all the major world players at the turn of the century vying for attention. At the end of the main avenue, a bit beyond Russia, are Germany, Great Britain, and France, all facing each other off over a central open space. It was this open space that the occupiers first headed towards.

Protesters gathering outside the German Pavilion.

Protesters gathered outside each pavilion in turn and describe how they viewed the social and economic inequalities of that country. So standing outside the German pavilion a speaker addressed the crowd in German and talked about some of the issues faced in Germany. They then showed solidarity for the occupy movement in that country by placing propaganda on and around the pavilion. They were occupying both Venice and Germany simultaneously. 

Propaganda  outside the German pavilion.

Then they would chant and shout and move on to the next pavilion where they would repeat the process.

Here is a copy of the speech given outside the Great Britain pavilion.

And there they are, performing the same routine outside France.

"We are the 99%" flag.
The Occupy movement's argument being that society is being disproportionately dominated by the super rich.

Examples of flyers that were were being posted up.

Banners left by America's tank installation.

Occupy comes to America, Venice.

24 November 2011