The Vatican’s project for this Biennale Arte can be accessed by moving away from the crowded circuit of the Giardini and Arsenale, relinquishing digital connection, and embracing a sort of pilgrimage that merges artistic substance with social awareness.
“I can see that” – meaning you understand what you’re looking at, not merely seeing it. Looking inside ourselves can be just as valuable as perceiving the outer world. Saint Augustine wrote of our ‘inner eyes’, which you will use to visit the Holy See Pavilion at the Female Correctional Facility in Giudecca, Venice. Art by Maurizio Cattelan, Bintou Dembélé, Simone Fattal, Claire Fontaine, Sonia Gomes, Corita Kent, Marco Perego & Zoe Saldana, and Claire Tabouret will be the end journey of a pilgrimage-like journey to the island of Giudecca, itself a charming microcosm that includes council houses, luxury hotels, abandoned industrial sites, parks, monasteries, and art galleries. Security guards escort us in, check our IDs, and keep our phones for the duration of our visit. No photo or video trace will remain. Our visual memory will take care of that, and we shall enjoy some time of digital detox. We keep walking, and we feel the ordinary concept of freedom no longer applies, here. Art is trying to educate us to a different kind of sensitivity. Inmates will guide us to discover the art; they maintain that “to win means to be free, if but for a moment”.
