Welcome
Biennale Arte in Venice – Foreign Minister Maas opens German exhibition
Venice, Italy, © Xander Heinl/photothek.net
Venice – a dream destination for tourists around the world and a symbol of political and cultural greatness. It is also playing host to the Biennale Arte, the International Art Exhibition, once again until November.
With the slogan “May You Live in Interesting Times”, the Biennale Arte in Venice is seeking to contribute to debates on art and its role in society until November.
The German Pavilion has had an eventful history ever since the 1930s. Today, Germany is showcasing itself as a cosmopolitan country that is committed to cultural exchange. Culture helps us to understand other perspectives and thought patterns, to understand foreign ways of life, desires and hopes. Culture depends on reciprocal viewpoints, exchange and links – especially beyond borders. Culture needs inspiration from outside this realm. And culture inspires those without.
With its tradition and appeal, the Biennale is the ideal place to initiate and exemplify such interactions. But art isn’t only intended to be decorative and pleasing in this regard, but aims to become involved and to offer food for thought for the major questions of our age: how do we change the world? How do we deal with change? What does this mean for the individual?
This year’s German exhibition at the Biennale, which was designed by Franciska Zólyom as curator and Natascha Süder Happelmann as the responsible artist, is very much in line with this series of questions.
The social power of culture, of art – this is what we want to strengthen with our cultural relations and education policy. Art is more than aesthetics. Art is about society. And cultural policy is social policy,
said Foreign Minister Maas as he opened the German Pavilion.