The Value of Venice Biennale

　　I am working side by side with Robert Storr. This is the first time the Biennale has appointed an American critic as its Exhibition Director. Thus two cultures - the American and the European of Venice and of the Biennale - have corresponded in this Exhibition.

　　Think with the Senses - Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense results from the point of view Robert Storr has used in looking beyond the new borders of international art - not only to quickly-developing artistic languages, but also to individualities, countries and rising trends from each of the five continents which would be normally peripheric with respect to the established artistic milieu.

　　Robert Storr has specifically chosen to include in his project, at the Arsenale Artiglierie, both Turkey - with a whole national Pavilion - and a show representing contemporary art in the African continent, with a layout developed (among the many candidates) by a panel of experts selected and appointed by the curator himself.

　　Insisting on the international bent of this institution, we are grateful for the enthusiasm shown, once more, by the foreign countries that are participating in our Exhibition, setting a record in their number (77), with several débuts, such as that of Lebanon, a country facing the difficult path of peace and reconstruction.

　　National participations have always been a fundamental and characterizing component, an extraordinary treasure for the Art Biennial Exhibition. We would like to stress this contribution also because our show was the first and is now the last offering permanent national Pavilions.

　　Starting from 2005, the presence of the People's Republic of China at the Arsenale - an area of future central development of the Biennale exposition spaces - is a first opening sign towards new world regions.

　　Despite the difficult heritage we have found, we solved once and for all the anomalous absence of a specific area dedicated to Italian arts: obtained from the striking Tese delle Vergini space at the Arsenale - with the co-operation of DARC (General Direction for Contemporary Architecture and Art) and of the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities -, the Italian Pavilion has been entrusted to the internationally well-known curator Ida Gianelli.

　　Thanks to DARC, moreover, this year a further significant exhibition will be dedicated, within the framework of our collateral events, to Italian art and specifically to the winners of the prize for young Italian artists.