VENICE, ITALY, MAY 8, 2019 -- Venice has bested its last biennale. This morning, at the press opening, Ralph Rugoff, director of the Hayward Gallery in London since 2006, spoke along with Paolo Baratta, president of the Biennale de Venezia and the director of Swatch, about the biennale. Even more than the theme of the 2017 biennale, which announced “Arte Viva” and made sure there were no barriers to crossing borders, Rugoff’s message was right on, and important. Responding to politics around the world, he said, “In art, there is no simple truth — there is a complexity of voices — a double format and a plurality of voices.” But then, he went on even further, saying that, “each artist’s voice must also be a plurality.” This plurality was demonstrated in Rugoff’s decision to locate some artists’ work in both venues of the Biennale: the Arsenale and the Giardini. I asked him what dictated … [Read more...] about EVEN BETTER THAN 2017: VENICE BIENNALE 2019