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In the Land of Marco Polo

Water Streets, sexy men and women, living statues, sea-gulls, street performers reliving the Dada times, Bangla speaking waiters serving Italian pastas, high-tension love fights performed at street corners, g-string waving girls, art and more art; that is contemporary Venice and it defies the stereotypes of tourist maps, finds Amrita Gupta Singh in this lively feature.

A bird’s eye view of the snow-peaked Alps, then the aquamarine Adriatic sea, and we landed in Venice. It was cloudy, the mist-filled air, the choppy sea and the lure of the water-taxi’s, a strange language, a different culture made me wonder how productive my days in Venice would be. We sped over the choppy waters (a bumpy ride) and entered the lagoon and the canals, the ‘streets’ of Venice. Old buildings, grand architecture and moss-covered peeling walls leaning on bamboo columns told me different stories; a plump Venetian woman, with a cigarette dangling from her lips leaned over one of her windows, surveying the water traffic. There were shouts of greetings between the taxi-drivers, the porters and a very elegantly dressed Italian concierge graciously welcomed us to Venice, leaning over the reception counter to understand our Indian English, as we were trying equally hard to understand his Italian English. One of the water taxi drivers also greeted my travel partner with “ Kemon Achi, Bhalo Bashi”, which translated in Bengali means “ How are you? I love u”! Hilarious, but I, being a Bengali, was thrilled to hear Bengali in Italy! I met many other Bangladeshi waiters with whom I spoke in Bengali, ordering Italian food in Bengali.

The lagoon view was amazing, music floated from the pavement cafes, while the men on the gondolas played instruments that mingled with the chatter of the tourists- Spanish, Chinese, Indians, Brazilians, French, Americans and so many more. So here I was, to attend the preview of the 52nd Venice Biennale. Next day, armed with my invite, I stepped out, walking towards the Giardini Gardens. I crossed bridges, each time stopping to take photographs, the massive private boats and the cruise ships being towed by a tiny pilot boat from the lagoon to the sea, and with each horn from these ships, the sea-gulls and pigeons flew helter-skelter, there was immense air traffic then, and a smile on my lips. I saw sea-gulls on Discovery channel but I was amazed how large a bird the sea-gull is, I waited to take a photograph, but the sea-gull was not interested to be my friend, as I didn’t have any food to offer. This seagull was’nt Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, I realized.

Then I came across these real men and women, gorgeously dressed as the kings and queens of the palazzos, or a young man took the form of the Statue of Liberty, covered in grey-blue paint and grey-blue robes; another enacted Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. All these were like interventions in public spaces, performance pieces where they clicked photos with the tourists in return for a few euros in their little baskets. Later in the evening, the same man who posed as the Statue of Liberty was lounging around smoking a cigarette, the regal grey-blue robe bunched around his waist, the torch at his feet, laughing raucously with a fellow Italian! A Dadaist, almost!

Another performance on my way to the Giardini gardens; A public fight between a very well-dressed decent looking couple on the street. The woman gripped the man’s collars, pushed him against the garden’s railings, hurling abuses, venom in her voice. The poor man was helpless against such a powerful onslaught, he just waited for her to stop, the books that were in his hands, strewn all around. I wondered why the woman was so angry to vent her anger in public, the man didn’t look like a flirt, he looked far from macho, and he seemed to be very much with his partner. I wondered also if an Indian woman would behave like that in public, we are always so worried about our images, the images that we portray to society. People gathered to watch this fight, there was good humour all around and nobody dared to speak to the woman. A hard-core feminist performance piece! With another smile I moved on.

The leafy Giardini Gardens welcomed the visitor. The young volunteers were very friendly, and even spoke in Hindi! Then I saw the global art professionals, smart, savvy, designer clothes, lots of cleavage, legs and elegant hats, networking enthusiastically. I couldn’t make out the artists from the gallerists, tried my best to, but the global art market is treating artists well. Then I noticed the anti-establishment brigade. An artist, dressed like a sailor, trailing a huge sack behind him, walked around the gardens, shouting, “I have lost my Biennale, can you help me find my Biennale, I have lost my Biennale”. Eyebrows rose, amused gazes followed him, but the artist was dead-serious, it was his performance in the most coveted Biennale, after all! Another artist distributed an art-object shaped like a fan, which one could also use like a fan, with the words “Everybody, Get Lost!” scribbled on it. I saw many elegant art professionals using this art object like a fan, oblivious to the message on it; the Venetian sun was very hot, you know.

I spent the next two days both at the Giardini and the Arsenale, met people who shared some part of their experiences with me. While walking down from the Biennale, I came across a mobile art exhibition on a boat. Bright posters, pop imagery, booming music and everybody having a good time, the publicity done by a young attractive girl waving a G-String attached to a rod, like a flag. This time, not a smile, but loud laughter bubbled within me; On the way, I bought an etching from a local artist of the famous ‘Bridge of Sighs’, and after I told him I was an art historian from India, he gave me the etching for a few euros less than displayed. I sat on the chairs outside my hotel, watching the aquamarine waves lapping the shore, the sun was setting after nine o’clock, the water traffic had lessened, the lagoon was quieter, an occasional horn, the laughter of tourists, and the party on the mobile art exhibition boat was rocking!