Some Account of Biennale di Venezia 2004

An installation in the Italian Pavilion.


前一陣子在因緣際會之下，替台灣某雜誌寫了一篇有關這次威尼斯建築雙年展的報導，對建築所知不多的我，為了寫這篇有關義大利媒體觀點的文章，連續蒐集了好幾天的報紙報導，在短短不到一個星期的時間，完成了一篇還差強人意的文章，也正因為如此，在這次建築雙年展剛開始之際，便對展出內容有了點概念，心裡也打定主意，抽空到威尼斯看看。

For some strange reasons, I’ve got the request to write an article about the Biennale di Venezia for a Taiwanese magazine. Not knowing too much about architecture, I’ve collected newspaper cuttings for some days to have a broad picture about the view and opinion from the Italian media. Within a week, I was able to complete a decent article. Due to this reason, I’ve got some ideas about the Biennale at the beginning of the exhibition and decided to go take a look in Venice.

一個風和日麗的星期日早上，我們和另外兩位友人一同動身前往威尼斯看展。抵達主要展場綠園城堡時，已經將近午時，到窗口取了票，入場以後，我們便從西班牙館開始，一一瀏覽綠園城堡區內的各個國家館。
A beautiful Sunday morning, we went to Venice to visit the exhibition with two friends. When we arrived the Giardini, it’s almost noontime. After collecting our tickets and entered the Giardini, we started visiting pavilions of all participating countries from the Spanish Pavilion.

花了一個下午，我們只大略瀏覽了綠園城堡，根本就來不及去另一個展場軍火庫看看。綠園城堡區內的國家館，給了我很奇怪的印象，由於事先就已經注意到媒體評論以及得獎名單，我對幾個受到好評的展示區特別多看了兩眼，卻讓我大失所望。整體而言，在這次建築雙年展中，裝置藝術與建築的界線並不是那麼明顯，在義大利館內尤其如此，其他幾個較受好評的館，包括英國、德國、日本、還有得獎的比利時等，只有英國與德國有讓人眼睛一亮的感覺，尤其是英國館內有關Dublin Spike的架設過程，更是讓我大開眼界。某位評論家所大力推薦的日本館，以御宅族為主題，在我眼中，不過是西方社會對於日本文化的好奇心驅策下的產物，這與建築有啥顯而易見的關聯，我到現在仍然百思不解。
We took the whole afternoon visiting the Giardini. To get to the Arsenale was just impossible. The overall impression I got from the Giardini is quite strange. Having read some criticisms in advance, I paid some extra attention of the areas that received positive comments. However, it’s such a big disappointment to me. It seems to me that the boundary between installation art and architecture is diminishing, and it’s especially obvious in the Italian pavilion. Other pavilions that are highly praised include UK, Germany, Japan and Belgium. However, only the British pavilion impressed me, especially for the video about the construction of the Dublin Spike. In my opinion, the Japanese pavilion with its exhibition about the Otakus that was highly recommended by some critics is only a curiosity that was born due to the western curiosity to the Japanese culture. The link between the exhibition and architecture is not so obvious and I’m still wondering about it even now.

在專家的眼中，這是一次不容錯過的展出。不過在參觀過極受好評的綠園城堡區以後，我反而比較好奇想要看看軍火庫，以我自己的眼睛來加以評斷。
In the experts’ eyes, this is “The Biennale” that one shouldn’t miss. After visiting the Giardini that is said to be better in sense of exhibition, I’m more curious to judge the Arsenale area with my own eyes.