Tuesday, May 12, 2026
At the Venice Biennale
Someday I would love to go to the Venice Biennale, the giant art festival that tends towards the edgy. Nations sponsor a single artist or a small group, and the city is full of about 100 official installations.
It's not the Met. Denmark's entry this year is AI-generated porn on giant screens. Austria's features a nude woman jet-skiing. (I'm sensing a theme here). The Vatican's installation has a voice piece by Patti Smith.
One of the more intriguing installations is from Japan. Ei Arakawa-Nash has a piece, "Grass Babies, Moon Babies," involving over 200 baby dolls. If you choose, one will be assigned to you to carry around the space, evoking a variety of emotions. After touring the space, you can take your baby to a changing table, reveal a QR code, and receive a personalized poem.
Oh, and all of the babies are wearing sunglasses.
