Venice Biennale

Some Venice Biennale action.  The biannual art extravaganza here is the biggest thing in the art world.  huge luxurious parties, mega yachts, celebrities, ultra rich people, dealers, collectors, curators, all converge here in the name of art supposedly.  We happened to just stumble upon it





you forget that the ocean is right there





this place sucked so bad.  look at that, horrible.  we had been wandering around trying to find a few spots, and unable to find them and famished we just sat down at this place and it was so touristy and horrible.  I was not very happy that one of our venice meals was wasted on this!





um yes please keep your social discontent and commentary on what's wrong with the world on the other side of venice that no one goes to please, we're trying to live inside a dream right now.  thanks.



if you take the local water taxi to Piazza San Marco for example, or wherever you could be on it for like an hour.    take note of express and local lines.  on the other hand maybe you want to be on it for an hour because chillin on a boat in the sun in Venice is pretty sweet.



right bob?



our plan was to relax and read in a cafe for a little while.  bob was carrying our books, he was reading some bill bryson Appalachian trail book and i was reading On the Road.  its already lame to be reading this book but then to be carrying it around with you and reading it when you are "on the road" is even lamer and bob was not happy one bit about being seen with this book in hand.  This book is what prompted this guy on the water taxi to start talking to bob though.  It turned out he was Alessandro Riva, the curator of "Crossover / A dialog between the Hubei School and the New Italian Art Scene".  He invited us to the opening party that night.
  We went and had a blast, i guess good things can come out of being lame.


I think the main venue is over there.



the bridge of sighs, its the last time prisoners would see the outside world before being imprisoned forever.  Stefania and Silvia who we met at the party told us this the next night when we passed it.  they said it was in Madonna's like a virgin video.



Piazza San Marco



inside St. Mark's Basilica



inside you pay for everything piece meal.  it adds up if you do it all.  like 3 euros to go in this room and see some gold crap.  they made it sound like a golden treasure trove but twas not.  going behind the alter 3 more euros or something.  and it goes on and on.





front of st. marks basilica



that's the basilica from the top of the Campanile tower



i think that's the long lido island in the back.  this was my favorite side of the tower.  i wished we could have sat up there for hours sipping on Spritz with the breeze and the sun.  I was also wishing that bob was a girl and vice versa



piazza san marco below





the band at Harry's.  Harry's is where the drink the Bellini was invented.  on the internets most guides said don't go here because its for tourist f@$#@cks.  A bellini is 1 part pureed white peaches to 3 parts prosecco. 



the Campanile bell tower we were at the top of.



i saw an article recently that said they want gondoliers to be tested for alcohol because lots of them are drunk and they do hazings.







imagine if your home office was right next to a window next to the canal and the water comes right up to it?



with the polarizer filter you always have to choose between reflection or no reflection.  what would you choose?







Bacaros are little wine bars.  we drank spritzs at Bacaro da Fiore



had to way way over expose this one to get the inside of this place even slightly visible but i wanted to show how some people are living right up to the edge



Crossover / A dialog between the Hubei School and the New Italian Art Scene party at the Telecome Future Centre





yes dude, i'm wondering what i'm doing here too



dance party time.  it was free flowing champagne and food.  free alchohol is always bad for Jason.  especially champagne.  I proceeded to get extremely drunk.  We met 2 girls who lived in Venice, one of them was one of the coordinators of this party and other parties for the Biennale.  Thankfully they went home before I was insanely drunk so they wanted to hang out with us the next day and take us to some more parties.  I stole a giant beer and we went with the curator Alessandro, some buyers, and others to some piazza.  Alessandro had at least 4 bottles of champagne tucked under his arms.  trouble.



at this point I was blackout drunk and the champagne just kept going around.  Bob said i was asking them how to say sorry or something which i already knew because he said i was somehow moving at hyper speed and teleporting from one side of them to the other with my arms out saying mi scuzi , scuza, mi scuzi, scuza in a hyper animated fashion.  Bob got us to go home finally when everyone else was going home.  When i get started its hard for me to stop and poor bob (who was very inebriated himself) had the task of trying to get me to go home and then getting us there.  Venice has like the most dead ends in the world.  getting lost there is guaranteed.  who knew how long it took to get home.  its at least 30 minutes if you're sober.  Along the way i apparently fought bob all the way.  He would say look there is a sign for train station we are next to, and i would say F you bob how do you know we have to go that way?  and i would say F you i'm going this way (the opposite direction).  Eventually after tricking me enough times we got to the bridge by our hostel and i sat down and said F you bob you go home i'm just gonna sleep right here.  he had my phone, wallet, and camera because i probably thought i was gonna jump in the canal.  Bob tells me the quote of the night was "Consciously bob, i want to make you unhappy, but subconsciously i want to make you unhappy."  free flowing champagne bad