Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 2.14
Sky Pavilions
by
John Cleater (
2011
).
Augmented Reality and
audio. Alien Mothership Sky
Pavilion floats over Piazza
San Marco
hierarchy of privilege among national pavilions in the Biennale and thematizes the
rise of China as a vital - and financially important - center of contemporary art (see
Fig.
2.16
).
A second pavilion placed in the Piazza San Marco occupies the heart of this
emblematic European city, whose native son Marco Polo “discovered” China for
the West, and dominates it with this ultimate symbolic source of Chinese Party
power (Fig.
2.17
). At the same time, however, the reference to Mao's embalmed
presence and the Party's current mandate of “traditional styles” for the pavilion
building speaks of the ruling system's authoritarian tendencies that still inhibit the
development of Chinese artists and intellectuals (Lily and HongLei
2011
).
Will Pappenheimer/Virta-Flaneurazine's
Colony Illuminati
appropriated both the
Biennale title “ILLUMInations” and the actual visual imagery of many artworks in
the Biennale. This was a secret colony of virtual bufo toads that draws sustenance
