OFF-SEASON GUIDE TO GIARDINI DI VENEZIA

2004

14 salt paper silver prints, 50x65 cm.

Edition of 3+1

“Excuse me, is this the place for contemporary art?”
“Yes.”
“But the show, is it over now?”
“No, it is opening in two months.”
“Hmm… I don’t understand; everything is so old here. What contemporary art is that?”

Conversation with an elderly tourist couple from Germany, Giardini, Venezia, April 2003

The series consists of images of different national pavillions of the Venice Biennial, taken on 4'x5' BW negative and printed on mould-made Arches paper using the 19th-century salt paper printing technique. Each image is accompanied by a quote from a travel diary concerning the country represented by the pavillion. The text excerpts range from descriptions of the Ninth Crusade, through Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle", to Casanova's memoirs. 

The edition consists of 3 prints; each print is unique, due to the inherent variations of the salt paper printing process.