The Chinese Bar

Al Campanile is a small traditional Venetian bar which has become the late night meeting point of art people during Biennale openings in the past few editions. The bar, originally designed in a classic Venetian style in the 80s, has been run by a Chinese immigrant family for the past 10 years, who have preserved it perfectly. During the day it’s a hotspot for a good spritz and cicchetti, while at night it offers amazing cocktails just behind the corner from San Marco Square. When it is not swamped with tourists, it is full of regulars, art professionals visiting or living in Venice. We all first knew it just by the colloquial name ‘The Chinese Bar’.

On the four screens incorporated into the bar’s design by its original architect, this exhibition in three acts presents twelve videos resonating on the topic of this year’s Biennale, ‘Foreigners Everywhere’. Similarly as the foreigners of Al Campanile and the broader city of Venice, these videos were created as foreign in time, but became a part of history, either by changing it, assimilating in it, or (re)writing it. The three acts of the exhibition investigate different ways the artworks alienate from contemporary time:

Act I: The Bubble Act II: The Freeze Act III: The Hereafter