Art historian Harry Liivrand, who visited the Venice Biennale, said this year's edition represents the first major triumph of artificial intelligence on a large international art stage.
For Liivrand, the main program was overshadowed by the national pavilions. "This year's Biennale focuses mainly on what for us is the so‑called Third World — the art of Latin America, Asia and Africa, which is largely based on folklore. From a Eurocentric perspective and in terms of contemporary art interpretation, it would fall under folk art and naïvism, so it did not interest me as much. I would say the more interesting exhibitions were in the national pavilions," Liivrand said. Among them, he highlighted the ** German pavilion**, which surprised him for the first time in years. It features the work of an artist with an East German background. "He interprets life in an East German Lasnamäe‑type apartment building, and he does it in a very compelling way — through wardrobe, furniture and interior design. By reusing objects, he brings out the atmosphere through fragments. What is especially interesting is that the entire large German pavilion building is covered with countless small mosaic tiles taken from the facade of a demolished East German high‑rise," Liivrand said, also praising the
, Latvian and Greek pavilions.
FinnishLiivrand said one of the most prominent themes of this year's Biennale is the use of artificial intelligence. "This is AI's first major victory at a large international exhibition. All the so‑called Chinese pavilions — the ** People's Republic of China**, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau — deal exclusively with AI manipulations. Only films and strange animations filled with monsters and odd humanoids that are meant to make us think about the future of humanity and what we ourselves might become," he said.
"One of the satellite exhibitions features the prominent American artist David Salle, who designed his large figurative paintings using AI. Only after creating the AI‑generated drafts did he paint the works — large, powerful oil paintings. The result is very impressive, honestly. Although for me, as something of a conservative, it feels too mechanical. I still expect an artist to sketch by hand with a pencil and then paint based on that."
Liivrand said he does not use AI to write his own texts and does not allow his students at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre to use it much either. "They have admitted to me that they sometimes use it a little. We forgive them — you cannot ban it entirely — but with short essays it is difficult to prove how much someone used it. I must say, though, that I have used translation software a bit myself. It works very well, but of course you must edit the language yourself."
Liivrand also visited the Estonian pavilion, where ** artist Merike Estna** is working to cover the walls of an old church with paintings by early November. "Based on the works I saw, it is quite an interesting and exciting painterly project. I cannot yet judge how it will function in that environment. But for now, Estna is in very good form as a painter, using abstract visual language and some figurative elements very effectively," he said.
"At the moment, her paintings also relate in color and certain compositional choices to the surviving ceiling painting in the church, which is protected by a safety net because the hall is usually used as a gym. We will wait with interest to see what the final result will be," he added, expressing hope that Estonian media will also travel to Venice in November to cover the finished work, not only the process and the artist's dress.
The art historian noted that the Venice Biennale is no longer as compelling as it was ten years ago. "I have seen every Biennale since 1999, so I always compare them with my own experience. I must say that the Biennales of recent years have been rather underwhelming."
--
Editor: Neit-Eerik Nestor, Argo Ideon
Source: ERR interview by Anne Aavik