National and Post-National Performances at the Venice Biennale: Site-specific Seeing through the Photo Essay
| Author | Johan Spanner,Lene Hansen |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298211031300 |
| Date | 01 January 2021 |
| Published date | 01 January 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/03058298211031300
Millennium: Journal of
International Studies
2021, Vol. 49(2) 305 –336
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/03058298211031300
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National and Post-National
Performances at the Venice
Biennale: Site-specific Seeing
through the Photo Essay
Lene Hansen
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Johan Spanner
Photographer and MSc of Political Science, Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
This article makes three contributions to research on visuality and international relations. First,
it provides a theoretical framework through which sites and their politics can be understood.
Sites are places where certain objects and structures are shown and engaged with. Visitors to
sites experience them visually and bodily and visiting sites is a social process. Second, the article
introduces the format of the photo essay as an epistemology and a method through which the
seeing of sites can be captured. Photo essays about site-specific seeing select photos that convey
particular, embodied experiences. Photo essays make photos as important to the analysis as
text and they adopt a suggestive form of writing that encourages the reader to see and respond
to images in specific ways. Third, the article introduces the Venice Biennale as a site where
international relations are performed. National exhibitions called ‘pavilions’ are a central part
of the Biennale. Some pavilions invoke ‘the national’ as the privileged lens on world politics,
other pavilions challenge this lens. The article provides an analysis of the Serbian, Armenian and
Icelandic pavilions in the 2015 Biennale and the national and post-national performances they
involved. The analysis draws on an original photo essay composed from a research visit and photo
shoot in May 2015.
Keywords
Venice Biennale, photo essay, site-specific seeing
Corresponding author:
Lene Hansen, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353
Copenhagen K. Denmark.
Email: lha@ifs.ku.dk
1031300MIL0010.1177/03058298211031300Millennium – Journal of International StudiesHansen and Spanner
research-article2021
Original Article
306 Millennium: Journal of International Studies 49(2)
Performances nationales et post-nationales à la Biennale de Venise :
Perception in situ à travers le reportage photo
Résumé
Cet article apporte trois contributions à la recherche sur la visualité et les relations internationales.
Il fournit d’abord un cadre théorique pour comprendre les sites et leurs aspects politiques. Les
sites sont des lieux où certains objets et structures sont exposés et avec lesquels se noue un
dialogue. Les visiteurs des sites en font une expérience visuelle et physique, il s’agit d’un processus
social. Cet article présente ensuite le format du reportage photo comme épistémologie et
méthode de perception in situ. Les reportages photo traitant de perception in situ sélectionnent
des photographies qui transmettent des expériences particulières et incarnées. Le format du
reportage photo rend la photographie aussi importante à l’analyse que le texte et il adopte une
écriture suggestive qui incite le lecteur à voir et réagir aux images de manière spécifique. L’article
présente enfin la Biennale de Venise comme un lieu de performance des relations internationales.
Les expositions nationales appelées « pavillons » constituent un élément central de la Biennale.
Certains pavillons évoquent « la nation » comme perspective privilégiée sur la politique mondiale,
tandis que d’autres la remettent en question. L’article propose une analyse des pavillons serbe,
arménien et islandais et de leurs performances nationales et post-nationales à la Biennale de
2015. L’analyse s’appuie sur un reportage photo original composé dans le cadre d’une visite de
recherche et d’une séance photo, réalisées en mai 2015.
Mots-clés
Biennale de Venise, reportage photo, perception in situ
Exhibiciones nacionales y posnacionales en la Bienal de Venecia:
Una visita a través del ensayo fotográfico
Resumen
Este artículo realiza tres contribuciones a la investigación sobre visualidad y relaciones
internacionales. En primer lugar, aporta un marco teórico a través del cual pueden ser entendidas
las exposiciones y sus políticas. Las exposiciones son lugares en los que se muestran y se ponen
de relieve ciertos objetos y estructuras. Los visitantes a estos lugares los experimentan visual
y corporalmente y el hecho de visitar estos lugares es un proceso social. En segundo lugar, el
artículo introduce el formato del ensayo fotográfico como una epistemología y un método a través
del cual puede registrarse la visita de estos espacios. Los ensayos fotográficos sobre la visita a
lugares específicos seleccionan fotos que reflejan experiencias particulares, encarnadas. Los ensayos
fotográficos hacen de las fotos un elemento tan importante para el análisis como el texto y adoptan
una forma sugerente de escribir que anima al lector a ver y responder ante las imágenes de maneras
específicas. En tercer lugar, el artículo presenta la Bienal de Venecia como un lugar en el que quedan
reflejadas las relaciones internacionales. Las exhibiciones nacionales llamadas «pabellones» son una
parte central de la Bienal. Algunos pabellones invocan «lo nacional» como la lente privilegiada en la
política mundial, otros pabellones cambian esta lente. El artículo aporta un análisis de los pabellones
de Serbia, Armenia e Islandia en la Bienal de 2015 y de las exhibiciones nacionales y posnacionales
que tuvieron lugar. El análisis utiliza para ello un ensayo fotográfico elaborado a partir de una visita
de investigación y una sesión fotográfica realizadas en mayo de 2015.
Palabras clave
Bienal de Venecia, ensayo fotográfico, visionado in situ
Hansen and Spanner 307
1. Marco Mulazzani, Guide to the Pavilions of the Venice Biennale since 1887 (Milano: Electa
Architecture, 2014).
2. The terminology of ‘national pavilion’ is widely used to refer to the exhibitions by ‘partici-
pating countries’ (as they are listed in the Biennale catalogue) even though, strictly speaking,
only the shows in the Giardini take place in national pavilions.
3. La Biennale di Venezia: 56th International Art Exhibition, All the World’s Futures,
Participating Countries, Collateral Events (2015); Monica Sassatelli, ‘Symbolic Production
in the Art Biennial: Making Worlds’, Theory, Culture & Society 34, no. 4 (2017): 104. In
2003, due to pressure from China, Taiwan was moved from the list of national pavilions to
collateral events, see Chu-Chiun Wei, ‘National Art to Critical Globalism’, Third Text 27, no.
4 (2013): 473.
Introduction
Held for the first time in 1895, la Biennale di Venezia – Esposizione Internationale
d’Arte – or just ‘the Venice Biennale’ – is the most prestigious recurring art exhibition in
the world. Opening in May and running through to November every second year, the
Biennale features an abundance of art shown in numerous locations across the city of
Venice. The oldest site is the Giardini – Italian for ‘garden’ - a beautiful park where coun-
tries host exhibitions in national pavilions. The first pavilion was purchased by Belgium
in 1907. The latest one, the 29th, opened in 1996 and belongs to the Republic of Korea.
Flags and names provide visual clues as to who owns which pavilion and a range of
architectural styles set each pavilion apart.1 As the number of countries wishing to join
the Biennale grew, the Arsenale – a former shipyard – was added in 1980. The Arsenale
consists of a series of connecting rooms that countries can rent. The national pavilions
take up most of the Giardini and the Arsenale, but there is also a large exhibition curated
by the Biennale’s artistic director.
Moving into the streets and canals of Venice, the Biennale continues. There are addi-
tional national pavilions offered by countries that either did not manage to secure a spot in
the Giardini or the Arsenale or who prefer to host an exhibition in town.2 In contrast to the
ticketed and fenced-off spaces of the Giardini and the Arsenale, the vast majority of these
pavilions are free; some are easy to find, others require extensive use of the Biennale map.
Identifying them is aided by flags and the Biennale logo on banners and other displays.
The Biennale logo is also used by ‘collateral events’: additional exhibitions recognised as
an official part of the Biennale programme. National-regional entities such as Catalonia,
Wales, and Scotland have used the collateral category to put up their shows.3
There is an abundance of art to see at the Biennale. There is also an abundance of
international relations. International relations are made visible at the Giardini by who
owns pavilions and by the location of those pavilions. The choice of locations for pavil-
ions set within Venice often resonates with current political events or with pasts worthy
of remembrance. Many of the exhibitions that form part of contemporary Biennales
explicitly engage the themes, events, and processes that concern International Relations
(IR) scholars: colonialism, war, migration, climate change, and financial crises for exam-
ple. Often described as ‘The Art Olympics’ – and with a prize, The Golden Lion, awarded
to the best national pavilion – the Biennale is a scene for cultural diplomacy and
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