Our highlights from Venice Biennale 2019 (on until 24 November 2019)…
Sun & Sea (Marina), Lithuanian Pavilion – by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė and Lina Lapelytė
While in the past art addressing climate change has felt paralysingly scary, the Lithuanian pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale is an exception. Sun & Sea (Marina) is a chilling work about climate change that is also a delightful opera recounting a day at the beach. From a mezzanine gallery you can gaze down on a beach scene complete with swimsuit-clad sunbathers and children playing bat and ball in the sand (35 tons of the stuff, to be exact), who each sing about the woes of the world. Topics range from the everyday, such as nobody cleaning up their rubbish, to more pressing issues, like fears of environmental catastrophe. We stayed for well over 40 minutes, enrapt by this unique, gentle and subtle portrayal of human resignation, self-absorption and laziness. Oh, and it also won the biennale’s top prize: the Golden Lion of the Biennale Arte 2019.
The opera performance takes place at the Lithuanian Pavilion every Saturday (until 31 October), from 10am-6pm. Note: be prepared to queue.