SEAWORLD VENICE

 Florentina Holzinger

SEAWORLD VENICE

Every hour of the day, the bell imagined by choreographer Florentina Holzinger at the entrance to the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale sounds the alarm for an ecological catastrophe, the horrific early signs of which much of Europe is currently experiencing: deadly heat waves and wildfires.

Inside the pavilion, the other pieces/performances reexamine the ecological issue in various ways—ranging from the burlesque to the terrifying, from the poetic to the scientific—but all are equally eloquent. In this latest work, FH seamlessly incorporates the ecofeminist thought theorized by authors such as Carolyn Merchant, Val Plumwood, Maria Mies, Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen, or Donna Haraway among others. A theory which postulates that the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature share common roots in the patriarchal and capitalist systems.

This “exhibition-performance” is so breathtaking and thought-provoking thanks to the artistic ethics, commitment, and political courage of Florentina Holzinger and her performers and collaborators.

This extraordinary work will soon be on view in Berlin, Vienna, and New York.