Insane Imaginings, Random Reveries & Other Creative Cogitation

What I would do differently…  The Real Biennale Experience:

I participated in the 2009 Florence Biennale; these ruminations result from my first hand experience of that event.

As you read the following please keep in mind I found the Biennale to be a personally and artistically enriching experience.  I did enjoy talking to the other artists about their work and lives.  My feelings as of this moment in time, which is immediately after the event, are generally positive.

All that said, here are the downsides in a nutshell…

• Shipping art to the Biennale can be problematic for people living outside of Europe.
• The costs in total are expensive. Right around half of what I spent was on the artist’s share, about $4,000; the artist’s share is NOT refundable whether you actually attend or not.
• Given that I charged about $8,000 for this trip, I don’t know if the financial side of this venture will eventually prove meritorious or not.
• There are rumors of a scandal, which I have NOT been able to verify, and that the city of Florence may stop backing the Florence Biennale.  Please keep in mind I really have no personal knowledge if this is true or not and as for me I enjoyed participating in the Florence Biennale.
• Some artists think the Biennale should do more for the artists and they may have a point.  Consider: My estimate based on the Biennale’s own report of participants numbers and the cost of the artist’s share that they received at least 1.5 million Euro (US $2.25 million) from the artists for this show. That said…
  • The regulations stated there would be one chair per artist, but many artists spent the show swiping unattended chairs so they could sit down a while-perhaps a few extra chairs for spouses who join the artist on this trip would be in order?
  • Of my own personal knowledge, at least 2 artists stood in the rain for a least an hour waiting for someone to tell them where they could store their card board boxes.
  • In general I did not see advertising for the Biennale other than the signs on the Fortezza da Basso itself, and one billboard at the airport.  Many locals had no idea what I was talking about. However, my observations regarding the Biennale’s efforts at marketing are anecdotal at best.
  • Some artist’s packets were missing things like signs for their artwork.
  • Some artists were slated to show who didn’t make it, yet were several premium display areas, more toward the center & around the Café in the pavilion  that remained empty throughout the show.  In the meantime there were artists whose work was in terrible locations, but the Biennale did not seem to want to move anyone into those premium locations.

Those are the downsides as I perceived them, you must make your own decision as to whether to participate or not. Moving along…

Initial contact: The email I initially received from the Biennale Committee (flbiennale@artestudio.net) looked like a scam.  As with all email, you should not click on links in the email if you are suspicious – just type in the real website, www.florencebiennale.org, and make contact from links there.  Initially they just asked for a snail mail address to ship the Technical Regulations Part I. Also some artists I talked to at the event were initially contacted via snail mail not email.

Get organized: In 2009 the Dutch artists organized, set up a email network, organized group shipping and also prepared a lovely glossy booklet of the all the artists in their group for distribution at the Biennale-it was brilliant.  As for me, I found out there was a US group, but only after I pretty much set-up everything for myself.  Reinventing the wheel takes time. Many hands make light work, therefore if a group has been organized in your country, make use of it.

Don’t dawdle: You will find everything takes longer than it should, therefore if you decide to participate, start fund raising, get your paperwork in, get your passport in order, figure out your shipping etc. as quickly as possible.  Participation in the Biennale is a financially draining, labor intensive, time consuming process; there is no good reason to make it a stressful cram-session too.

Awards: I didn’t know that they had them at this event.  They do.  Awards are a certificate and some people get medals.  If this sort of thing interests you then you will need to put your best foot forward.  I did not know about the awards until I was there.  Some judges did look at my work, which made the Italian artist showing next to me very excited for me, but I didn’t win anything.  I will say that my stretching job on one piece could have been a little bit better but I forgot to bring my canvas pliers – did that cost me? I can’t say.  Being in smaller fields such as video, installation, or photography may improve your odds of winning.  Painting, my category, is by far the largest field, and sculpture is not too small either.

Shipping:

• If you live in Europe it probably is not a problem, just drive in with your art – lots of European artists did.
• As for the rest of the world, EPS the shipper chosen by the Biennale did a good job from what I could see; they are very convenient as they not only transport and store the art, they hang it & take it down as well, but they are very expensive.  The Biennale will not help you with alternatives so you will be on your own. I have blogged about the subject of shipping extensively already, but I will relate how it went for me.
• I paint on stretched canvas. I took my work off the stretcher bars, rolled it up and took it on the plane with me in a tube; the bars, assembly tools and brochures I checked in a gun case that was under the 62-inch length + height + width checked-bag-limit and the bag weight less than 50 pounds, therefore I did not incur any fees using this method.  I purchased a new cabin bag to put clothing etc in as the size of a cabin bag has shrunk since I purchased my last one.  Delta counted the tube of painting as my extra item – such as a coat, purse, laptop that other people carry, but I did check with the airline to make sure this would be OK before my flight.  I did not lock the gun case, so customs and the TSA would not have any problems, but I did wrap it with one of those baggage straps to make sure it did not pop open during handling.  The gun case did freak out Italian customs briefly, until they realized there was no gun in there.  I was not charged a VAT for entering Italy with my art.  In short I paid nothing except the cost of my luggage (about $140) to get the art into Italy and I can reuse the luggage.
• At least one other artist flew into Italy with an over-sized package containing her art, which she could not roll up as she creates using mixed media such as glass.  Italian customs did charge her a 20% VAT based on the value of her art for customs purposes. If you fly in – be sure to have self-certification, photos, and pro-forma invoices similar to the ones EPS required, showing a low value for the art. OR maybe you can convince Italian customs officers that the art is for exhibition only & not for sale (per l’esibizione solo & non in vendita) and has no value for customs purposes-good luck.  I don’t know if this other artist was able to successfully reclaim the VAT when she left Italy or not.  Anyway, it seems to be hit or miss as to whether Italian customs takes an interest in art transported into their country.  If you are stopped and asked to pay a VAT, be prepared part with the funds at least for the duration of the show.  12/28/2009 UPDATE: The artist in question responded, “They gave me back the money, all of it but not the first day (14th) they had me go back and bring a paper from fedex proving that I’d indeed shipped the artwork back to the US.  So I spent 50 euros in cab fare going back and forth.  So far the art is trapped in Italian customs-FedEx called me today to clear up the problem.  I’m glad you are putting all the details on your blog-all in all the experience was worth it even if expensive, I think. “
• Some artists had their art stuck in customs for using other carriers.  When I contacted several of these other carriers, they tended to be very vague about what happened on the Italian end and this result confirmed my suspicions.  Some artists from New Zealand got a temporary importation license that took care of the issue of using alternate shippers & Italian customs; the Kiwis suggested contacting your country’s embassy in Italy to find out how to get one of these licenses.  I have not actually done this for myself, but I will try to find out what these licenses are called and other information.  Others who successfully navigated Italian customs with other shippers, recommended Google-ing shippers that ship between your country and Italy and start working with them.
• The Biennale will give you a very big, heavy book of all the artists and their bios.  It weighs about 10 pounds (4.5 kg) and is 12 x 10 x 2 inches (31 x 25 x 5 cm) in size, at least those were the dimension of the 2009 book.  If you want to ship it back in your crate when the show is over, plan for it to be there in your crate.
• If you ship to the Biennale using an alternate carrier you will need to pack your own tools for opening and closing the crate.
• In 2009 the Biennale did supply an area to store packaging for the duration of the show.
• Realize that shipping is a two step process; you need to figure out not only how to get your art there, but also how to get it back home.  That is the reason for finding shippers that specifically work between Italy and your home country, so you can contact them at the end of the show to come get your crate to ship it back.

Brochures: A 2007 participant recommended bringing 1000 brochures.   I don’t know if you need that many.  I needed to make room for the book in my luggage so I was pushing my brochures very hard at the show.  I didn’t bring any other materials such as post cards or business cards and I came home with at least 200 of my brochures.  I think a some brochures – in case a gallery approaches you – plus several business cards for people who do not want a large document to pocket and 1000 attractive post cards would be a better way to go.  Post cards seem to move better, perhaps because people can use them.  You have the possibility of contact from the person who picked up the card and the person who receives the card in the mail; just be sure to include your contact information (name, phone, snail mail, website, email) on the Post Card if you go this route.

The Internet: I didn’t know this right away, but the Biennale had 2 computers connected to the internet, which Biennale participants could use for 10 minutes at a time for free at the Biennale.  I did use an internet access point provided by my hotel, which I had to pay for, but I also used this free service provided by the Biennale.  Had I known about it in advance I probably would have brought my FaceBook password and my camera cable and done live updates from the show.  FaceBook would have allowed me to reach out to many people at once instead of emailing spammy newsletters.  Remember that whether you log-in at an internet access at an internet café, the Biennale or at your hotel, you probably should mark all log ins as “public terminal” so your user name and password are not stored.

The Gala Dinner: I enjoyed it.  The food was an acceptable 5 course meal, with bottomless red wine and/or water; they served espresso and aperitifs at the end.   I didn’t arrive early, but at least I was solo so I quickly found a table where I knew at least a few people. If you have a larger group that wants to sit together you do need to get there early to claim a table.  Many people dress for the event, but photos were made at the table so good hair, make-up and a nice top are all that is really required; I wore a blingy top, jeans and tennis shoes and it was fine.  They had opera singers for the entire meal, which made me feel like I was in The Godfather movie.   In general a good time was had by all, but at the end of the show, the Fortezza security none too gently kicked us out of the hall. We all piled in cabs and went to a dance club – some of that crew wandered into their hotels at 8 AM the next morning – as for me I think I was in by 3 AM.  As for dinner, order the extra tickets you might need in advance with the second batch of Biennale paperwork, then pick them up timely at the show-those that didn’t pick up their tickets timely may have found them resold by the Biennale for people who failed to order extras in advance (these were made available first come first served).

Hanging and tearing down, etc:

• I came prepared with my own tools so I didn’t have a problem.  If you rely on the kindness of strangers it might work out, but it will take a lot longer to get ready for the show & I wouldn’t want to be expecting help when it comes to tear down.
• If you need to use a ladder or something like that you will experience delays waiting for one to come available.
• The Biennale did deliver large crates to the space where the art was to be displayed, but I heard reports that getting them removed to storage was a bit more difficult.  The Biennale folks did get the big crates moved eventually.  Presumably there would be issues getting them back out of storage as well.
• The sculpture stands – It is forbidden to order one for brochures – don’t know why.  In any case they seemed to be made of particle board that was painted white and they cost extra, 50 Euro each. If you have very heavy sculpture you may want to bring your own stands-but that does imply shipping them with the attendant hassle.
• You also may want to securely mount fragile sculpture; one award-winning Venetian glass piece was destroyed when a cameraman backed into it on the second to last day of the show, knocking it from its stand shattering it into many pieces. I don’t know how that worked out-did insurance pay for the work, or the cameraman, or did the artist bear the loss?
• Some artists carried their un-stretched canvas into Italy and hired a local company to stretch them for 100 euro.  One artist rented manikins locally.  It would stand to reason that other things could be rented or purchased locally as well such as stands, tools or a ladder.  I recommend you do your research before you get to Florence, rather than after though.
• The signs that the Biennale supplied for the individual works were printed in tiny type.  The signs were all printed on self adhering paper so it seems to me that if you wanted larger signage you could probably make it on your own computer at home and bring it with you.  Ditto any additional information you would like to post at your space such as an artist statement, bio, etc.

Biennale Rules: For the record I followed the rules, I brought 3 24 x 36-inch simply-hung works that were back stapled – each piece weighed about a kg.  That said…

• In 2009 as a painter (which for these purposes includes any flat-ish wall-hung art) I was told I had a space of 3 x 2.5 meters (about 10 x 8 ft). For the most part wall space was exactly that, but some walls had protruding partitions that some artists used to expand their domain.  One artist brought a lot of large work and they moved her to an exterior wall that was much larger – I have no idea how she got this variance from the Biennale.  At least one artist had very long paper pieces – she was in an area with much taller walls – I don’t know if she made a special request in advance or not.  Anyway if you have odd-sized work that doesn’t conform to the space allotted I think you  would want to discuss that with the Biennale committee before deciding to show.
• Sculptors (which includes installations) got a floor space of 6 square meters (or about 8 x 8 ft); the floor space was a bit more flexible from what I saw.  If you were located in a wide open area you could spread out a bit, otherwise… but there is no way to know how far out you could spread in advance of the show.  You don’t know where you are located until you get there. Again if your work doesn’t fit, I think you  would want to discuss that with the Biennale committee before deciding to show.
• Wall art could weight 40 kg max (88 pounds); work was hung by cords suspended from hooks at the top of the wall – the weight limitation probably makes sense.  I only recall one piece that violated that rule, and they brought their own wall.
• Photographers were allows 6 works all others only 3.   Yeah right.  I saw several painters with 6 works or more; sure some could be classified as diptychs or triptychs, or multiple pieces of some larger whole, but there were many who obviously just brought more than three.  The same holds true of sculpture as at least one I can think of had 5 stands with 4 or 5 pieces each. Of course if you get classified as an installation then all your related sculptural work counted as one.
• There had to be 10 cm between works paintings.  Again, if the artist brought a lot of work there often was no separation between the pieces.
• Sculpture could weight 80 kg (176 kg max).  I don’t know if this rule was violated, but there were several stone sculptures with metal stands, and several life size figures that may have.
• Sculpture could only be 2.5 m high max (8 ft).  I don’t know if any sculpture in the exhibit hall violated this rule.
• Although part II technical regulations suggested the work had to be ready to hang and back-stapled, some artists hung “tapestry style” (un-stretched), and some artists hung unframed side-stapled pieces.
• The Biennale states that the art has to remain in place for the entirety of the exhibition – it makes sense – they are selling tickets to their show.  However some pieces did “walk out” even before the final day. By the time 7 PM rolled around on December 13, 2009 (the exhibition was open until 8 PM) several artists were tearing down and leaving with their work even as the Biennale intercom blared such activity was prohibited. I left my work in place and It took it apart and packaged it for the trip home about 9:30 AM on December 14, 2009.  By then I would have to say most of the art was already gone or being packaged to ship.

Bottom line – in 2009 the Biennale “rules” were flexible.  If you decide to push the envelope you do so at your own risk in future shows.

That is all I can think of for now.

I will be posting pictures and a sort of diary on my website about my Biennale experience. I am currently slogging through my images, editing them and putting on captions.  There is a general travel update post I made before this one, plus several older posts about finding a hotel, shipping container, airlines etc.  I hope you find this information useful.

Do you have any observations or tips to convey to future Florence Biennale participants? Please respond and help inform future Biennale participants about what to expect.

Yours in art,

Jake

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

PS. I am still looking for Sponsors & Contributing Patrons to help me pay the $7651.31 I charged to attend this event; this amount is the sum all the receipts I can find relating to the trip-about $4,000 is the Biennale artist’s share, then hotel & airfare, plus packaging for my art, taxis, meals in Italy, postage and other incidental expenses. I have raised about $2079 in donations-many thanks to those who have contributed to this event.  But I need more assistance and every little bit helps.

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.

What I would do differently…  General Travel Tips

If you are going to be in Italy for a few weeks, renting an apartment may be a more affordable solution than staying at a Hotel.  Don’t misunderstand me, the Utell Property Hotel Arizona was fine; my room had its own bathroom, closet, desk, TV & refrigerator-the towels were changed daily, the water in the bathroom had good pressure and was hot even in the middle of the night and their continental breakfast was among the best to be had locally – at least that was my impression when I talked to other travelers staying elsewhere; also the staff were friendly, helpful and their English was better than my Italian by far. Hotel Arizona had a computer with Internet access, charged on a sliding scale of time purchased-I bought 5 hours for 10 Euros to check a webmail account daily, and still had some time left. But if I had my own apartment it would have been 20-30% less expensive, even less if I rounded up a roommate to split the cost, and I would have had a kitchen in which to prepare my meals.  As it was I ate a lot of cold cuts, bread, and seasonal produce purchased at the Mercado Centrale in Florence – also there were several Supermarkets to pick up soda pop, yogurt etc., but without a stove or microwave oven my options were limited.

I should have learned more of the language.  You can certainly get by in Florence speaking English, but I still think I should have made a better effort to pick up the native tongue.  As it was I understood a lot of what I heard because of my familiarity with Spanish, but I could not respond for the most part.  I did bring a Frommer’s survival Italian guide with me as well as Rick Stevens travel guide for Tuscany 2010.  Both were useful.  If you can’t find a Frommer’s phrasebook and culture guide – several other companies produce something similar.

For the long flight there and back, bring soft earplugs so you can sleep. If you are sensitive to light, you might also bring an eye-mask to block out the light.  Many travelers had those U-shaped pillows to wrap around their neck too.  But for me noise was the big issue, so foamy earplugs were my need.

Even though I got both the seasonal and swine flu shot before I left – I came down with the common cold on my last evening there.  Another tip is to bring your favorite cold and flu remedy with you.  As it was I did not have the time in the morning before my flight to hit the Farmacia and even if I had gone there, what would I have picked up?  I don’t know foreign over the counter meds.  Given that my flight out of Florence was cancelled and subsequently I was booked on the marathon flight from hell via Delta – I spent the worst day of my illness running through airports & sandwiched between other passengers on long flights without any medicine whatsoever; I was miserable.

Do not go into an Italian restaurant that has no customers.  Chances are the food is not great and worse than that you may be overcharged-some of these awful restaurants have hustlers standing outside trying to bully you in.  Don’t give in, just move along.  Some of the best food I had in Florence was not the most expensive.  Vegetarian is not that hard to do in Italy, but halāl is a bit more difficult unless you go to a döner kebab.  Once again, learning enough of the lingo to convey that you do not eat meat, to ask if the meal is halāl, or to express other dietary restrictions is beneficial. I am very low maintenance in this department, I’ll eat just about anything, but I did dine with an Islam practitioner on several occasions and I am reporting my observations regarding her efforts to find food she could eat.

My hotel gave me a small map of the city when I checked in.  You want one of those and you want to carry it with you.  Florence is not a big city so it would be very hard to stay lost for long, but a good map makes walkabout so much easier.

Skip the traveler’s checks – they are too hard to cash. A couple of hundred dollars cash to convert into Euros once you are in Europe, so you can catch a cab to your hotel & grab a bit of food before you crash and burn, and an ATM card are the way to go. Fortunately I had notified my bank of my intent to travel to Italy, had money in my account and brought my ATM card with me.  When cashing a check proved difficult I found an ATM in my network and withdrew the maximum amount of Euros, 250 Euros in my case.  My rationale is that I would limit the amount of fees I would be charged for accessing my account via a foreign ATM if I took out one big chunk of change rather than several smaller ones.  I also notified the credit card companies of my intent to travel abroad and where I would be so that my charges would not be refused because I was roaming far afield.  I brought 2 charge cards just in case one didn’t work, but I didn’t need the extra one.

Think about forking over the dough for a daytrip outside Florence: Sienna, Pisa, a wine tour etc.  Apparently they are very easy to book and worth the money.  Be advised that you will be gone all day so there is no possibility of conducting business on a day you decide to do one of these tours.

In general my attire was appropriate for the weather, which I check into before I packed.  Florence in December has temperatures around 50 F (10 C) & it rains periodically.  Until the last 2 days, when it became bitterly cold I was fine with my clothing choices: Layers that included a windproof & rainproof shell, a sweater and a long sleeved shirt worked well.  I should have brought at least one pair of long johns for those days when the weather dropped to freezing, but I left them at home.

Florence is a walking city with a lot of cobble stone.  Stiletto-heeled shoes, whereas stylish are NOT good to wear strolling around Florence.  The locals wear fashionable flat boots this time of year.  I took a pair of black, well-worn tennis shoes with me; I live in Phoenix and wear sandals year round so I knew I needed a comfy pair of shoes to minimize the blisters that I would get from suddenly cramming my tootsies into a pair of closed-toed shoes for extended periods of hiking.  When wanting to be chic, Florentines will check their walking shoes with their coats, and slip into the stilettos at the event.

Note: Edison’s facing on to Piazza Repubblica in Florence has an English language book section on the third floor.  They also have a smaller section in French.  Most of the books are in Italian of course.  Anyway I throw this in here because you will probably be spending some time in the airport, or sitting at the show doing nothing and a book is always a nice way to kill time.

Cell phones in the US are CDMA, Cell Phones in Europe are GSM.  That means your cell phone that you use in the US will probably not work in Europe.  As for me I have travel before with out being able to call anyone and so I opted out of upgrading and extending my cell phone plan in order to obtain a tri-band or quad-band phone.  I also decided I did not need to spend money on a GSM phone with minutes and a calling card for DH in order to make contact, but the other artist from Phoenix traveled with some friends; they did rent phones from Cellular Abroad and they told me the phones worked but the coverage was a bit spotty.  When my flight got canceled out of Florence I did find myself wishing a did have a phone, but it all worked out.  In my opinion, if you are traveling by yourself and do not have people you need to contact at odd hours at home, then the need for a cell phone is questionable.  If you have a tri-band or quad-band phone already, your carrier may unlock your phone’s SIM card so you can swap it out with a local Italian carrier’s SIM card, but you may need to give your cell phone service provide a bit of notice so they can do this for you.  Or you can contact Cellular Abroad or some other service and buy or rent cell phones and service.

That is all of the general travel tips I can think of that have not been covered in previous posts.

For things specific to the Florence Biennale, I will submit a post on that subject next.

Do you have any last minute tips for travelers?

Yours in art,

Jake

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

PS. I am still looking for Sponsors & Contributing Patrons to help me pay the $7651.31 I charged to attend this event; this amount is the sum all the receipts I can find relating to the trip-about $4,000 is the Biennale artist’s share, then hotel & airfare, plus packaging for my art, taxis, meals in Italy, postage and other incidental expenses. I have raised about $2079 in donations-many thanks to those who have contributed to this event.  But I need more assistance and every little bit helps.

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.