Art and absurdism

The Venice Biennale is a honey-pot for culture vultures. This year’s offerings both within and outside the framing of the Biennale paid homage to the audience, breaking the fourth wall to wink and nudge –and destroy the artifice of high art. This has been almost universally undertaken through absurdist comedy, manifest under the theme of ‘fake news’. Artificial events, histories, and futures roll together with truths that are difficult to pick apart. This writing will focus on the subjugation of ‘the real’via a rainbow of hackneyed deus ex machina-style interventions: the artist sneaks past the art establishment to tell shitty jokes to a tired public. Ultimately, this interrogation of the value of art is provocative, and highly valuable in an era ofsevere economic austerity. From formal pavilions to dramatic exhibitions, this paper will explore the silly side of offerings in Venice in 2017.