I must admit that for a moment I felt a little stupid who booked a business trip to an art biennial in Venice, when colleagues traveled to report from war and flight.
On top of that, we also have a climate crisis in acceleration.
The rain on the snow makes reindeer wander farther and farther.
And people are sleepless at night.
But then I went here anyway.
There is art everywhere and I have a feeling that I miss a lot.
It flows with emotions.
It deals with pandemics, war, colonialism, changing nature and climate threats.
Meetings are also held for, by and with indigenous peoples in the art world.
Tributes
Sápmi has for the first time taken over the Nordic pavilion.
Immediately after Norwegian Queen Sonja declared the pavilion inaugurated, Nils-Aslak Valkeapää's "Sámiid eatnan duoddariid" began to sound.
A beautiful singing moment.
There were tears from moved participants and at the same time happy laughter and hugs.
It is, among other things, legal disputes and a desire to change politics that drive the artists Anders Sunna, Máret Anne Sara and Pauliina Feodoroff.
I talked to a visitor, a young artist from the USA, who admired Anders Sunna's paintings and thought they were so beautiful.
He did not know the background to the litigation but said he saw that it was political.
"I like political art, you do not need to know the background.
I feel that it is about being excluded, "he said.
Feels small
The rain has been pouring down in Venice today.
It is still rocking in my head after the bus boat home to Giardini and Arsenale, where the pavilions and the main exhibition are held.
Anders Sunna, Máret Anne Sara and Pauliina Feodoroff do interviews on the right and left this week.
Britta Marakatt Labba does the same, which is part of the main exhibition which officially opens on Saturday.
Cecilia Alemani, who for several years has worked on the main exhibition with 213 artists from 58 countries, raises questions such as what would life be like without man, and what is the relationship between man and technology?
What does our responsibility look like towards the planet and other life forms?
She highlights artists who challenge the image that man and especially the white man are at the center and are our salvation.
That man is really small is noticeable when you walk around among the works of art.
Will we even be left in the future?
some artists ask themselves.
I think of Máret Ánne Sara's art with dead reindeer calves.
And then I think of what a visitor and artist said, “these are serious things and it feels in the pit of my stomach.
And at the same time, it's beautiful. ”