The Second Wave

Hello everyone, we are the second batch of interns - Caryn, Stephanie, Winston - and we are into our fourth day of running the Singapore Pavilion!

Venice Biennale sign by the waterfront.

We arrived in Venice on Saturday, and were given a tour of Venice, by the last batch of interns, to help us settle in. Chris showed us the supermarket, the way to the pavilion, and good eating places. We also got to check out Tzu Nyen's work, first thing on Sunday!

Caryn and Stephanie on the huge comfy beanbags

In our first few days we were overwhelmed by the beauty of Venice; Caryn is in love with quaint doors, Stephanie is awed by beautiful lamps, and I'm just amazed how well the clotheslines (and the laundry i guess) complement the facade of the buildings. Also, because there are no roads and no vehicles (and even bicycles) allowed, everything is by boat. Once, we saw an ambulance boat speeding down the Grand Canal, and it caused waves, which washed onto the pavements. Another time, the DHL man came to collect boxes from the pavilion by boat. How cool is that!

DHL dude coming by boat

Arriving on the same day as us, was artist Michael Lee, who was here to check out the art of the Biennale. It was fun hanging out with him, and credits to him for planting the image of Madonna singing Like A Virgin while frolicking on a gondola in our heads.



We checked out the Peggy Guggenheim Collection with Michael on Monday, when the pavilion was closed. The range of modern art displayed was amazing. My personal favorites would probably be Boccioni's Materia, his sculpture Unique Forms of Continuity in Space, and Magritte's Empire of Light. Then we stopped by for caffe, where Michael bumped into Janice Leung from the Hong Kong pavilion, who then joined us for a little break. Small world ;)

Boccioni's Materia

Janice, Michael, Winston, Caryn, Stephanie

So Stephanie is a morning runner; Michael too. But on the first day, he didn't have running shorts, so he went out running in short jeans cut-off! Later, we passed by a sports store, and he bought a pair of running shorts which he decided to change into for the rest of the day. Venice is rather warm, after all!

Michael with his new shorts

The night before Michael left, we went for dinner at a restaurant along Via Garibaldi. We ordered a bottle of Prosecco, which is just plain amazing. Italians do know how to live well - Caffe, Prosecco, Gelato... La Dolce Vita, eh! So for some reason, Michael abstains from alcohol, but we were trying to force some prosecco down his throat. So he relented, and 'drank' the prosecco. (He poured it all into Steph's glass and took a sip of like... a drop?) And that was our last proper meal with Michael. Hope you enjoyed yourself, Michael!

ciao!
winston