Politically poetical

In the U.S. Pavilion at Venice Art Biennale, They Come to Us without a Word by Joan Jonas is a poetical political single art work occupying the five pavilion’s galleries.

Joan Jonas, They Come to Us without a Word, Biennale Arte di Venezia2015

Those entering the US Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale embark on a journey through Joan Jonas’ measured and poetic project that is also in tune with curator Okwui Enwezor’s themes.

The five rooms in the Pavilion come together in a single consistent work that carries forward themes from previous performances, the 2010 Reanimation in particular, along with excerpts from videos of other works.

Joan Jonas, <i>They Come to Us without a Word</i>, 2015. Still da video. Courtesy l'artista — Top and above: Joan Jonas, *They Come to Us without a Word*, 2015. Production still. Courtesy of the artist

Like a Penelope in her own sphere, she weaves her past and present together, rereading them and giving them a new form. The video narration intertwines the ghosts of the tales Jonas discovered in Nova Scotia, where the videos were filmed. Ghosts, she says, are everywhere, the past and memory beckoning to us as evanescent but never scary figures.

The ghosts are children dressed in white, conjuring up images of spectres beneath sheets. Over a number of Saturdays, she and the children met up in New York for a specially organised workshop, where more of the images composing this multiple narration were filmed. The presence of children unveils the feminine approach but, more importantly, also epitomises the collective conscience and hope. Indeed, if there is one flaw in the curator’s beautiful exhibition it is that, yes, it is harsh, serious and sometimes surprising but it also appears to lack hope.

As ever, Jonas gives generously of herself – in July for three days there will be a live performance at Teatro Piccolo Arsenale – and the rooms contain some of the props used during her performances, plus drawings and drawings. The harsh line adopted for the fish and, partially, the bees is reminiscent of some plates produced by Picasso in Vallauris and contributes a slightly 1950s’ air that makes the drawings fascinating, even when featuring untamed nature.

She pays homage to the city of Venice in the central hall of the Pavilion where a number of mirrors crafted in Murano reflect the light of Venetian chandelier-like structure. This tribute is totally in keeping with her work, which has often addressed doubles – mirrors reflecting and deforming body parts, faces and people. The size of the mirrors is also fascinating as the mirrors in her 1969 Mirror performance were hand-held. These ones are the size of 1960s’ wardrobe mirrors, nothing like the brassy, narcissistic mirrored walls that have invaded bedrooms since the 1980s. This is self-examination to size yourself up, along with fragments of the surroundings, on a human, or rather female, scale.

The Pavilion must be praised for offering a poetical political discourse. The old feminist mantra “the personal is political” here adopts an open form that speaks to all, investing us with responsibility for the earth, animals, our children and visual form.

The Jury of the Biennale agreed on the grace and wholeness of this Pavilion, awarding the Professor Emeritus of the MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) a special mention.