The Biennale Closes, and the Sculptures Need a Ship Home

The commissioner of the United States pavilion at the Venice Biennale has appealed for donations to pay for shipping the exhibition's artworks home from Italy, The New York Times reported on Thursday. The nonprofit group she leads faces a $1 million shortfall to cover the costs. The report did not list the works, their weight or the carriers involved.

That a national pavilion ends with a freight bill is no surprise to anyone who has moved an exhibition. Large sculpture travels in purpose-built crates, by sea more often than by air, and the cost sits with the commissioner rather than with the Biennale itself. The curatorial work ends when the show comes down; the logistics run on afterwards.

Venice makes that bill heavier than it looks. Heavy vehicles do not reach the pavilion doors, so crates move by barge and are lifted at the water's edge, and every transfer adds handling, insurance and time. In the Giardini the pavilions sit packed along narrow paths, which means the exit has to be planned as carefully as the installation.