09/08/2007. Venice. Biennale day one: Finland, Adel Abidin. Abidin Travels: Welcome to Baghdad.

On the day of the Biennale, I enjoyed an exhibit by a Finish artist by the last name of Abidin. She was born in Iraq but now lives in Helsinki and her exhibit was this fake travel agency that booked flights going to Iraq. When you first went into the exhibit there was a main room that had a TV that was showing what one would normally expect of a travel agency video. Everything was brightly colored and there was an audio background that was saying how great Iraq is to see right now and all about the culture…etc. Then you went into the adjacent room and there was a TV screen that showed video footage from Iraq in the present. Footage of how people are living, of the occupation, the death, the pain and of people who look like they are on vacation. The juxtaposition of the two made the message that much more powerful. It was really the juxtaposition of the two that made the piece work. Had there not been that ironic feeling amongst the real images, it would have just been another war exhibit about Iraq.

How does she utilize the space? The forms…etc.

Then she also had a computer set up so that you could book a ticket to Iraq (her website is www.abidintravels.com). It was a one-way ticket, because that’s all that they sold. And on it were written ironic things about how they are not responsible if you are kidnapped or murdered. Also on the ticket there was a line that said, “Death is inevitable.” Which was a line that I liked, because it is true. It is also something that one thinks about more when in a place that is surrounded by death. Your own mortality becomes blaringly apparent when faced with death on a daily basis. Also, in an environment such as that, there is a good chance that any given day you could die, you just don’t know. There were also pamphlets on Iraq but I accidentally did not pick up the one that was in English, so I do not know what it says. But you can get an idea just from looking at the pictures.

There were a lot of anti war exhibitions at the Biennale but I think this one was definitely one of the stronger ones. It also occupied this small space just to the right of the rest of the Finish exhibit. I almost did not go in because I did not know if it was an exhibit or an actual travel agency. It was definitely an exhibit that could easily have been missed. Although it was just one of many war influenced exhibits in the Biennale and Arsenale, I respect the fact that she choose to use that small space to make a very poignant and cynical statement about the war in Iraq. While she might not have chosen a very subtle way to communicate her message, her in your face method worked extremely well. Really if you think about it, there is nothing subtle about war even though our government might try all it wants to cover up the nastier aspects of it. I liked that she was flamboyant about her aesthetic because I think many Americans forget, at least on a daily basis that a war is still going on, on the other side of the world. Personally, I do not think about the war every day because I do not have any direct contact with it. I do not know anyone in it. The war does not really affect my life and I think this is the same for most people. Mostly for that reason her flashy exhibit

When I first saw her exhibit, I smiled. Laughed a little. I laughed at war. At a war that is currently going on. It bothers me a little that I laughed. But if you had seen it, you would have laughed as well. It was funny after all, when you first went in and saw the agency advertisement. Then when I went into the adjacent room, and saw the images from Iraq as it is right now. I wasn’t smiling anymore. But I wasn’t exactly somber either. The previous room had left me in a good mood. Then I went back into that room and booked a one-way flight to Iraq. I leave on September 9th. I found the humor of it just my style. I left the exhibit feeling ecstatic. Here I was with more souvenirs from the Biennale. I was not thinking about war anymore in the conventional way. I was thinking about it more abstractly. Through my excitement with receiving my plane ticket, I was thinking about the exhibit. I was thinking about the war. But I was not sad about it. It was an odd dichotomy. One that I think either consciously or not, most people must feel on a regular basis.