Marmore Falls

Stolen from WIKIPEDIA

"In ancient times, it fed a wetland that was thought to bring illness (probably malaria). To remove that threat to the city of Rieti, in 271 BC, the Roman consul Manlius Curius Dentatus ordered the construction of a canal (the Curiano Trench) to divert the stagnant waters into the natural cliff at Marmore. From there, the water fell into the Nera river below. However, that solution created a different problem: when the Velino river was in flood stage, its water flowed through the Nera toward the city of Terni, threatening its population. The issue was so contentious between the two cities that the Roman Senate was forced to address it in 54 BC. Cicero represented Terni, and Aulus Pompeius represented Rieti. The Senate did nothing about the problem, and things remained the same for centuries."

The Marmore Falls were a stop on a weekend trip through Umbria.  The falls are turned on twice a day.  My friends and I watched the falls from OUTSIDE the pay area. Still pretty spectacular....and to think, they have been around for 2,200 years.  Another point in the"THE ROMANS WERE AWESOME" column.

 

Venice Biennale Part III

Day 2 of the Biennale took us to the second exhibition sight, the Arsenale, which is the old (I think still functioning) naval shipyard in Venice.

The country pavilions were contained in these "warehouses"

These colored pipes in the Turkish pavilion I thought were derivative of the Pompidou Center in Paris.

But, the cool thing about them is that it is a working desalinization system!

Saudi Arabia Pavilion

There was a pavilion dedicated to the connection between Latin America and Italy.  Each Latin American country (even if they had their own pavilion) exhibited at the group pavilion.  One of the most interesting films (mostly I found videos to be not interesting but this one from Colombia caught my attention) talked about the circle of war and had an Obama lookalike dancing around with the filmmaker.  You had to be there to see it.

An example of the need to read the text accompanying the exhibit.  These just look like piles of dirt, but upon closer inspection, they are revolutionary texts from Chile that were buried and more recently uncovered when a new house was being built.  Perhaps a statement on the way we lose history over time?

This artist, had gold filling put in his/her mouth in Latin America and then went to Berlin to have a doctor remove them.  It's an metaphor for the Europeans/colonial countries removing natural resources from countries.  WOW!

The Italian Pavilion, which used to be at the Giardini is now here at the Arsenale.  It was large, and I found it to be just so jumbled, it felt like being at an artistic department stores.  Just too much and too many different artists in the space...and the space was enormous.

There was one large exhibition on the mafia in Italy.  I thought this was an fascinating way to represent Italy.

The last pavilion we entered before heading home was the Chinese Pavilion, which was located in an old tanker storage warehouse.  The installation was the white tube which you walked through....

...and saw Western text (as apposed to Chinese characters) fall like snow.  I thought it was a cool effect, if not an unoriginal concept.