VENICE INAUGURATION   

Palazzo Bollani - June 9, 2007

The inauguration of "Transcendental Realism: The Art of Adi Da Samraj" on Saturday, June 9 was attended by hundreds of people from all over the world. Whether they had been expressly invited, alerted only that afternoon to the event, or wandered into the opening reception by chance, they responded to what they saw with engrossed curiosity, with enthusiasm, even with awe. Visitors clearly regarded "Transcendental Realism" as a respite, visually and spiritually, from the hurly burly of the Biennale's main exhibitions and national pavilions. Indeed, more than one viewer regarded Adi Da Samraj's art as a life-affirming answer to the pessimistic questions and dark sentiments that pervaded the Biennale itself.

Chief Curator Achille Bonito Oliva speaking in the courtyard outside Palazzo Bollani  

During the inauguration ceremonies held late in the afternoon, a large and attentive crowd hung on the words of exhibition commissioner Stuart Gibson and chief curator Achille Bonito Oliva. "The relationship I have had with Adi Da's work has been unique," Bonito Oliva testified, "because I didn't simply find myself in front of a new personal iconographic universe but rather in front of images that returned me to an experience that is defined by a Greek word… to describe an "apparition" - that is, 'epiphany.'" (Read the full text of Achille Bonito Oliva's Inauguration Speech)

All the while, an even larger crowd wandered in and out of the show, sat itself down in the orientation room to find out more about the artist, and milled about in the foyer and courtyard of the Palazzo Bollani, stimulated by what was for so many of them an unanticipated experience.

INAUGURATION PHOTOS

Roberto Rosalen, Managing Director of the Biennale

Roberto Rosalen with Paolo di Grandis of Arte Communications

View Photos of Exhibition Installation