The Venice Biennale has been around since 1895. This year it hosts eighty-nine national pavilions, the largest number ever. As you say, “a fairground atmosphere puts a premium on art as a memorable experience rather than as a precious object” (“Art as a Political Game,” June 11, 2011). Among all the pavilions you describe, I am most attracted by your description of the Italian pavilion, “which looks like an art bazaar in a suburban mall.” Curated by Vittorio Sgarbi, an art historian and a television personality of some renown, it is entitled “Art is Not Cosa Nostra.” A revealing title, this. “Visitors to the grandmother of all biennials will be astonished that Italians appear to think contemporary art is like the thoughtless knock-offs found in cheap shopping arcades,” you warn. Judging by your descriptions of several other pavilions, that is precisely the point, though. The Italian pavilion summarizes the Venice Biennale, as it were. One can only hope Sgarbi’s veiled criticism will reach contemporary artists, as well.