Overview
- The United States unveiled Alma Allen’s Call Me the Breeze at the Venice Biennale, with the pavilion now open in the Giardini.
- Critics and former applicants say the selection broke with decades of open calls and peer review after an earlier approved proposal collapsed when its sponsor withdrew.
- The newly formed American Arts Conservancy stepped in as sponsor and named Jeffrey Uslip curator, who says the project kept full artistic autonomy.
- Allen, a self-taught Utah-born sculptor based in Mexico, installed untitled biomorphic works in bronze, wood, and stone, including Colorado Yule marble used in U.S. monuments.
- Reviews have been divided, with Hyperallergic panning the show’s substance and noting donor names revealed on-site, including businessman John Phelan and designer Tommy Hilfiger.