Taking Venice

Director: Amei Wallach
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Film Info

  • Year: 2023
  • Film Format: DCP, Blu-ray and DVD
  • Runtime: 98 mins
  • Language: In English
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At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. government is determined to fight Communism with culture. The Venice Biennale, the world’s most influential art exhibition, becomes a proving ground in 1964. Alice Denney, Washington insider and friend of the Kennedys, recommends Alan Solomon, an ambitious curator making waves with trailblazing art, to organize the U.S. entry. Together with Leo Castelli, a powerful New York art dealer, they embark on a daring plan to make Robert Rauschenberg the winner of the Grand Prize. The artist is yet to be taken seriously with his combinations of junk off the street and images from pop culture, but he has the potential to dazzle. Deftly pulling off maneuvers that could have come from a Hollywood thriller, the American team leaves the international press crying foul and Rauschenberg questioning the politics of nationalism that sent him there.

Taking Venice is a Zeitgeist Films release in association with Kino Lorber and opened in theaters on May 17, 2024. To book this film please contact Nancy Gerstman or Emily Russo.

A press kit, trailer, stills, jpegs of the poster and social media assets are or will be available to download from our Exhibition DropBox. (Please note: when you click on any item to download you can ignore the login request and click on "Continue to download only.")

 

Amei Wallach

Amei Wallach is an award-winning art critic, filmmaker, and television commentator. Her critically acclaimed films, Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, The Mistress and The Tangerine and Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Enter Here, remain in international demand. In her articles, books, media appearances – and more recently in her films – Wallach has chronicled, and known, artists from Willem de Kooning and Lee Krasner to Jasper Johns and Shirin Neshat. As an art writer, she watched Robert Rauschenberg make prints in New York and paintings in Captiva, Florida. She is uniquely able to tell this story. Wallach has written or contributed to more than a dozen books and was an on-air arts commentator for the PBS MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour. Her articles have appeared in such publications as The New York Times Magazine, The Nation, Smithsonian, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Art in America, and ARTnews. Taking Venice is her newest film.

Photos

Transporting Robert Rauschenberg’s Express at the XXXII International Biennale of Art Exhibition, Venice, 1964, as seen in TAKING VENICE, a film by Amei Wallach. A Zeitgeist Films release in association with Kino Lorber. Photo Ugo Mulas. Transporting Robert Rauschenberg’s Express at the XXXII International Biennale of Art Exhibition, Venice, 1964, as seen in TAKING VENICE, a film by Amei Wallach. A Zeitgeist Films release in association with Kino Lorber. Photo Ugo Mulas.
Robert Rauschenberg in front of his silkscreen painting Express at the Biennale of Art Exhibition, Venice, 1964, as seen in TAKING VENICE, a film by Amei Wallach. A Zeitgeist Films release in association with Kino Lorber. Photo: Ugo Mulas. Robert Rauschenberg in front of his silkscreen painting Express at the Biennale of Art Exhibition, Venice, 1964, as seen in TAKING VENICE, a film by Amei Wallach. A Zeitgeist Films release in association with Kino Lorber. Photo: Ugo Mulas.
Recreation of the 1964 transport of Robert Rauschenberg’s work in Venice canals for exhibition at the Venice Biennale, as seen in TAKING VENICE, a film by Amei Wallach. A Zeitgeist Films release in association with Kino Lorber. Recreation of the 1964 transport of Robert Rauschenberg’s work in Venice canals for exhibition at the Venice Biennale, as seen in TAKING VENICE, a film by Amei Wallach. A Zeitgeist Films release in association with Kino Lorber.

Trailer