Voodoo, Ice-cream, gnomes, cats & scouts (Day 27)

My day (or I should say afternoon) started on the Grand Canal at the Personal Structures exhibition in Palazzo Bembo. I wasn’t going to go as it was €10 entrance, but I had been informed that there was a piece by Hermann Nitsch involving curator participation, so I felt obliged. I have to say they took it to another level compared to me, I may as well give up now. I went out on the balcony for a bit to see what it would be like to live in one of the palaces overlooking the grand canal. I felt proper posh.

Apart from Nitsch, which was very good, but displayed appallingly (the curators were obviously too busy being covered in pigs blood and shagging each other on camera to be bothered with the minor details of hanging the show), there were some other things well worth paying €10 for. Marina Abramović’s conversation with a Donkey (titled ‘Confession’) was nicely paced and simple, and I liked Toshikatsu Endo's sculpture.

The ceiling was good too.

I was planning on going to a few more exhibitions but spent so long in Personal Structures I decide that the only way forward was to go for an ice-cream. I had been meaning to make a pilgrimage to a place called ‘Alaska’ since I arrived as I’d heard the man who runs it is something of an ice-cream god. I also had an ulterior motive to venture into Sante Croce, I needed to find number 111.

The Setierre of Santa Croce is lovely and peaceful. I’ve found myself wandering around on my days off trying to seek out nice quiet neighbourhoods where I can sit in peace because Rialto is so noisy. I found the house I will buy when I’m as rich as Elton John.

It’s so picturesque, and a bit greener than other areas. I found these funny little gardens around the base of some trees, seems like a lot of effort for such a small area. Maybe they are for gnomes or trolls so would actually be quite spacious if you’re small and mythical.

And then I was at Alaska.

The ice-cream has a different consistency here to most places, it’s a bit sloppier and more ‘rustic’. I was hoping to find lots of strange flavours to try, as I know he likes to make ones like fennel and chilli, but the weirdest one was liquorice and I didn’t really fancy that. As for pistachio and nocciola, I can highly recommend them.

So I began to wander and have a look around- spotted an old lady with immaculate dress sense walking past some kind of German embassy.

I also came across a great church entrance in some back streets, although praying hadn’t done much for this poor lady. She looks a bit like a voodoo doll.

Then I found this. Someone else had already taken the best bit, but my imagination is quite good so I could still appreciate the image…

…although it would have been better placed here.

This is a sort of stone post box outside a church that I’m guessing people could post ‘offerings’ into, through an unfortunately placed slot. It’s been concreted up now, but would provide the perfect canvas for my previous find.

Round the corner there was a suicidal cat.

I headed down to the Zaterre and into Dorsoduro to hunt out the next 111. Although it wasn’t quite what I was looking for, it will do. Some grown men dressed as scouts. Brilliant.

From what I could work out (from an Italian poster) there was a celebration of a massive rosary going on at the Gesuati.

It has still only rained once since I’ve been here but I’m expecting more as they now have the semi-permanent bridges out, to go over the existing bridges. Again, what is the point?

One thing that has punctuated my day today is the Walls ‘Just One Cornetto’ song (less commonly known as O Sole Mio). I have heard it played by a busker on an accordion, another on a violin, and then to trump all other performances these two loved up idiots in a gondola had hired an opera singer AND an accordion player to accompany them on their voyage and what better tune to play?? Yep you guessed it. I know I'm cynical and grumpy, but come on.

I was sitting on the steps of the Santa Maria Della Salute at the time, at the very end on the Dorsoduro, having finally found a quiet place to relax. In a suitably romantic mood I tried to take a picture of the sunset but my camera auto corrected itself so it looks pretty normal.

I hopped on a Vaporetto home and got off at Sant’ Angelo, where I finally got my cheesy picture. I think it’s meant to be an artwork.

I will leave you with this quote by John Ruskin from Joseph Kosuth’s piece in Personal Structures…