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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.
If you want to know how
the definition of “scandal” has changed with the decades, you couldn’t
do much better than to see Taking Venice, Amei Wallach’s highly
enjoyable and revealing documentary about a legendary uproar in the art
world. - Owen Gleiberman, Variety