(For lack of pictures, words) On the Biennial

One piece stands out above the rest. It is on the top floor and immediately draws you to it. Rotating red police light atop sits a white '60s Cadillac ambulance, the Bruce High Quality Foundation's piece I Love America and America Loves Me. Named after a Joseph Beuys performance, the obvious relation is that Beuys rode in an ambulance to get to the performance. The presentation of BHQF's piece is extremely impressive. Though it is essentially a video with audio, it is projected from within the ambulance on to the frosted windshield. Peering into the big Cadillac I am seeing into the imagination of a romantic poet of American triumph and failure. The video is composed of clips from television, movies and the internet; all uniquely American. Read by a woman, the narration always relates, even if vaguely, to the images on the windshield. A particularly interesting part of the monologue is the way she continually refers to America as if she is a lover, but then suddenly he is the lover, all in the overall trend of dealing with satisfaction and disappointment that America gives her (the narrator) and us.

The striking part about this peice is its emotional familiarity. Recognizable, the video recaps contemporary America while the audio praises with love and derides with heartfelt disappointment. It is a tender yet honest look at America from a mix of humanist and artistic viewpoint that captivates and leaves one both proud of our nation and yearning for improvement of the purest kind.