Pope warns against commercialization of art in Venice Biennale speech
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Pope Francis has warned against the excessive commercialization of art and the destructive impact of the market on creativity during a speech to artists at the Venice Art Biennale.
"Certainly, the market promotes and canonizes, but there is always the risk that it 'vampirizes' creativity, robs innocence and ends up deciding coldly what is to be done," the leader of the Catholic Church said in a speech on Sunday. "Today it is more necessary than ever to make a clear distinction between art and the market."
Shortly beforehand, Pope Francis met with around 80 prisoners in the women's prison on the island of Giudecca in the Venetian lagoon, where he sought to highlight the problem of overcrowding in many prisons.
The Holy See set up the Vatican Pavilion at the Biennale, one of the most prestigious events on the art world's calendar, inside the prison.
The works of art on display in the Vatican Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale were created in dialogue with the imprisoned women.
Entitled "With My Eyes," the pavilion focuses on the themes of human rights and people on the margins of society, Vatican News reported.
In his remarks to the prisoners, the pontiff also emphasized the opportunities that imprisonment offers for a new beginning.
"Paradoxically, a stay in a prison can be the beginning of something new, the rediscovery of unsuspected beauty in ourselves and others, as symbolized by the artistic event that you are hosting and to whose project you are actively contributing," said the pope.
Anyone wishing to visit the Vatican's pavilion at the prison must register via a website; four groups of 25 people are to be admitted each day.
Sunday's visit was be the first time that a pope has attended the major exhibition of contemporary art, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world every two years. The 60th edition opened on April 20 and runs until November 24.
The 87-year-old pontiff flew from Rome to Venice by helicopter in the morning. After visiting the prison, he took a motorboat to the main island of Vencie.
He plans to celebrate a holy mass on St Mark's Square in the city.
