Ireland is one of 65 countries participating in one of the largest international art exhibitions in the world. The 49th Venice Biennale opened to the public yesterday.
The two artists representing Ireland are Belfast-born Siobhan Hapaska and Dublin born Grace Weir.
The Irish pavilion has this year moved from the Nuova Icona Gallery on Giudecca to the Scuola San Pasquale.
Admission is free and Irish Pavilion at the Biennale is open to the public until 30 September 2001.
Weir's installation consists of video images of clouds over the Irish coast, filmed from the air and projected onto two free-standing walls; her second piece 'Distance AB' is presented on a video monitor screen.
Hapaska's installation involves the viewer standing on loose pine needles with fir tree branches overhead watching a widescreen monitor sitting on an altar; the soundtrack to the work pans across the space.
