Other worthy mentions in the Gardenia were the dancing security guards at the German Pavilion you would certainly remember it if you entered, the viewer was confronted by a mammoth Thomas Scheibitz sculpture of colors and geometrics and cheerfully surreal guards surrounding you dancing and signing "OHHHHHHH this is so contemporary, contemporary, contemporary."

The Czech Republic Model of the world/Quadraphonic by artist Stano Filko, Jan Mancucska, Boris Ondreicka, Marek Pokorny, best fun ever! "The world is everything that is the case" and if you don't believe the words suspended from the ceiling continue to watch the little sliver balls roll about the floor crashing into each other till you do.

Translation:   implies modification, and possibly destruction, loss and/or standardization. Muntadas insists on the idea of the filter, what exactly gets lost in translation. What is left, and what is changed.

"The Bookstore", (2001 32 photographs 32 x 32 cm each) very witty well done piece that speaks volumes of truth.   Deals with classification and how a consumer is confronted subliminally with the idea that everything has its place. (and if not "they" will make one for it) as if life can all fit neatly away tucked in it's self. Don't like history no fear never tread in the "history" section. You will be safe from your past we swear.

The award for completely catching you off guard goes to the shared pavilion of

demanding change.

Literally banging on the same drum was the Ukrainian Pavilion with Artist Mykola Babak   and curator Oleksiy Tytarenko works entitled Your Children, Ukraine! and a projection of newsreel footage from the Ukrainian Orange Revolution . The play on ones past and ones future was daunting. As you viewed the personal portraits, images from his village, and hand crafted toy like items from Mykola traditional childhood the pounding of these drums ring in your ear reminding you that time, no matter how nostalgic or painful to let go of, would wait for no one .

If by this time you were feeling lost and out of place your wandering through the gardens wearing down your feet, you were welcomed home as you enter Uruguay Pavillion.   Artist Lacy Duarte's Territorio beckoned you closer and whispered to you ear; here the ground

I almost recall hearing some grumbling a ways back about the amount of money America was willing to put up (or not put up) for their pavilion this year. I wonder if that has any bearing on the fact, that yes while of course Ed Ruscha's work is most incredible, I am not disputing his contributions however this exhibit as a whole felt, no pun intended, well... flat. Course of an Empire what a stunning title, poignant, relevant, and in Europe most appropriate conversation topic, so why when I walked in did I fell as if I swindled?

If you weren't in New York over the winter and missed the Gilbert & George "Perverse Pictures" at the Lehmann Maupin Gallery than The British Pavilion was a site to see, Ginkgo Pictures was smashing for over 35 years this dual manages to stay right on that line always pushing it a bit further, Hooded (2005 284x507cm) an especially worthy mention as I believe Tony Blair just recently outlawed in some fashion the wearing of hooded sweatshirts for youngsters, as according to him it invites criminal activity.

Speaking of balls Danish artist Peter Land new work Playground has gone a step further in his search for the subversive self. He has turned towards the imaginary reality of children with two very lifelike figures, a boy and a girl aged 10-12 sitting on the floor at either end of a room rolling a ball back and forth between them hemmed in by every Americans dream; the white picket fence.  

Spain's Antoni Muntadas On

the Nordic Countries curator Asa Nacking, artist Matias Faldbakken, Miriam Backstrom, Carsten Holler. A massive dismantled unassuming space turned inside out had many people walking thought it with little realization that ... that was the pavilion. Three trees stand dead center as if caught mid growth by the strangle hold of suburban sprawl

breezeway of sorts into a cool room but what beckons you in further is Chelpa Ferros’ False Water named after Shaskpear's Othello. An eerie sound echoing in a shallow pool of water from each side of the walk way there hangs from industrial cables a speaker facing the water just centimeters above it as if directly involved in an intimate conversation with it.

Idiot Wind a conceptual sound installation by Russian artist Galina Myznikova and Sergey Provorov was a not to miss. Deciding

to experiment by giving up the image altogether claiming touch is one of the most primal of man's. Three halls were set up behind perforated corkboards; behind which are machines creating wind and a bizarre almost frightening wailing noise that completely surrounds you. The dim light and the unexpected streams of wind disorientate the audience, they in turn bum into each other and the walls scrambling for a way out.

The Korean Pavilion, Secret Beyond the Door

featured over 15 artists who focus their effort on cooping with the rapid changes in Korean society. Amongst the stands out pieces where the scribbles and scrawls that filled the walls as you enter created by Nakhee Sung , and a very old television that loops images of protesters, army marches, and upheaval by Young-Whan Bae . Titled Popular Song 3, a videoart trilogy which re-edits imageries of significant democratic revolutions broken out in South Korea piercing your heart with a folkloric sound of music as the voice of young people

is soft and moist lay your head down.

A turn backwards towards the time of her childhood when the world was hers and she was firmly in it. Las Traperas refers to the popular name of a very poor home made quilt, one I would have been grateful to have wrapped around myself and fallen into its enchanting spell.