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La Terra di Nod ( Het Land Nod) by FC Bergman  Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia © Andrea Avezzù To experience FC Bergman's Het land nod (The Land of Nod), we are in a gigantic room in one of the art chamber-like museums of fine arts built in Europe in the second half of the 19th century to display the collections of royalty. The room, measuring 18 metres by 12 metres and 10 metres high, was built from scratch in a disused factory in the nearby industrial area of Marghera because it did not fit into any of the existing theatres in Venice. Half of it is used as a tribune for the audience and the other half is used as a stage. Later I learned that this space is not supposed to be a part of an anonymous museum, but it is an exact replica of the Rubens Room of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerpen, which had been closed for four years for renovation in 2015, when this show premiered (and only recently reopened in November 2022). The first thing that strikes me on entering the room ...

Photo: mehmet kerem özel / danzon When I enter the auditorium to find my seat, I see a man sitting on the edge of the apron of an empty stage. The man, whom I know to be the creator of the work that is about to start, is holding a small piece of stone in his hand; fiddling it and also eyeing the audience. Then a technician appears on the stage and pulls the chair under the man. However he doesn't fall down. On the contrary, he is frozen as if there is still a chair under him; or maybe there wasn’t even a chair at the very beginning. A little while later, he comes to his feet with a gesture as if standing up from the nonexistent chair and leaves the small stone in front of him to the ground. We hear the bang of the stone thanks to the microphones on the ground. He tidies himself up, softly brushing his shoulders off as if to sweep dust; gives us a last look and turns his back. There are two patches of white on the upper side of his shoulders looking like angel’s wings. He di...