this year's biennale has not been without controversy. in may, the city of venice shut down iceland's pavilion in the biennale after the artist christoph bÜchel, working in collaboration with the muslim communities of venice and iceland, turned a 10th century church that had been closed down into a working mosque. police claimed the art project was a threat to public safety. well, we are joined by okwui enwezor right here in venice. in additioning -- to being the chief curator of the venice biennale, he is director of the haus der kunst museum in munich am a germany. he is also an also an art critic, editor, and writer. okwui enwezor, it is an honor to have you here, right behind the major theater where creative time, a new york-based art and activism organization, is holding summit. can you first place us, for people all over the world who are watching, what is the venice biennale and where is it in venice? >> they do so much, amy, for having me on democracy now! [captioning made possible by democracy now!] it is a great privilege to spe

in the protest touched the biennale.iennale was accused of basically repeating a: nihilistic does a colonialist it view them of being a nationalistic event from a very, very much tied to the official politics of the cultures that were here. and the interesting thing is, after this protests, the biennale basically started a very radical institutional reform because it needed to be a more democratic, more democratic institution. at the time, the statue of the biennale was the statute written android to by the fascists, by mussolini. so it was still that kind of institutional structure the biennale had. activistspresent time work in venice are keeping to approach the biennale from a critical point of view. of course, problems are pretty much different from those that you could find in 1968, but you still have many different problems when come to such an art event. i'm just mentioning two of them, which we touched in today's discussion. first of all, the problem of labor. the biennale is a very rich institution, lots of mone

amy: so you did this for the -- >> 2009 biennale. to: you are actually going put the arabic translation of the italian stops on each stop. >> we worked with the bus company in charge of the lines in the bus stops, and they were really excited about the project , and it were going to fund it, actually. they had asked me to create a text to explain to tourists to put on some of the stops what is this arabic that is on the stations. we were going to have an opening with the mayor of venice. and then shortly before biennale the, the project was shut down. amy: by? >> the city officials. summit he can to the head of the bus company and told them this was not to take place in venice, which was really devastating for me because i think it is very important project dealing with a beautiful history, a shared history, shared cultural heritage, and it was a secular project, which is also something that is very important. amy: what did they tell you? it -- now,you showed at that time, you showed it in a palestinian pavilion. >> it was the first

that's the theme to this year's venice biennale, the oldest and mo

amy: as we are at the venice biennale, will speak with afghan american artist mariam ghani about herfe and work. she is also the daughter of the president of