The moment one enters the exhibition "Always a Little Further" in the grand Arsenale spaces at the 51st Venice Biennale, June 12-Nov. 6, 2005, one hears disembodied voices listing the cost of past exhibitions, the salaries of each successive artistic director, even the price of a single glass of wine during each year of the biennale’s 110-year history. It is a sound piece by Santiago Sierra, one of many politicized works chosen for the show by curator Rosa Martínez, who has become famous for her uncompromising feminism and for mixing art and politics. But, one wonders, can such choices be effective in the context of the world’s most visible showcase for contemporary art?
