At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. government is determined to fight Communism with culture. The Venice Biennale, t | dG1fYy1LM0s4YnpfUlk
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Short filmTranscript
00:01Now, I don't know if this is true, but probably it's true.
00:05You know the story?
00:09We thought the future of humanity was at stake.
00:13The United States was looking for cultural weapons.
00:17And the Venice Biennale was the Olympics of art.
00:26It was our moment.
00:27And the government was behind the show.
00:32From the very beginning, they wanted Rauschenberg to be the first American to win the International Prize for painting.
00:42I was considered a clown by nearly everyone else.
00:47The idea of encountering a goat, we didn't see anything like that before.
00:53Is it your theory not to have a theory?
00:55To not have a theory? Yes, more or less.
01:06They had this absolute certainty that Rauschenberg was the new in art.
01:14But the paintings were all supposed to send a message about America, about freedom.
01:20American agencies sending art into Europe had to make people wonder, to what end could this be used?
01:29It was considered a diabolical trick.
01:33The State Department must be playing some role in this nefarious plot.
01:38People said, oh, Alice is just seducing all the jurors.
01:41Well, believe me, that would have taken a lot of seducing.
01:45Soft power, that use of culture, can be an extraordinarily powerful tool.
01:51Do you really believe art can change society?
01:54I know it can.