The Biennale Venice 24/7

CHURCH BELLS RING

Venice. One of the most stunning cities on Earth.

Over 50,000 tourists arrive here each day

for the carnival, culture and canals.

But what they don't see is how this city works.

This is Venice from the inside.

Around the clock, emergency teams fight to keep a city built on water

safe and working.

With unprecedented access to police, fire and medical teams,

we come face to face with the unique daily challenges and life-and-death drama.

Up to yesterday evening she was all right.

This morning she was not responsive.

This is Venice 24/7,

where the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Summer has arrived in Venice,

and this season is special.

Every two years, the city is transformed for the Biennale Festival.

What began as a small showcase for artists over 100 years ago

is today a modern art festival involving over 80 countries.

British artists like Henry Moore, Francis Bacon and Anish Kapoor

have all exhibited here.

Spreading through the whole city, 14th-century homes, moorings and churches

become pop-up galleries.

It's a huge logistical challenge for Venice.

400,000 extra visitors are expected, and countless pieces of priceless art.

At the docks on the city's west side,

Massimiliano Brusato runs a transport company.

Today, Massimiliano is transporting a sculpture

by renowned Belgian artist Jan Fabre to the site of his Pietas exhibition.

As with everything here, moving heavy goods around the city must be thought about differently.

This work of art weighs a whopping four tonnes.

So Massimiliano needs to deploy all his 20 years' experience

plus a special boat.

The premiere will take place in the Escuela Nueva de la Misericordia,

built in the 16th century as an artists' academy.

Today, the contemporary exhibit is being managed by Jan's assistant, Edoardo.

Venice is not made for transport.

The water is a barrier, and the distances can only be covered with special machines.

It's not a place to do things normally!

For Edoardo, the entire exhibition rests on the safe delivery of the main piece.

We are planning to open the crate

and take it out.

Of course, I am a little bit worried

but it's something that I'm sure is going to be fine.

There it is.

And apparently it's good.

It seems to be all right.

The first part of the transport went well.

Now we still have to take it out of the crate and move it on the platform.

Of course it will be not easy.

Transporting the art isn't the only challenge in Venice's Biennale.

Bringing contemporary work into fragile 16th-century spaces

creates its own problems.

Venice is the only place in the world that can offer you

an opportunity to be in buildings, venues and palazzos like this

School of the Misericordia.

You never know what can happen suddenly

because they can assure us that the floor here is full.

With "full", I mean there's no cellar.

But once we position a six-tonne crane and move a four-tonne block of marble,

if they were wrong, then the floor can't stand it.

But of course it's something that you cannot prevent.

While the city prepares for the six-month-long art festival,

Venice's emergency services carry on as usual.

At the fire station, director Alessandra Bashar is overseeing the day shift.

For engineer Alessandra, being a female fire chief in Venice

makes her unique.

'I'm a woman. I'm from the south of Italy. This is quite unusual in Italy.'

Every job has to be equal opportunity, an equal opportunity job.

But some jobs

are not so easy for a woman.

Working in a city as unusual as Venice

means Alessandra and her teams must work closely with all emergency services.

But there is never long to catch up before the next call-out comes through.

The team, led by Juliano Menardi, a fireman of over 30 years,

has been called out to a gas leak, and the source needs to be found.

As much of Venice is built on wood, any risk of fire must be treated seriously.

The gas technician gives them a quick overview of the situation.

The firemen need to get inside the building so the supply can be cut off.

But the door is locked and there's no answer.

Finally, they get into the apartment to find the source of the leak.

This man will have no gas until the pipe is repaired.

The news isn't good for this elderly man

as it may take 24 hours to repair the leak and switch his gas back on.

On the north side of Venice at the 16th-century Escuela Nueva,

Edoardo is overseeing the installation of Jan Fabre's latest work for the Biennale.

Preparing to unload a four-tonne marble sculpture onto 500-year-old floors

requires absolute precision.

It's a good risk possibility.

Of course it's big, so any problem will be my problem.

But of course I try to not have any problems to be solved!

This is the first of five sculptures which Edoardo needs to install for the exhibition.

Each one weighs several tonnes.

Of course, it's just a fifth of the whole exhibition

so it's only the beginning.

The other sculptures are as complicated as this to be moved and transported.

Across town, on the island of San Giorgio,

another artist is preparing to pull off a modern exhibit in one of Venice's famous ancient landmarks.

The British sculptor, Anish Kapoor, is preparing to showcase his work

for this year's festival in the 16th-century Palladian San Giorgio Maggiore church.

This has got to be one of the most beautiful churches in the world.

Also, there is a purity and perfection

to the geometry of Palladio's intersecting circles and tubes

that is mysterious.

I've felt very strongly about this church for a very long time.

Kapoor's installation, entitled Ascension,

involves a pillar of white smoke being drawn over 50 metres up

into the dome of the church.

No easy feat in a tall, draughty building.

It's a phenomena, let's say,

which is a project to attempt to make an object

out of the ephemeral.

To actually form a column.

In order for that to happen, the conditions have to be just right

so we have to be rather careful about them.

The column won't rise properly if there is too much draught.

Just another of the challenges of working in this city.

But Kapoor is a seasoned 30-year Biennale veteran.

It's a kind of gathering of the tribe, every two years.

We come to celebrate but also get a special sense

or a sense of what's going on in the art world.

And hopefully be beguiled by one or two things

and feel that they take us out of ourselves.

As artists across the city prepare for the six-month-long showcase,

the whole of Venice becomes a living, modern gallery,

attracting hundreds of thousands of art lovers as well as tourists.

Many arrive by boat, with over 1,000 cruise liners and ferries

passing right through the heart of Venice's historic centre each year.

Since the invention of the cruise liner at the turn of the 20th century,

the port has grown to accommodate ships of increasing volume,

including controversially dredging the shipping lanes to make them deeper.

In the last decade, the number of ships docking here has doubled,

making this Europe's fourth biggest port.

Boat pilot Andrea Pistorello is on his way

to guide a cruise liner carrying 2,500 passengers safely to the terminal.

The ships arrive all year round

and usually dock for just a few hours.

To help steer the liners safely past Venice's historic facades,

the pilots must board each one for their entry into the city.

To navigate the 300-metre-long cruise liner through the busy shipping lane

which is just 200 metres wide at its narrowest point,

the instructions must be spot on.

GIVES INSTRUCTIONS

Helping guide the ships in are two tug boats,

one of which is piloted by Davide Gezzo.

Any shifts by this giant cruise liner could spell disaster

for Venice's delicate architecture.

Nothing is left to chance.

Even the length of the tow cable must be carefully calculated.

As the cruise ship is carefully steered down the Giudecca Canal,

just a few metres separate its bulk from the ancient city.

Affording a view for captain and passengers alike

which is truly breathtaking.

In Venice, it's like the world in the postcards.

But every place is a special moment.

The vessel now is in a safety position.

Everything has gone very well.

And now all passengers can go to visit Venice.

While tourists flock into the city during the Biennale,

resident Venetians also enjoy the transformation.

Dr Michele Alzerta is director of Venice's accident and emergency department.

It's a bit strange because the usual spaces of Venice are suddenly transformed

into something different. This morning, for instance,

I popped into a church which I usually pass in the mornings

and I looked around and the church was transformed.

Any old building that you are used to seeing in one way suddenly changes.

It lends a note of colour to the city.

As medics, it's not very different from the usual influx of tourists

which we have every year.

We don't see a huge increment in the number of tourists with the Biennale.

During the Biennale, as with the rest of the year,

the paramedics' four water ambulances head onto the canals

up to 50 times a day.

It's mid-afternoon, and the team is called to a local bar.

An elderly lady has collapsed in a restaurant

so Dr Andreas Frezo is leading the team to the district of Cannaregio.

SIREN WAILS

Finding their way around Venice is always their first challenge.

The lady has regained consciousness.

Her blackout seems to have been caused by a drop in blood pressure.

On examining the results of an ECG,

Andreas thinks the problem is part of an existing heart complaint.

They administer some vital fluids and check her blood pressure again.

They manage to stabilise the patient, but she's still fragile.

They decide to take her back to A&E to run further tests.

In the district of Cannaregio,

at the Escuela Nueva de la Misericordia,

Jan Fabre's exhibition is finally ready.

My work? It's a miracle of installation.

It's a kind of spiritual place

where a kind of different religion and spiritual values meet.

I like the strong tradition here at the Biennale, Venice.

The world comes here every two years. Every time, before every exhibition,

every world premiere of a performance, I'm still nervous, like a small child.

Yes!

This is the first time Jan's installation will be seen by the public.

For his assistant, Edoardo,

getting everything ready has been a work of art in itself!

It was not easy to make it happen.

All the difficulties of being in Venice and logistically it's not normal to work here.

You have to accept a lot of limits that the city's giving you.

But we made it and apparently the result is quite good.

I like to be at my own openings because it's a celebration of beauty

and of art.

I see the complete exhibition as a spiritual battlefield for beauty.

So it's good to not hide yourself

and to be ready to get killed!

Getting large-scale modern art to work in Venice's 16th-century buildings

is a challenge also faced by artist Anish Kapoor.

For his installation, "Ascension" a column of white smoke must rise

from the intersection of the transept and nave.

To stage modern art in a 16th-century setting,

the team, overseen by curator Lorenzo Fiasci, has found a 21st-century solution.

As you see the duct outside the Basilica,

it's 120 metres or 150.

You can see outside it's amazing. It's like a snake around the Basilica.

It's also beautiful.

Even though small draughts can wipe the smoke out,

the installation rises to the challenge.

Well, Venice is all about being a historic city

and that it has the Biennale is bringing wholeheartedly to its very centre

the contemporary, and sometimes a very radical contemporary. It's a good thing.

In Cannaregio, the big night has arrived

for Jan Fabre and his assistant, Edoardo.

After months of planning, the Pietas exhibition is finally open to the public.

Visitors are asked to wear a special pair of hand-made slippers,

encouraging them to feel part of the installation.

Today I've had beautiful compliments.

People were crying.

People, I mean even really good collectors and curators.

Everybody was getting water in their eyes and having tears.

So I think it's a good compliment, I think.

While the Biennale's major exhibitions get under way,

the fire brigade have work to do. And for them, it's a chance to catch a show.

The fire team also need to safeguard some of the city's more traditional arts.

Fire chief Alessandra Bashar is inspecting the historic Fenice Theatre,

to carry out crucial safety checks.

This is the waterfront, the water place.

-Backstage?

-Backstage, yes.

The 18th-century theatre is Venice's most famous art house.

It's burned down three times over the last three centuries.

There is a host of new safety equipment in place

to ensure that fire never takes hold again.

The modern auditorium was rebuilt following the fire in 1996

which tore through the theatre, leaving just a charred shell.

Thought to be arson, on the night when the fire broke out

the nearby canals had been drained for cleaning,

delaying the fire team's efforts to battle the blaze.

It took them two days to smother the smouldering building once and for all.

The modern renovation which took almost eight years and £42 million to complete,

was designed to mirror the 19th-century original

down to the wall fabrics and lavish gilded interiors.

High-tech new safety systems were installed.

Alessandra and her team ensure everything is working properly.

On the new stage, the team check the steel safety curtain

designed to block flames and smoke from the auditorium.

Losing the Fenice in 1996 was devastating for Venice.

It galvanised the city into ensuring it never happens again.

Now there is a water system where fire hydrants are no more than 80 metres apart

in the city's most vulnerable areas.

This, plus the fire team's maintenance programme,

helps ensure the safety of one of Venice's most precious landmarks.

OK. Let's say that we have just finished our checks.

Everything is new and everything is safer.

As you can see, this is the best job in the world for me as well.

Being in Venice, being a fire-fighter,

working with five others with many experience, many human experience,

it's really great. A great privilege.

..we find out how a city surrounded by water battles the rising tide.

We see how what looks like giant Lego is actually the last word in anti-flood technology.

And with thousands of rowers in town for Venice's largest demonstration of love for the water,

the coastguards fight to keep order.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd