US Pavilion: Call Me the Breeze – Alma Allen

ARTnews's critic asked for the introductory wall text and was told it was in the final room. That's the plan here: you walk in and look first, and only at the exit does Alma Allen tell you the work "is as stubborn as I am, I cannot tell you."

Five sculptures stand in the forecourt and about 20 more inside, most called Not Yet Titled, in bronze, American walnut burl, Cantera verde volcanic rock and white Colorado Yule marble, the stone of the Lincoln Memorial. Allen is self-taught and shapes small forms with his fingers, without looking, then enlarges the ones he likes.

Critics were harsh. ARTnews called the pavilion "insistently apolitical" and the works decorative, though it granted that the stone pieces are beautiful. Hyperallergic said it "says nothing, does nothing, means nothing, and goes nowhere." It's in the middle of the Giardini and covered by the €30 Biennale ticket, open 10am to 6pm, closed Mondays, until 22 November.