Take your trainers

BECAUSE it is organised on national lines, the Venice Biennale, which runs until November 4th, has often been called the Olympics of the art world. This year it merited its nickname, literally. As several pavilions contained works that could be viewed only by a dozen or so people at a time, art lovers in the festival's first week thronged the gates at opening time and ran the length of a football field so as to reach the head of the queue and spare themselves hours of waiting. The sight of museum directors, curators and journalists sprinting, linen jackets flapping in the wind, surpassed much of the art on show.