Outsider, queer and Indigenous artists are getting an overdue platform at the 60th Venice Biennale contemporary art exhibition that opened Saturday, curated for the first time by a Latin American.
Brazilian curator Adriano Pedrosa91裸聊视频檚 main show, which accompanies 88 national pavilions for the seven-month run, is strong on figurative painting, with fewer installations than recent editions. A preponderance of artists are from the Global South, long overlooked by the mainstream art world circuits. Many are dead. Frida Kahlo, for example, is making her first appearance at the Venice Biennale. Her 1949 painting 91裸聊视频淒iego and I91裸聊视频� hangs alongside one by her husband and fellow artist, Diego Rivera.
Despite their lower numbers, living artists have 91裸聊视频渁 much stronger physical presence in the exhibition,91裸聊视频� Pedrosa said, with each either showing one large-scale work, or a collection of smaller works. The vast majority are making their Venice Biennale debut.
Visitors to the two main venues, the Giardini and the Arsenale, will be greeted by a neon sign by the conceptual art cooperative Claire Fontaine with the exhibition91裸聊视频檚 title: 91裸聊视频淪tranieri Ovunque 91裸聊视频� Foreigners Everywhere.91裸聊视频� A total of 60 in different languages hang throughout the venues.
When taken in the context of global conflicts and hardening borders, the title seems a provocation against intransigent governments 91裸聊视频� at the very least a prod to consider our shared humanity. Through artists with underrepresented perspectives, the exhibition address themes of migration and the nature of diaspora as well as indigeneity and the role of craft.
91裸聊视频淔oreigners everywhere, the expression has many meanings,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� Pedrosa said. 91裸聊视频淥ne could say that wherever you go, wherever you are, you are always surrounded by foreigners. 91裸聊视频� And then in a more personal, perhaps psychoanalytic subjective dimension, wherever you go, you are also a foreigner, deep down inside.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淩efugee, the foreigner, the queer, the outsider and the Indigenous, these are the 91裸聊视频� subjects of interest in the exhibition,91裸聊视频� he said.
Some highlights from the Venice Biennale, which runs through Nov. 26:
GEOPOLITICS AT THE BIENNALE
Facing the threat of protests, the Israel Pavilion stayed closed after the artist and curators refused to open until there is a cease-fire in Gaza and the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas -led militants are released.
Ukraine is making its second Biennale art appearance as a country under invasion; soft diplomacy aimed at keeping the world focused on the war. Russia has not appeared at the Biennale since the Ukraine invasion began, but this time its historic 110-year-old building in the Giardini is on loan to Bolivia.
For a short time during this week91裸聊视频檚 previews, a printed sign hung on the Accademia Bridge labeling Iran a 91裸聊视频渕urderous terrorist regime,91裸聊视频� declaring 91裸聊视频渢he Iranian people want freedom & peace.91裸聊视频� The venue for the Iranian pavilion was nearby, but there was no sign of activity. The Biennale said it would open Sunday 91裸聊视频� two days after the departure from Italy of Group of Seven foreign ministers who warned Iran of sanctions for escalating violence against Israel.
GOLDEN LIONS
The Golden Lion for best national pavilion went to Australia for Archie Moore91裸聊视频檚 installation 91裸聊视频渒ith and kin,91裸聊视频� tracing his own Aboriginal relations over 65,000 years. It91裸聊视频檚 written in chalk on the pavilion91裸聊视频檚 dark walls and ceiling and took months to complete. The Mataaho Collective from New Zealand won the Golden Lion for the best participant in Pedrosa91裸聊视频檚 main show, for their installation inspired by Maori weaving that crisscrosses the gallery space, casting a pattern of shadows and interrogating interconnectedness.
LGBTQ+ ARTISTS
As a queer artist born in South Korea and working in Los Angeles, Kang Seung Lee said he identified with Pedrosa91裸聊视频檚 91裸聊视频渋nvitation to look at our lives as foreigners, but also visitors to this world.91裸聊视频�
His installation, 91裸聊视频淯ntitled (Constellations),91裸聊视频� which considers the artists who died in the AIDS epidemic through a collection of objects, is in dialogue with spare paper-on-canvas works by British artist Romany Eveleigh, who died in 2020. 91裸聊视频淭he works speak to each other, an intergenerational conversation, of course,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� said Lee, 45, whose works have been shown in international exhibitions, including Documenta 15. This is his first Venice Biennale.
Nearby, transsexual Brazilian artist Manauara Clandestina presented her video 91裸聊视频淢igranta,91裸聊视频� which speaks about her family91裸聊视频檚 story of migration. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 so strong, because I can hear my daddy91裸聊视频檚 voice,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� she said. Clandestina, who hails from the Amazon city of Manaus, embraced Pedrosa during a press preview marking her Venice debut. She said she continues to work in Brazil despite discrimination and violence against transgender people.
NEWER NATIONAL PARTICIPANTS
The Giardini hosts 29 national pavilions representing some of the oldest participating nations, like the United States, Germany, France and Britain. More recent additions show either in the nearby Arsenale, or choose a venue farther afield, like Nigeria did this year in Venice91裸聊视频檚 Dorsoduro district.
The Nigerian Pavilion, in a long-disused building with raw brick walls that exude potential, houses an exhibition that spans mediums 91裸聊视频� including figurative art, installation, sculpture, sound art, film art and augmented reality 91裸聊视频� by artists living in the diaspora and in their homeland.
91裸聊视频淭hese different relationships to the country allow for a very unique and different perspectives of Nigeria,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� said curator Aindrea Emelife. 91裸聊视频淚 think that it91裸聊视频檚 quite interesting to consider how leaving a space creates a nostalgia for what hasn91裸聊视频檛 been and allows an artist to imagine an alternative continuation to that. The exhibition is about nostalgia, but it91裸聊视频檚 also about criticality.91裸聊视频�
The eight-artist Biennale exhibition 91裸聊视频淣igeria Imaginary91裸聊视频� will travel to the Museum of West African Art in Benin City, Nigeria, where Emelife is curator, which will give it 91裸聊视频渁 new context and a new sense of relevancy,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� she said.
BREAKTHROUGHS
Ghana-born British artist John Akomfrah created eight multimedia film- and sound-based works for the British Pavilion that looks at what it is to be 91裸聊视频渓iving as a figure of difference91裸聊视频� in the U.K. Images of water are a connecting device, representing memory.
91裸聊视频淚n the main, I91裸聊视频檓 trying to tease out something about collective memory, the things that have informed a culture, British culture let91裸聊视频檚 say, over the last 50 years,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� Akomfrah told The Associated Press. 91裸聊视频淎s you go further in, you realize we91裸聊视频檙e going further back. We end up going to the 16th century. So it91裸聊视频檚 an interrogation of 500 years of British life.91裸聊视频�
Considering the question of equity in the art world, Akomfrah indicated the adjacent French Pavilion 91裸聊视频� where French-Caribbean artist Julien Creuzet created an immersive exhibition 91裸聊视频� and the Canadian Pavilion on the other side, featuring an exhibition examining the historic importance of seed beads by Kapwani Kiwanga, who is in Paris.
91裸聊视频淚 mean, this feels like a very significant moment for artists of color,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� said Akomfrah, who participated in the Ghana Pavilion in 2019. 91裸聊视频淏ecause I91裸聊视频檓 in the British Pavilion. Next to me is the French one, with an artist, Julien, who I love a lot, of African origin. And then next to me is a Canadian pavilion that has a biracial artist, again, with African heritage.
91裸聊视频淪o that91裸聊视频檚 certainly not happened before, that three major pavilions have artists of color inhabiting, occupied, making work in them. And that feels like a breakthrough,91裸聊视频� he said.
UKRAINE
The Ukrainian Pavilion engaged ordinary Ukrainians to collaborate with artists on work that documents how they are experiencing, and in some ways adapting to the Russian invasion.
The artistic projects include silent video portraits of European actors styled by Ukrainians displaced by the war to represent an 91裸聊视频渋deal91裸聊视频� refugee. In another, neurodiverse young adults show their linguistic flexibility in incorporating a new reality where niceties like 91裸聊视频渜uiet night91裸聊视频� have a whole new meaning. And a film installation has become a sort of archive, taken from social media channels that once chronicled pre-invasion pastimes but that turned their attention to documenting the war.
Co-curator Max Gorbatskyi said it was important for Ukraine to be present at the Biennale to assert its distinctiveness from Russian culture, but also to use the venue to keep the wider world91裸聊视频檚 attention.
91裸聊视频淲e wanted to look at stories of real people,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淭here was no way we were going to show some abstract paintings, maybe beautiful and interesting, but which only pose questions in the art discourse. Instead, we wanted to bring real people together with artists in a non-hierarchical way to tell their stories.91裸聊视频�
COLLATERAL EVENTS
Greek American George Petrides91裸聊视频� installation 91裸聊视频淗ellenic Heads91裸聊视频� outside of Venice91裸聊视频檚 Church of Saint George of the Greeks and the Museum of Icons is among the many collateral events that spill over into the city.
Petrides91裸聊视频� created six oversized busts, each inspired by a significant period of Greek history, using family members as models. His mother, in turquoise blue, is in the classical style and his daughter represents the future in a golden hue. To withstand the weather, Petrides recreated an earlier series but this time from recycled plastic, using a digital sculpting software and a 3D printer, reworking details from hand.
91裸聊视频淭his space is unique. We have the Museum of Icons here, which is one of the most spectacular collections of icons in the world. We have a church started while Michelangelo was still alive, which any sculptor finds interesting. But further, this particular quarter is the Greek quarter,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� he said, noting an influx after Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453.
Across the city, at the base of the Accademia Bridge, the Qatar Museum91裸聊视频檚 installation 91裸聊视频淵our Ghosts Are Mine91裸聊视频� presents clips of feature films and video art from the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia organized thematically and exploring issues such as migration, conflict and exile. Films will be screened in their entirety four days a week.
91裸聊视频淭hese different thematics tell a story about all the congruences and the parallels that exist among filmmakers that may have never met or are from different parts of the global south,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� said assistant curator and filmmaker Majid Al-Remaihi. 91裸聊视频淪ome films were the first from their countries to premiere in Cannes or make it to the Oscars, so these are milestones and also part of our journey.91裸聊视频�
Colleen Barry, The Associated Press
