STORIES AT THE FOREIGN SOUL: AN EXHIBITION AT VENICE

Both artists, immigrants living in other countries, bring a singular perspective to the exploration of human displacement and the impact of borders. Set against the backdrop of the Venice Biennale, the exhibition aligns seamlessly with the 60th International Art Exhibition 2024's theme, Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Adriano Pedrosa.

The Cuban born, Madrid-based multidisciplinary artist Dagoberto Rodríguez unveils a new video piece titled “Clessidra”, shot in Havana in August of this past year. This work poignantly addresses the tension associated with human displacement and borders. Rodríguez also presents an ongoing series about Refugee Camps where he translates several of the world’s largest refugee camps such as Zaatari or Dadaab into geometrical abstraction, inviting viewers to reflect more deeply on the permanent tragedy of those transitional cities.

Presented in tandem is the work of the Moroccan conceptual artist, mounir fatmi. A selection of several works’ fundamental to understanding the depth of the artist’s practice is showcased here. “The Blinding Light”, a grand photograph inspired by Italian painter and early Renaissance Master Fra Angelico’s (1395-1455) miraculous scene, questions notions of race, hybridization, orientalism, and identity. The text-based sculpture “Coma Manifesto” utilizes an inscription from fatmi’s manifesto to engage with themes recurrent not only in his oeuvre, but in his personal history, such as reciprocal cultural and linguistic thinking, social dynamics, and the perception of others.

In a fusion of historical remnants and contemporary introspection, echoes the psychological and physical issues involving origin and its nuances. Together fatmi and Rodriguez question concepts of belonging and otherness, shedding light on their own immigrant stories. By the very existence of their works in unison filling the exhibition space, the presentation unfolds in such a way that it becomes a celebration of the foreign, the distant, the outsider, the queer, and the indigenous through the lens of these two remarkable artists.

Embodied Echoes: Stories of the Foreign Soul. Exhibition by Mounir fatmi and Dagoberto Rodríguez.

Until June 29^th, 2024.

Magazzini Van Axel. Dorsoduro 47, 30123 Venice, Italy.