ALL THE FOREIGNERS REUNITED AT THE VENICE BIENNALE

THE CURATOR’S INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION

«This 60th edition of the International Art Exhibition is all there in the title Foreigners Everywhere – Stranieri Ovunque. Strong words, explosive when paired that evoke both current scenarios and possible universes, on whose borderline the curator’s line of thought is constructed, sharp in its longer focus and vibrant with complex contrasts nearer to hand.

Adriano Pedrosa has curated a Biennale Arte that reflects his personal approach to study and research, which is free of any prejudice in favour of the already established – where the vertigo of the unknown is an integral part of the process of exploration and enjoyment, and disorientation becomes a potent instrument for identifying new compass points.

And the compass is important to understanding this paradigm shift. Pedrosa is the first South American curator of the Biennale Arte and he is well aware that the compass points themselves are anthropized symbolic forms, with the North at the head – complete with a tall hat – and the South at the foot, a bare foot needless to say», stated Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, President of La Biennale di Venezia at the Introduction speech.

As a guiding principle, the Biennale Arte 2024 has favored artists who have never participated in the International Exhibition—though a number of them may have been featured in a National Pavilion, a Collateral Event, or in a past edition of the International Exhibition.

«The expression Stranieri Ovunque –explains Adriano Pedrosa– has several meanings. First of all, that wherever you go and wherever you are you will always encounter foreigners— they/we are everywhere. Secondly, that no matter where you find yourself, you are always truly, and deep down inside, a foreigner. »

NUCLEO CONTEMPORANEO

«According to the American Heritage and the Oxford Dictionaries, the first meaning of the word “queer” is precisely “strange”, and thus the Exhibition unfolds and focuses on the production of other related subjects: the queer artist, who has moved within different sexualities and genders, often being persecuted or outlawed; the outsider artist, who is located at the margins of the art world, much like the self-taught artist, the folk artist and the artista popular; the indigenous artist, frequently treated as a foreigner in his or her own land. The productions of these four subjects are the interest of this Biennale, constituting the Nucleo Contemporaneo. »

«Indigenous artists have an emblematic presence and their work greets the public in the Central Pavilion, where the Mahku collective from Brazil will paint a monumental mural on the building’s façade, and in the Corderie, where the Maataho collective from Aotearoa/New Zealand will present a large-scale installation in the first room. Queer artists appear throughout the exhibition, and are also the subject of a large section in the Corderie, and one devoted to queer abstraction in the Central Pavilion. »

NUCLEO STORICO

In the Central Pavilion three rooms are planned for the Nucleo Storico: one room is titled Portraits, one Abstractions and the third one is devoted to the the worldwide Italian artistic diaspora in the 20th century.

«The Nucleo Storico gathering works from 20th century Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Much has been written about global modernisms and modernisms in the Global South, and a number of rooms will feature works from these territories, much like an essay, a draft, a speculative curatorial exercise that seeks to question the boundaries and definitions of modernism. »

NATIONAL PARTICIPATIONS

The Exhibition will also include 88 National Participations in the historic Pavilions at the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in the city centre of Venice. 4 countries will be participating for the first time at the Biennale Arte: Republic of Benin, Ethiopia, United Republic of Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Timor Leste. Nicaragua, Republic of Panama and Senegal participate for the first time with their own pavilion.

BRAZIL IN A SPECIAL PROJECT

Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes (b. 1960), known for her work that overlays the Brazilian cultural imagination with references to western modernist painting, will present seven paintings and seven collages, all large-scale works. The project for the Pavilion, curated this year by Adriano Pedrosa and now in its eighth edition, is a collaboration between La Biennale di Venezia and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London.

Besides, 30 Collateral Events admitted by the Curator and promoted by non–profit national and international bodies and institutions, will take place in several locations around the city of Venice. They offer a wide range of contributions and participations that enrich the diversity of voices that characterizes the Exhibition.