THE PATH OF MEMORIES – MEXICO AT THE BIENNALE
The Mexico Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2024 proposes an immersive experience that invites the viewer to reflect on the act of migrating and its impact on identity and sense of belonging. As we marched away, we were always coming back is Erick Meyenberg's project curated by Tania Ragasol. It includes elements created in Mexico, Italy and Albania.
Entering the Mexican pavilion is like entering a dinner party. A long and arranged table, ready to receive its guests. A family reunion. Something so particular and at the same time so universal that the ways to narrate it seem inexhaustible.
Focused on the experiences of the Doda family -Albanian immigrants who settled in Italy-, the artist points with a nostalgic and subtle look to those moments that remain despite the movement.
As we marched away, we were always coming back suggests that, in the midst of change, of the passage of time, of uprooting, there are symbolic spaces like this table, to anchor memory, to take hold of one's personal history. Through a sequence of images and objects that play with space and time, the pavilion opens a dialogue between multiple supports, intertwining videos and sculptures. Image and sound are connected in a single encompassing movement.
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Pavilion of MEXICO. As we marched away, we were always coming back. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Andrea Avezzù. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
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Pavilion of MEXICO. As we marched away, we were always coming back. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Andrea Avezzù. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
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Pavilion of MEXICO. As we marched away, we were always coming back. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Andrea Avezzù. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
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Pavilion of MEXICO. As we marched away, we were always coming back. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Andrea Avezzù. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
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Pavilion of MEXICO. As we marched away, we were always coming back. 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia. Photo by: Andrea Avezzù. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
Around the table there are changing images: horses, flowers, trees. A thriving nature that marks moments. Those that are left behind and those that are assembled from scratch when emigrating. Old ways and new ways of creating intimacy. The present and the past are combined: that tension between what is lost and what is acquired. The forms that transcend borders are also revalued: the encounter.
The immersive atmosphere of the pavilion captures the complexity of displacement and transformation. It is around the table that family and cultural relationships are renewed and reconfigured, representing a powerful metaphor of rootedness. As we marched away, we were always coming back is an ode to what remains without stagnating, to those memories that last fresh, that will never decompose.
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