2024 international contemporary art exhibition
The 60th Venice Biennale is an international
contemporary art
exhibition held between April and November 2024. The
Venice Biennale takes place
every two years in
Venice, Italy , with some limited exceptions. Artistic director
Adriano Pedrosa curated its central exhibition,
Foreigners Everywhere , and 88 countries contributed
national pavilions .
Background
The Venice Biennale is an international
art biennial exhibition held in
Venice, Italy . Often described as "the Olympics of the
art world ", participation in the Biennale is a prestigious event for contemporary artists. The festival has become a constellation of shows: a central exhibition curated by that year's artistic director, national pavilions hosted by individual nations, and independent exhibitions throughout Venice. The Biennale parent organization also hosts regular festivals in other arts: architecture, dance, film, music, and theater. The 60th Biennale runs from April 20 to November 24, 2024.
[1]
Central exhibition
Adriano Pedrosa , curator of the
São Paulo Museum of Art , served as the 60th Venice Biennale's artistic director.
[2] The central exhibition,
Foreigners Everywhere , is based on outsider and marginalized figures.
[3] Pedrosa was the Biennale's first Latin American curator.
[1]
National pavilions
Outside of the central, international exhibition, individual nations produce their own shows, known as pavilions, as their national representation. Nations that own their pavilion buildings, such as the 30 housed on the Giardini, are responsible for their own upkeep and construction costs as well.
[1] Nations without dedicated buildings create pavilions in the Venice
Arsenale and palazzos throughout the city.
[4] Each country selects artists to show at their pavilion, ostensibly with an eye to the Biennale's theme.
[1]
There were 88
national pavilions at the 2024 Biennale,
[5] down from the high of 90 in 2019.
[6] Countries began to announce their national representatives soon after the
previous exhibition closed in 2022.
[7] First-time presenters at the Biennale included Benin, Ethiopia, Morocco, Senegal, and Tanzania.
[8]
[9] The
Holy See had participated previously but 2024 marked the first
papal Biennale visit.
[10] Scotland withdrew from this year's biennale.
[11] Russia had been disinvited from the previous Biennale for
its invasion of Ukraine and, with the
war ongoing , did not participate in 2024 either. Russia loaned
its pavilion to
Bolivia .
[12]
The
Israeli pavilion declined to open. As the Biennale began, the pavilion's artist and curators announced that they would stay closed until there was a ceasefire in the
Israel–Hamas war and all
Hamas-abducted hostages were returned .
[13] During the Biennale's preview week, protesting artists demanded the boycott of the Israeli pavilion with leaflets and a
flashmob .
[14]
[15] Two months earlier, Biennale organizers had rebuffed calls to exclude Israel and Iran, including an open letter with thousands of signatures.
[16]
Highlight pavilions from the exhibition included Japan,
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23] Egypt,
[24]
[18]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[21]
[28]
[29] United Kingdom,
[24]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[5]
[28]
[29] Nigeria,
[17]
[24]
[19]
[22]
[28]
[29] United States,
[24]
[25]
[30]
[22] Bulgaria,
[31]
[30]
[21]
[22] France,
[17]
[24]
[32]
[28] Germany,
[17]
[18]
[19]
[33] and Australia.
[17]
[24]
[18]
[33]
Awards
An international jury presented the three main prizes following the Biennale's opening ceremonies:
[1]
Golden Lion for best national participation:
Australian pavilion (
Archie Moore )
Special mention: Kosovo pavilion (Doruntina Kastrati)
Golden Lion for best artist of the central exhibition:
Mataaho Collective
Silver Lion for the most promising young artist of the exhibition: Karimah Ashadu
[43]
The 60th Biennale's Golden Lion for lifetime achievement went to
Anna Maria Maiolino and
Nil Yalter .
[43]
References
^
a
b
c
d
e Russeth, Andrew; Aton, Francesca (April 16, 2024).
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^ Small, Zachary (April 17, 2024).
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c Herriman, Kat (April 24, 2024).
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b Behrens, Edward (April 19, 2024).
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h da Silva, José (January 25, 2023).
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^
a
b
c Harris, Gareth (December 9, 2022).
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e Greenberger, Alex (March 28, 2023).
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^
a
b Harris, Gareth (April 20, 2024).
"Archie Moore's Australian Pavilion wins Venice Biennale's coveted Golden Lion for best national exhibition" .
The Art Newspaper .
Archived from the original on April 22, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2024 .
Further reading
Durón, Maximilíano (February 1, 2024).
"The 2024 Venice Biennale By the Numbers: A Massive Artist List with a Focus on the Global South" .
ARTnews.com .
Archived from the original on April 21, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2024 .
Farago, Jason (April 24, 2024).
"The Venice Biennale and the Art of Turning Backward" .
The New York Times .
ISSN
0362-4331 .
Freeman, Laura (April 18, 2024).
"Venice Biennale 2024 review — barmy, bizarre and beautiful" . The Times .
ISSN
0140-0460 .
Archived from the original on April 18, 2024.
Ghosh, Ravi (April 24, 2024).
"Venice Biennale photography review: Is truth enough?" .
British Journal of Photography . Retrieved April 25, 2024 .
Lawson-Tancred, Jo (April 14, 2024).
"Here Are 6 Things You Need to Know Going Into the Venice Biennale" .
Artnet News .
Archived from the original on April 23, 2024. Retrieved April 23, 2024 .
Searle, Adrian (April 22, 2024).
"Venice Biennale 2024 review – everything everywhere all at once" .
The Guardian .
ISSN
0261-3077 .
Small, Zachary (April 10, 2024).
"Can Adriano Pedrosa Save the Venice Biennale? No Pressure" .
The New York Times .
ISSN
0362-4331 .
External links