Taking over the famous Italian city until 24 November, the 2024 edition of the Venice Biennale – one of the most prestigious art and architecture events in the world – is once again hosting the much-anticipated National Pavilions.
As the global artistic community converges in Venice, 87 nations have brought forth their unique pavilions which spotlight artists from diverse backgrounds under the broad theme of ‘Foreigners Everywhere’.
Take a look at some standout pavilions from this year’s show.
United States of America
The first Indigenous artist to represent the US with a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale, New York-based painter and sculptor Jeffrey Gibson draws on themes of identity, indigenous history and narratives of the LGBTQ+ community in a vibrant, kaleidoscopic pavilion exhibition titled ‘The Space in Which to Place Me’. Included in the pavilion are colourful large-scale murals, sculptures, works on paper, and videos.
Nigeria
Marking the nation’s second participation in the global event, ‘Nigeria Imaginary’ features commissioned site-specific works from artists Yinka Shonibare CBE, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Ndidi Dike, Onyeka Igwe, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Abraham Onoriode Oghobase, Precious Okoyomon and Fatimah Tuggar. As Curator Aindrea Emelife explains, ‘Nigeria Imaginary will explore the many Nigerias that live in our minds, curated to capture a sense of optimism imbued in inherited and collective cultural history.’
France
Julien Creuzet, a visual artist, video maker, performer and poet, transforms the French pavilion into a multimedia presentation in ‘Attila cataract your source at the feet of the green peaks will end up in the great sea blue abyss we drowned in the tidal tears of the moon’. The otherworldly presentation employs intricate installations of metal, plastic and rope to represent water as a bridge between Creuzet’s Caribbean roots and his French nationality.
Brazil
Known as the Hãhãwpuá pavilion for the 2024 edition (referencing the the ancestral territory of Brazil), the Brazilian pavilion recognises the struggles of Brazil’s Indigenous community with artworks from Indigenous artists such as Glicéria Tupinambá, Olinda Tupinambá, Ziel Karapotó, and the Tupinambá community of the Serra do Padeiro and Olivença villages in Bahia. Titled ‘Ka’a Pûera: we are walking birds’, the exhibition features a series of drawings, paintings, multimedia artworks and films.
Canada
Titled ‘Trinket’, Canada’s pavilion for 2024 is transformed into a site- specific sculptural installation on the building’s interior and exterior. The artist, Kapwani Kiwanga, explores the concept of how ‘the minute can be colossal’ – particularly tiny glass ‘conterie’or seed beads that were used for international trade – with an immersive curtain of hundreds of thousands of glass beads strung together.
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