MUSEmemoirs

This weekend marks the end of the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale. Curated by Adriano Pedrosa, this year’s Biennale, titled “Stranieri ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere,” reflects on our interconnected, globalized world and celebrates the richness of diversity.

Over the past months, I had the opportunity to visit the Biennale multiple times. Here is what most captured me.

Arsenale – international exhibition

Arsenale – National Pavilions

Benin Pavilion : Everything Precious Is Fragile

• Artists: Romuald Hazoumè, Chloé Quenum, Ishola Akpo, Moufouli Bello
• Curator: Azu Nwagbogu

Lebanon Pavilion : A Dance with her Myth

• Artist:  Mounira Al Solh
• Curator: Nada Ghandour

Uzbekistan Pavilion: Don’t miss the cue

• Artist: Aziza Kadyri
• Curator: Center for Contemporary Art Tashkent

Turkey Pavilion: Hollow and Broken: A State of the World

• Artist: Gülsün Karamustafa
• Curator: Istanbul Foundation for Culture and the Arts 

Saudi Arabia Pavilion: Shifting Sands: A Battle Song

• Artist: Manal AlDowayan
• Curator:  Jessica Cerasi, Maya El Khalil

Singapore Pavilion: Seeing Forest

• Artist: Robert Zhao Renhui
• Curator: Haeju Kim

Giardini – International Exhibition

Giardini – International Pavilions

Nordic Countries Pavilion: The Altersea Opera

• Artist:  Lap-See Lam with Kholod Hawash and Tze Yeung Ho
• Curator: Asrin Haidari

Japan Pavilion: Compose

• Artist: Yuko Mohri
• Curator: Sook-Kyung Lee

Germany Pavilion: Thresholds

• Artists: Yael Bartana, Ersan Mondtag, Michael Akstaller, Nicole L’Huillier, Robert Lippok, Jan St. Werner
• Curator:  Çağla Ilk

France Pavilion: Attila cataracte ta source aux pieds des pitons verts finira dans la grande mer gouffre bleu nous nous noyâmes dans les larmes marées de la lune

• Artist: Julien Creuzet
• Curator: Céline Kopp, Cindy Sissokho

Australia Pavilion: kith and kin (Golden Lion award)

• Artist: Archie Moore
• Curator: Ellie Buttrose

Romania Pavilion: What work is

• Artist: Șerban Savu and Atelier Brenda (Nana Esi, Sophie Keij)
• Curator: Ciprian Mureșan

Brazil Pavilion: Ka’a Pûera: we are walking birds

• Artists: Glicéria Tupinambá con Comunità Tupinambá della Serra do Padeiro, Olivença a Bahia, Olinda Tupinambá, Ziel Karapotó
• Curators: Arissana Pataxó, Denilson Baniwa, Gustavo Caboco Wapichana

Finland Pavilion: The pleasures we choose

• Artist: Pia Lindman, Vidha Saumya, Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen
• Curator: Yvonne Billimore & Jussi Koitela

External Pavilions in the city of Venice

Grenada Pavilion: No Man is an Island

• Artists: Frederika Adam, BREAKFAST, Jason deCaires Taylor, Antonello Diodato Guardigli (ADGART), Alma Fakhre, Suelin Low Chew Tung, Gabriele Maquignaz, Lorenzo Marini, Benaiah Matheson, The Perceptive Group, Nello Petrucci
• Curator: Daniele Radini Tedeschi

Cameroon Pavilion: Nemo propheta in patria

• Artist: ean Michel Dissake, Hako Hankson, Kendji & Ollo Arts, Patrick-Joël Tatcheda Yonkeu, Guy Wouete, Angelo Accardi, Julia Bornefeld, Cesare Catania, Adélaïde Laurent-
• Curator: Paul Emmanuel Loga Mahop, Sandro Orlandi Stagl

Croatia Pavilion: By the Means at Hand

• Artist: Vlatka Horvat  
• Curator: Antonia Majača

Ethiopia Pavilion: Prejudice and Belonging

• Artist: Tesfaye Urgessa
• Curator: Lemn Sissay OBE FRSL

Bosnia-Erzegovina: The Measure of the Sea

• Artist: Stjepan Skoko
• Curator: Marin Ivanović

Portugal Pavilion: Greenhouse

• Artist: Mónica de Miranda, Sónia Vaz Borges, Vânia Gala
• Curator: Mónica de Miranda, Sónia Vaz Borges, Vânia Gala

Special mention:

The Vatican Pavilion, Con i miei occhi

• Artist: Maurizio Cattelan, Bintou Dembélé, Simone Fattal, Claire Fontaine, Sonia Gomes, Corita Kent, Marco Perego & Zoe Saldana, Claire Tabouret
• Curators: Chiara Parisi, Bruno Racine

It was not possible taking photos, but it is probably the Pavilion that marked me the most.