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Stranieri Ovunque — Foreigners Everywhere Venice Biennale Arte 2024, Pavilion Picks and Thoughts by Maria Ogedengbe

Decades before the 60th Venice Biennale I visited Venice as a student. I remember the Guggenheim Collection and note how that era was so much closer to when Peggy G was in residence at her palazzo. On returning in 2024 the city felt familiar, like a time capsule. Yet through my stay I was anxious over climate change. Only after the trip did I learn of MOSE, a sea barrier that has been raised 80+ times since being put into use the year after Venice’s flood of 2019 ~

Much of the Venice Biennale Arte takes place in a park called the Giardini (garden). Pavilions there showcase country-specific art exhibits. The Giardini reflects the world at large… the Israel (Israele) Pavilion’s exhibit is currently closed and under guard, and the Russia Pavilion is on loan to the Plurinational State of Bolivia.

United States of America Pavilion 

At the US (Stati Uniti) Pavilion, the chromophilia effect with Jeffrey Gibson’s installation is arresting. Murals, friezes, and paintings bearing abstract lines of text, and texts spelled out in the beadwork on monumental figures, lend a didactic quality. In the final room, a wall-scale video shows a dancer who multiplies and dissolves into kaleidoscopic pattern, the spirit of her jingle dress is believed to bring healing. Gibson’s chosen theme, the-space-in-which-to-place-me, is also the concept behind a cluster of sturdy pedestals that forms a stage in the pavilion’s front courtyard. I think of how the US Pavilion facade’s appearance has changed per the visions of artists from Gibson (red, with multicolor friezes & flags) to Simone Leigh (thatched) to Fred Wilson (applying borrowed imagery of Africans bearing the roof).

Korea Pavilion 

With its focus on scents, the Korea (Corea) Pavilion at first looks spare inside. Round the corner to find a larger than life bronze elf-child balanced on a toe while waving peace signs… and exhaling perfume, visible as steam, every couple minutes. To arrive at the experimental and commercial scents for this exhibition, artist Koo Jeong A gathered input about scents that define the Korean peninsula and then worked with perfumers to create 17 distinct scents. Several of these are emitted faintly from diffusers hidden around the larger room.

Ethiopia Pavilion 

The number of countries presenting in the Biennale has grown over time to this year’s 86. Newer pavilions are set up around the city, most typically in historic palazzos that aren’t open to the public otherwise. These include the Ethiopian Pavilion in the Castello district which offers a generous show of abstract portraits and multi-figure compositions in oils by Tesfaye Urgessa. Currently based in Addis, Urgessa studied and then worked in Germany for more than a dozen years. His command and style show the influence of Neo-Expressionists like Baselitz and the London School, along the lines of Bacon.

Ivory Coast Pavilion  

Further afield in the Dorsoduro district are the Ivory Coast and Nigeria Pavilions. Ivory Coast’s theme is The Blue Note, described as a resilient expression combining fatigue and hope. Here Jems Koko Bi’s massive dark man, carved from trees, sprawls on the floor amid scattered beams. When departing from this pavilion note the San Trovaso shipyard just across the canal. Also look for a popular shop that sells cicchetti (little sandwiches) near the pavilion entryway.

Nigeria Pavilion 

Where Ivory Coast’s galleries are painted deep blue, Nigeria’s are accented with bright green and mirror effects. Exhibits of objects and artifacts in tri-way mirrored vitrines with cursive descriptions etched on glass fill the central area of the main floor. Staff explained that these are the concept of curator Aindrea Emelife herself. Curator choices give the quality of a shimmery illusion throughout. The mirror theme persists in shiny metal placards about works and writing inscribed on them. Per its placard, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones’ vibrant yellow-orange ceiling mural, Celestial Gathering, “…mirrors the spirit of the nation. The work boldly pushes into an imaginary where, perhaps, a Nigerian painter was patronized by the scuole or confraternities of Venice…”

Holy See Pavilion 

Situated in a women’s prison on the island of Giudecca to the south is the pavilion of the Holy See – seat of the Catholic Church in the Vatican, Rome. Its theme is to “embrace with the eye,” to bring sight and perception into dialogue. When Pope Francis visited in April he called for art to “…create forms of human belonging capable of recognizing, including, protecting and embracing… Everyone.” Artists, among whom are Maurizio Cattelan and the Claire Fontaine collective, have collaborated with prisoners in the making of artwork on view. While there, visitors will be accompanied by prisoner–conferencers.

Finland Pavilion 

Returning to the Giardini, the Finland (Finlandia) Pavilion is a literal breath of fresh air owing to the freeform adobe “air conditioner” Pia Lindman has built/sculpted adjacent to the far wall. Lindman, who experiences heightened sensitivity to toxins, explores concerns to do with healing through her work. A theme of accessibility is evident in this all-women exhibit through elegant handrails designed by Kaisa Sööt that compliment the artwork and the 1956 Alvar Aalto pavilion.

Canada Pavilion  

Trinket, the title of Kapwani Kiwanga’s solo installation at the Canada Pavilion, points to Venice’s production of seed beads also known as conterie. Innumerable long strands of same-color conterie delicately flow over the exterior roof and interior walls creating a solid-color or gradient and together end in defined edges – suggestive of controlled water flow like a yard sprinkler or, conversely, a haircut. Four elegant, slim sculptures combine various metal forms with panels of conterie, clear blown glass, and/or palm oil. Choice of conterie as medium connects Kiwanga’s installation to Murano and related histories. 

Since 1291 Venetian glass hot shops have all been located just north of Venice proper on the islands that make up Murano. Concentration and isolation led to proliferation and safeguarding of trade secrets, and Murano became a primary supplier of glass to the world. From the late 1500s to late 1700s beads – “perle di vetro” (pearls of glass) – grew to become 70% of Murano’s production. Beads were shipped from the ports of Venice by the tons and per orders for specific and wide varieties including conterie, larger multi-colored flame-worked “perles,” and glass “rubies.” We think of a profound duplicity that bead-trading across cultures seems to represent, from the purchase of Manhattan to purchase of human beings in Africa, because beads are now viewed as trinkets. However, bead-trading began in a pre-industrial age where “perle di vetro” were used as currency and valued like rubies and pearls.

Netherlands Pavilion  

Through my tour of Biennale pavilions, I struck up conversations with staff all of whom seemed to have been personally informed by the artists. In the Dutch/Netherlands (Olanda) Pavilion, a team of staff assist gallery goers with comprehending and navigating the complex exhibition within a high-ceilinged “white cube” where rivulets of yellow palm oil appear to be seeping in from the roof and down walls. Throughout the space, twenty-one sculptures stand on rough hewn pedestals. These were initially sculpted in clay in the Democratic Republic of Congo by members of the collective, Art Circle of Congolese Plantation Workers (Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolese / CAPTC). In Amsterdam, the works were cast in cacao and palm oil – plantation/cash crops deforesting the DRC... and a chocolate recipe echoing those of Ghirardelli and Godiva. The pavilion brochure explains that, through their art practice, the Lusanga-based CAPTC has reclaimed nearly 500 acres-worth of depleted plantation land previously confiscated from Congolese by British-Dutch Unilever and subsidiaries. 

This exhibit has been orchestrated by Dutch artist Renzo Martens along with Dutch-Moroccan curator Hicham Khaladi. It includes a twin event with the White Cube in Lusanga (built 2017) connected with the Dutch Pavilion in Venice by livestream video. On the opposite side of the gallery from the livestream, stories surrounding Lusanga’s White Cube are related in video. The drama seems to incorporate an earlier film by Martens, White Cube, symbolizing a kind of Congolese revolt against the general idea of a “white cube” art gallery made possible by wealth directly or indirectly accrued from forced labor in the Congo (whether for cobalt/smartphones in the present day, palm oil/soap under the Lever brothers, or rubber/tires under Leopold). 

The screening also shows the arrival of a Pende sculpture in Lusanga on loan from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts until the conclusion of the Venice Biennale in November 2024: the enshrinement and display of this work in the Lusanga White Cube is the exhibit twin to the 2024 Dutch Pavilion in Venice. The pavilion brochure explains how the subject of this work, Belgian colonial officer Balot, forcibly recruited laborers for Unilever until he was killed in a revolt in 1931. The sculpture was created to harness its subject’s angry spirit for the benefit of the Pende people of the southwestern DRC. The screening shows how members of the CAPTC wonder at the sturdiness of the work’s museum shipping crate, yet this awe is quickly superseded by sincere shows of reverence for the figure itself.

Thoughts

Do the Biennale’s Dutch and Holy See pavilions seem to meet with more scrutiny than most because they strike a nerve and create discomfort ? Or perhaps it’s that their aims are so high that there are bound to be small flaws in the outcome ? 

In reviewing the pavilions of the 60th Venice Biennale I consider what it means to shift masses of material culture around the world for an ever increasing number of biennials and art fairs. In the background is the up-and-down cadence of the sea barrier, MOSE, a stopgap to protect timeless Venice from becoming an Atlantis. And then we gallery goers, with phone in hand, snap and record while Congolese and their children risk life and limb, frequently under force, to mine materials needed for our next phone upgrade or environment-friendly EV. 

Will the notion or act of livestream twinning to places we never travel serve as a self-check to guide us in making our next choices with heightened awareness ? 

Can a conference with a prisoner in a prison lead to the sense of human belonging being spread more widely ?

Shall we embrace with our eyes ?

•••

List of picks – Venice Biennale Arte 2024 national participations (pavilions): click country names for official details including opening hours and last day of exhibit most exhibits continue through November 24, 2024

United States of America – Giardini Castello 30122, requires Biennale Arte ticket Korea – Giardini Castello 30122, requires Biennale Arte ticket Ethiopia – Castello 3647, free of charge Ivory Coast – Dorsoduro 947, free of charge Nigeria – Dorsoduro 3121, free of charge Holy See – Island of Giudecca 712, required reservation & minimum age 18, free of charge Finland – Giardini Castello 30122, requires Biennale Arte ticket Canada – Giardini Castello 30122, requires Biennale Arte ticket Netherlands – Giardini Castello 30122, requires Biennale Arte ticket Also mentioned: San Trovaso shipyard – Dorsoduro 1097

Biennale Arte tickets

The Venice Biennale Arte 2024 also includes large scale exhibitions in the central pavilion at the Giardini and at the nearby Arsenale which hosts some national participations (pavilions) in 2024, too. Arsenale Castello Campo Della Tana 2169/F Further, Venice Biennale Arte 2024 Collateral Events (typically art exhibits) take place throughout the city. In general, no ticket or admission is necessary for Venice Biennale Arte 2024 national participations (pavilions) or Collateral Events occurring outside of the Giardini and Arsenale. ABOUT OZ VIZ & read aloud

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author Maria Ogedengbe & her studio

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