60th International Art Exhibition Biennale Art 2024

@labiennale

The 60th International Art Exhibition, titled Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, will be open to the public from Saturday, April 20 to Sunday, November 24, 2024, at the Giardini and Arsenale. Curated by Adriano Pedrosa and organized by La Biennale di Venezia, the pre-opening took place on April 17, 18, and 19, with the official inauguration and awards ceremony held on April 20, 2024.

Since 2021, La Biennale di Venezia has been re-evaluating all its activities through the lens of environmental sustainability. By 2024, the organization aims to extend its certification of "carbon neutrality" achieved in 2023, covering events like the 80th Venice International Film Festival, as well as its Theatre, Music, and Dance Festivals. Notably, the 18th International Architecture Exhibition was the first of its kind to pursue carbon neutrality while reflecting on themes of decolonization and decarbonization.

The exhibition is spread across the Central Pavilion (Giardini) and the Arsenale, featuring two main sections: the Nucleo Contemporaneo and the Nucleo Storico. This year’s Biennale prioritizes artists who are making their debut in the International Exhibition, though some may have participated in National Pavilions, Collateral Events, or previous editions. A key focus is on outdoor installations, especially in the Arsenale and Giardini, with performances planned during both the pre-opening and closing weekends.

The exhibition’s title, Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere, draws inspiration from a series of neon sculptures started in 2004 by the Claire Fontaine collective, based in Paris and Palermo. The works feature the phrase "Foreigners Everywhere" rendered in multiple languages, a nod to a Turin collective active in the early 2000s that fought against racism and xenophobia in Italy.

Curator Adriano Pedrosa explained that Stranieri Ovunque carries multiple meanings. Firstly, it suggests that wherever you go, you will always encounter foreigners—they are everywhere. Secondly, it reflects the notion that no matter where you are, deep down, you are always a foreigner. The term "straniero" in Italian, like its counterparts in Portuguese (estrangeiro), French (étranger), and Spanish (extranjero), is etymologically linked to the concept of "strange" or "stranger." This theme connects to Sigmund Freud’s Das Unheimliche (The Uncanny), which explores the idea of the strange as something deeply familiar yet alien. Pedrosa notes that the word "queer" originally meant "strange," and the exhibition embraces this concept by spotlighting queer artists, outsider artists, self-taught and folk artists, and indigenous artists—all of whom have been marginalized in various ways.

Indigenous artists play a key role in the exhibition, greeting visitors at the Central Pavilion with a monumental mural by the Mahku collective from Brazil, and a large-scale installation by the Maataho collective from Aotearoa/New Zealand at the Arsenale. Queer artists are also prominently featured throughout the exhibition, including a major section in the Corderie focusing on queer abstraction in the Central Pavilion.

The Nucleo Contemporaneo will include a special section in the Corderie devoted to the Disobedience Archive, a project by Marco Scotini that has been documenting the intersection of artistic practices and activism since 2005. The presentation, designed by Juliana Ziebell, is divided into two themes: diaspora activism and gender disobedience. This section will feature works by 39 artists and collectives created between 1975 and 2023.