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Venice Biennale 2024, 60 International Art Exhibition

The International Art Exhibition, in the context of the Venice Biennale 2024, reaches its 60th edition: from Saturday 20 April to Sunday 24 November 2024 you can admire the staging by Adriano Pedrosa entitled “Foreigners Everywhere – Foreigners Everywhere” Based on inclusion, diversity as a resource and the fight against discrimination. 

The two exhibition cores

The novelty of this year lies in the participation of artists who take part for the first time, with the aim of highlighting emerging or yet little known names. At the same time, the title “Foreigners Everywhere – Foreigners Everywhere” has a meaning as intense as it is important, as explained by Pedrosa himself: “The expression Foreigners Everywhere has more than one meaning. First of all, he means that wherever you go and wherever you are, there will always be foreigners: they are/we are everywhere. Secondly, that no matter where you are, deep down you are always truly foreign”.

The exhibition, which extends between the Central Pavilion, the Gardens and the Arsenal, is composed of two distinct nuclei: the Historic Nucleus and the Contemporary Nucleus. The first includes works dating back to the twentieth century “from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Arab world” says the curator. He adds: “A lot has been written about global modernism and those of the South, which is why some rooms will be exposed works from these territories, as if to constitute a kind of essay, a draft, a hypothetical curatorial experiment aimed at questioning the boundaries and definitions of Modernism. We know all too well the history of Modernism in Euro-America, but the modernisms of the global South remain largely unknown”.

The Historical Core comprises 3 rooms in the Central Pavilion, specifically the room dedicated to Abstractions, the Portraits room and the room that contains examples of the Italian artistic diaspora in the world during the twentieth century. “The two rooms that house the portraits – explains Pedrosa – include the works of 112 artists, mostly paintings, but also works on paper and sculptures, covering a period between 1905 and 1990. The room dedicated to Abstractions includes 37 artists: almost all are exhibited together for the first time in unexpected juxtapositions, thus wishing connections, associations and unpublished parallels that go far beyond the rather simple categories I have proposed.

A third room of the Historical Core – he adds – is dedicated to the diaspora of Italian artists who have traveled and moved abroad, integrating themselves into local cultures and building their careers in Africa, Asia, Latin America as well as the rest of Europe and the United States; artists who often played a significant role in the development of Modernist narratives outside of Italy. In this hall will be exhibited the works of 40 Italian authors of first or second generation, placed in the glass and concrete easel displays by Lina Bo Bardi”.

The Contemporary Nucleus, instead, focuses on four specific subjects: the queer artist, who bounces between different sexualities; the outsider artist, almost always marginalized; the folk or popular artist, a true self-taught; the indigenous artist, treated as a foreigner in his own land. “Indigenous artists – the curator stresses – have an emblematic presence and their works welcome the public in the Central Pavilion. The Contemporary Nucleus hosts in the Corderie a special section dedicated to Disobedience Archive, a project by Marco Scotini that since 2005 develops an archive of videos focused on the relationship between artistic practices and activism”.

Participants from all over the world

The 60th edition of the International Art Exhibition in Venice is supported by 86 National Participations in the Pavilions, Gardens, Arsenal and the historic center. Four countries are participating for the first time: Republic of Benin, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Timor Leste and United Republic of Tanzania, while Nicaragua, Republic of Panama and Senegal are participating for the first time with their own pavilion.

The Italian Pavilion is curated by Luca Cerizza, supported by the project Due qui/To hear of the artist Massimo Bartolini. In addition, there is also the Pavilion of the Holy See, whose exhibition bears the title “With my eyes”, edited by Bruno Racine and Chiara Parisi.

The Exhibition includes 30 side events, all approved by Pedrosa and promoted by public and private non-profit institutions. They spread throughout the city of Venice and propose to those present a series of activities that enrich an exhibition already perfectly cared for in the smallest detail. 

The attendance is considerable and the exhibition has not yet come to an end, indeed: many other visitors are expected in the coming months, driven by the desire to take part in an event of international resonance and live a first-hand experience of art, of history and culture in a Venice that is simply extraordinary.

Copertina: Unsplash

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