The 60th International Art Exhibition, titled Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, will open to the public from Saturday April 20 to Sunday November 24, 2024, at the Giardini and the Arsenale; it will be curated by Adriano Pedrosa and organised by La Biennale di Venezia. The pre-opening will take place on April 17th, 18th and 19th; the awards ceremony and inauguration will be held on 20th April 2024.
Since 2021, La Biennale di Venezia launched a plan to reconsider all of its activities in light of recognized and consolidated principles of environmental sustainability. For the year 2024, the goal is to extend the achievement of “carbon neutrality” certification, which was obtained in 2023 for La Biennale’s scheduled activities: the 80th Venice International Film Festival, the Theatre, Music and Dance Festivals and, in particular, the 18th International Architecture Exhibition which was the first major Exhibition in this discipline to test in the field a tangible process for achieving carbon neutrality – while furthermore itself reflecting upon the themes of decolonisation and decarbonisation.
The Exhibition will take place in the Central Pavilion (Giardini) and in the Arsenale, and it will present two sections: the Nucleo Contemporaneo and the Nucleo Storico.
As a guiding principle, the Biennale Arte 2024 has favoured artists who have never participated in the International Exhibition—though a number of them may have been featured in a National Pavilion, a Collateral Event, or in a past edition of the International Exhibition. Special attention is being given to outdoor projects, both in the Arsenale and in the Giardini, where a performance program is being planned with events during the pre-opening and closing weekend of the 60th Exhibition.
Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, the title of the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, is drawn from a series of works started in 2004 by the Paris-born and Palermo-based collective Claire Fontaine. The works consist of neon sculptures in different colours that render in a growing number of languages the words “Foreigners Everywhere”. The phrase comes, in turn, from the name of a Turin collective who fought racism and xenophobia in Italy in the early 2000s.
Curator Adriano Pedrosa explains: “The expression Stranieri Ovunque – has several meanings. First of all, that wherever you go and wherever you are you will always encounter foreigners— they/we are everywhere. Secondly, that no matter where you find yourself, you are always truly, and deep down inside, a foreigner.”
President Roberto Cicutto adds: “Adriano Pedrosa is the first curator of Biennale Arte from South America – said – whom I selected so that he could bring his personal point of view on contemporary art by reinterpreting different cultures as if in a movie reverse shot. La Biennale’s international nature makes it a privileged vantage point from which to observe the state of the world through the transformation and evolution of the arts. No curator, in choosing the theme of their exhibition, seeks directly to capitalise on the hot issues of the moment, but all of them are influenced by them and the changing perception of the exhibitions themselves may be felt in the way they are interpreted by visitors, professionals in the field and the press. But it is first and foremost the real presence of the National Pavilions, that this year reached 88 participating countries and 30 Collateral Events, that make La Biennale a unique meeting ground between the arts and the changes in society.”
The Exhibition will also include 88 National Participations in the historic Pavilions at the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in the city centre of Venice. 4 countries will be participating for the first time at the Biennale Arte: Republic of Benin, Ethiopia, United Republic of Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Timor Leste. Republic of Panama and Senegal participate for the first time with their own pavilion.
The Italian Pavilion at the Tese delle Vergini in the Arsenale, sponsored and promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, is curated by Luca Cerizza. The project Due qui / To hear by the artist Massimo Bartolini includes contributions specifically created by musicians and writers.
The Holy See Pavilion, promoted by the Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, will take place this year in the women’s prison in Venice at the Giudecca island. The exhibition, entitled With my eyes, is curated by Chiara Parisi and Bruno Racine.
The City of Venice participates with its own pavilion, the Venice Pavilion, at the Giardini of Sant’Elena.
30 Collateral Events admitted by the Curator and promoted by non–profit national and international bodies and institutions, will take place in several locations around the city of Venice. They offer a wide range of contributions and participations that enrich the diversity of voices that characterizes the Exhibition.
The Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement will be awarded to The Italian-born Brazilian artist Anna Maria Maiolino and the Paris-based Turkish artist Nil Yalter during the Biennale Arte 2024 awards and inauguration ceremony, that will be held on Saturday 20th April, 2024 at Ca’ Giustinian, headquarters of La Biennale di Venezia.
La Biennale di Venezia 60th International Art Exhibition opens to the public on 20th April until 24th November 24, 2024.
