Acqua Alta e Vino Spiritoso

Foreigners Everywhere at the Venice Biennale 2024

May 04, 2024

It was cold, it was raining and it was wonderful! Time was short: one week. Friends were abundant: old and new. Traveling mates: a dream. The dramatically good-looking city of Venice, which I had visited only once before in the summer of 2022, showed us one of its many faces, a more local and historical one. As rain is default weather when in a lagoon comprising 126 islands, one rainy night we heard the siren warning its residents of acqua alta or floods. Venice’s strength and resilience throughout its long eventful existence spoke through those surprising nocturnal sounds. That night I learned to love the city. And that wine can be spiritoso.

And then there’s the art. Titled Foreigners Everywhere, the main exhibition is curated by Adriano Pedrosa, a fellow compatriot, who sourced works mainly from the global south, his intention being to “highlight the differences and disparities conditioned by identity, nationality, race, gender, sexuality, freedom and wealth” (curator’s statement). Much of the art is shown for the first time at the Biennale, including works created by indigenous peoples—a strong presence—asserting the idea that being colonized can make you feel like a foreigner in your own country as well.

*Foreigners Everywhere*, Claire Fontaine, installation by Palermo-based collective by the Italian-British artist duo Fulvia Carnevale and James Thornhill.

Giardini and Arsenale’s main exhibition pavilions greet the visitor with monumental works that feel like portals setting the tone for what’s to come. At the Giardini the stunning mural created by the Huni Kuin indigenous collective MAHKA (Acre, Brazil) represents the myth of Kapewë Pukeni (alligator bridge) and narrates the story of the migration of their people between Asian and American continents through the Bering Strait. Entering the Arsenale we walk under the dazzling large-scale installation by Mataaho Collective (New Zealand), a collaboration between four Māori women artists inspired by takapau, finely woven mats made for ceremonies, particularly childbirth, marking the transition between light and dark. Here they were made of heavy duty straps used to secure loads to trucks. The shadows they cast on walls and floors adds to the startling effect and multi-sensorial experience.

While walking through both venues here are some notes we took: much care in grouping, hanging and spacing the works (Nucleo Storico: Abstraction); harmony and rhythm between rooms and subjects; great artist pairing (Madge Gill and Giulia Andreani); well-placed over-sized works and installations (Aloïse’s drawing Cloisonné de Théâtre; Daniel Otero Torres’ installation Lluvia); sound not bleeding from works on video; spaces felt vibrant but never uncluttered; we were being offered a masterclass on hanging and displaying art. Not all was praise though: the dark spiral structure chosen to show videos part of the Disobedience Archive at the Arsenale was disorienting if very interesting as form. The Arsenale is a famously complex space, yet the curator composed a precious score, achieving great rhythm. The glass easels designed by Lina Bo Bardi in 1968 (Nucleo Storico: Italians Everywhere) have a stunning effect of people walking around floating paintings!

The marvelous and unusual grouping of artworks at this year’s Biennale may represent a snapshot of this moment, however it may not come around again. An excellent reason to attend. For yours truly, a second visit feels compulsory.

Some favorites: Nucleo Contemporaneo: Aloïse, Madge Gill, Aycoobo, Kang Seung Lee; Nucleo Storico: “Abstractions" and “Italians Everywhere”; National Pavilions: Brazil, USA, Great Britain, Australia, Nigeria, Canada, France, Nordic, Kalaallit Nunaat, Italy. Collateral shows: Pierre Hyughe, Ewa Juszkiewick, Julie Mehretu, De Kooning, Jean Cocteau.

Sadly missed Vatican Pavilion, Willam Kentridge, Zeng Fanzhi, Nebula, Yu Hong,

Below are some images of what we saw, including views of Venice, part and parcel of our experience of visiting the Biennale.