By Mia Funk & Ailin Xu
How do experiences of migration, displacement, and alienation shape our identity and how we see the world? How is art a vehicle for preserving cultural memory, individuality, and collective identity? How can we challenge the erasure of marginalized voices in history? How can creative expression illuminate the complexities of resilience, protest, and survival? What insights can be gained from revisiting the legacies of colonialism and imperialism, and how do they inform contemporary struggles for justice and equity?
These are just some of the questions posed by Foreigners Everywhere, the 60th exhibition of the Venice Biennale, which opened on April 20th and runs to November 24th, 2024. The assembled artworks are charged with meaning and hope for our shared humanity.
Teresa Margolles’ Tela Venezuelana presents a bloodied shroud, symbolizing the suffering and sacrifices of migrants, and offering a poignant commentary on displacement and loss. MAHKU’s mural vividly depicts indigenous myths of migration, blending cultural narratives with contemporary artistic techniques to celebrate resilience and identity. Aycoobo and Abel Rodríguez’s intricate works capture the rich biodiversity of Amazonian flora, serving as a testament to indigenous environmental knowledge and cultural heritage. Inuutteq Storch’s photographs of life and shamanic rituals among the Kalaallit population in Greenland reflect on themes of place, identity, and the lasting impacts of colonial histories and climate change.
Wael Shawky’s Drama 1882 critiques British colonial aggression in Egypt and the 9th-century Urabi revolution, weaving together historical narrative and artistic expression to interrogate the legacies of imperialism. Xiyadie, a gay Chinese artist, explores themes of intimacy and individuality, challenging cultural taboos with deeply personal reflections through his delicate and provocative papercuts. Ukrainian artists use soundscapes mimicking weaponry to convey the harrowing realities of conflict, resistance, and the human cost of war. The Brazil Pavilion’s installation of suspended bullets and gourd rattles belonging to the indigenous Tupinambá community offers a haunting meditation on violence and the enduring strength of those who resist it. Vlatka Horvat’s By the Means at Hand creates a collaborative dialogue about trust and unity, emphasizing the importance of collective resilience in times of crisis.
This year, the exhibition focuses on theme of diversity, communication, and encounters between different cultures and identities, inviting 331 artists and collectives. Foreigners Everywhere explores major concepts around the idea of “foreign”, and in addition, expands the concept of “foreign” itself to include a wide variety of artists with diverse backgrounds and identities, intending to bring forth unique perspectives and histories that remain untold.
President of the Venice Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, commented on the importance of the theme of the 60th Venice Biennale, that it “hosts samples of marginalized, excluded, oppressed beauty, erased by the dominant matrices of geo-thinking.” For Venice as a city, he added, “diversity has stood from the outset as a basic condition of normality”.
As the curator of this year’s Venice Biennale, Andriano Pedrosa, explained in his statement, the International Art Exhibition is divided into two sections: Nucleo Contemporaneo and Nucleo Storico. Nucleo Contemporaneo explores this expanded idea of “foreign” and “foreigners”, and features not only artists who are foreigners, immigrants, expatriates, and refugees, but also queer artists, Indigenous artists, and artists who are at the margins of the art community, who all might appear as “foreign” to a traditional society or a conventional art world. In Nucleo Storico, the exhibition presents artists who worked on paintings, paper, and sculptures from 1915 to 1990 mainly from the global south, expanding the Euro-American understanding of modernism, representing the previously overlooked art spheres, and exploring the exchange of influence in the artistic practice of modern art.
Two motifs also appear throughout the exhibition: the art of textiles, as many works incorporate craft and other techniques that are not considered as traditional forms of artmaking. The second motif is the artist’s family and explores the transmission of knowledge between family members.
Foreigners Everywhere features a notable special project in the Applied Arts Pavilion of the Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes, who breaks new ground in her paintings by defying boundaries between high and low art, and abstract and figurative works. She transforms modernist artworks by utilizing motifs of Latin American and Brazilian patterns and designs and mimics the intricate patterns of woven textiles.
Another special project is Due Qui / To Hear in the Italian Pavilion, which features a large-scale installation and sound work by artist Massimo Bartolini. The artwork guides visitors through the pavilion's space and incorporates random encounters with sound-based performative pieces, encouraging visitors to not only listen to others and the environment of the installation but by extension, asking them to listen to themselves and gain an understanding of their own position in the world.
Foreigners Everywhere explores both contemporary and historical perspectives and covers topics that is need of discussion, especially in a world today in which politics are often divided around nationality, race, and ethnicity, and many other identities. The focus on “foreign” allows artists to express unique experiences and perspectives and offer insight into cultures and groups that were previously not properly represented, and to be recognized as the art world and the world in general works towards greater diversity and acceptance.
