Works by
15 Argentine artists
- including Emilio Pettoruti, Clorindo Testa, Mariana Telleria, Chola Poblete, Raquel Forner and Juan del Prete - will be seen in the main exhibition of the
2024 Venice Biennale,
which under the motto "Foreigners for all parties" will bring together from April 20 to November 24 a total of
332 representatives from all over the world
, with a focus on
queer
and indigenous issues, as reported this Wednesday by the Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa, the first Latin American curator of the event.
If you think that in previous editions, the central exhibitions had hosted
between 80 and 200 artists
, the number announced by the curator is overwhelming, which in turn results in an impressive representation of countries from
Latin America, Africa, Asia
, and also focusing on the
diaspora from Italy
to the rest of the world (where Argentina and Brazil have a prominent place).
"The expression
'Stranieri Ovunque'
has several meanings. Firstly, that wherever you go and wherever you are you will always find foreigners:
they/we are everywhere
. Secondly, that no matter where you are, you are always truly, and deep down, a foreigner," said Pedrosa, during the conference that was broadcast online.
Motto 2024. Being a foreigner.
Photo Press
Multiple names of Argentines (or Argentine nationals) were included.
The list includes
Claudia Alarcón (1989) & Silät from Salta from the Wichi community La Puntana, Mendoza and queer La Chola Poblete (1989), Mariana Telleria (Rufino, 1979) from Santa Fe and the Americanist painter Juana Elena Diz
(born 1925 ), whose whereabouts are unknown or whether he has died.
Works will also be seen in the central exhibition by the deceased Argentines
Libero Badii
(1916-2001),
Elda Cerrato
(1930-2023),
Victor Cúnsolo
(1898-1936),
Juan Del Prete
(1897-1987),
Raquel Forner
(1902- 1988),
María Martorell from Salta
(1909-2010),
Emilio Pettoruti
(1892?1971),
Lidy Prati from Chaco
(1921-2008),
Kazuya Sakai
(1927?2001),
Clorindo Testa
(1923?2013) and
Bibi from Lebanon.
Zogbé
(1890-1975), who lived and died in the city of Mar del Plata.
Finally, the South Korean artist
Kim Yun Shin
could enter
, who was born in Wonsan 1935 although she has lived in Buenos Aires since 1983, just 40 years ago, whose works will also be seen in Venice.
Some of the works exhibited by Argentina will be loaned by
Malba
and the Eduardo Costantini Collection, this museum reported.
The guiding principle of the
60th edition
of the biennial has favored
artists who have never participated
in the International Exhibition, although some of them have been presented in a National Pavilion, a Collateral Event or in a previous edition of the International Exhibition, he detailed. Pedrosa.
Campus.
It starts in April.
Photo: Press
In addition to the participation of each national pavilion (for Argentina, for example,
Luciana Lamothe
will participate with the project "Hopefully the doors collapse"), the central exhibition in Venice will include names such as the Mexican Frida Kahlo, Iván Argote (Colombia), Lina Bo Bardi (Brazil), Embroiderers of Isla Negra (Chile), Miguel Covarrubias (Mexico), Tarsila do Amaral (Brazil), Oswaldo Guayasamín (Ecuador), Wifredo Lam (Cuba), Armando Reverón (Venezuela), Diego Rivera (Mexico) ) and Joaquín Torres-Garcìa (Uruguay), among many others.
Luciana Lamothe, within “Repetition x Break”, her sculpture of wooden braces.
Photo: archive
The motto of the meeting, "Stranieri Ovunque" ("Foreigners everywhere"), is inspired by a series of works begun in 2004 by the
French feminist artist Claire Fontaine
, a series of neon sculptures of different colors that reproduce in various languages the words "Foreigners everywhere."
The phrase comes, in turn, from the name of a
Turin collective that fought against racism and xenophobia
in Italy in the early 2000s.
A group of neons, recreated on a large scale, will be seen during the biennial.
"The background of this work refers to the
current crisis of people around the world, in the territory, on the borders, because of their race, because of their identity, because of their nationality, because of their gender
. Wherever you are, wherever If you go, you are a foreigner. Even Venice was the city of immigrants for the refugees from Rome. Here there are also foreigners everywhere," Pedrosa explained.
According to the Brazilian, the central exhibition will take place in the Central Pavilion (Giardini) and in the Arsenale, while it will be divided into two sections:
the contemporary core and the historical core.
"The Italian
straniero
, the Portuguese estrangeiro, the French
étranger
, and the Spanish foreigner, are all etymologically connected with the
strange
. The first meaning of the word '
queer
' is precisely 'strange' and thus the Exhibition unfolds and focuses on the production of other related subjects: the queer artist, who has moved within different sexualities and genres, often persecuted or outlawed;
the outsider artist, who is situated on the margins of the art world, like the self-taught artist, the folk artist and the popular artist;
the indigenous artist, often treated as a foreigner in his own land.
The productions of these four subjects are the interest of this Biennial, constituting the contemporary core," the curator broke down.
In this way,
indigenous artists
will have an emblematic presence, to the point that the Central Pavilion will welcome the public with the Mahku collective from Brazil who will paint a monumental mural on the façade of the building.
Likewise, the Maataho collective from Aotearoa (New Zealand) will present a large-scale installation in the first room of the Cordiere: "Queer artists appear throughout the exhibition," Pedrosa insisted.
On the other hand, the contemporary core will have a special section dedicated to the
Archive of Disobedience
, a project by Marco Scotini, who since 2005 has been developing a video archive focused on the relationships between artistic practices and activism.
This section is divided into two main parts specially conceived for our framework: Diaspora Activism and Gender Disobedience.
The Disobedience Archive will include works by 39 artists and groups made between 1975 and 2023.
Finally, the historical core will be made up of 20th century works from
Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Arab world:
"We know the history of Modernism in Euro-America too well, but the Modernisms of the global South remain largely unknown," Pedrosa shot.
The organization for this nucleus will be made up of three rooms: one dedicated to "Portraits", another room dedicated to "Abstractions" and a third room dedicated to the Italian artistic diaspora in the world throughout the 20th century, which gives a predominant place for artists in Argentina and Brazil, the curator's nation.
In this last room, works by 40 Italian authors - first or second generation of immigrants - will be exhibited, which will be exhibited in the same system that has made famous the Glass House of the paradigmatic architect Lina Bo Bardi (an Italian who moved to Brazil). .
"In the course of the research - Pedrosa stressed - two different but related elements emerged quite organically, which developed to the point of imposing themselves as the leitmotif of the entire exhibition. The first is textiles
,
explored by many of the artists involved. Works that reveal an interest in craftsmanship, tradition and the handmade, as well as in techniques that, in the broader field of fine arts, have sometimes been considered strange, alien. A second element is the
artists - many of them indigenous - united by blood
, where the family transmission of knowledge and practices plays an important role.
The 60th edition of the Venice Biennale, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, will open to the public from April 20 to Sunday, November 24, 2024 at the Giardini and Arsenale venues.
The Venice Biennale will also include 90 national participations in the historic pavilions of the Giardini, the Arsenale and the city center of Venice, where four countries will participate for the first time: the Republic of Benin, Ethiopia, the United Republic of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste.
With information from Télam
J.S.