Your Guide to the Venice Biennale 2024: The Artling's Top Picks
ByAena NabongImage Courtesy: Biennale Arte 2024
This year marks the 60th International Art Biennale which will take place from 20 April to 24 November 2024. Established in 1895, La Biennale di Venezia is recognized as one of the most prestigious cultural events in the world. This year’s Art Biennale themed Foreigners Everywhere – Stranieri Ovunque will include 86 National Participations and for the first time, the International Art Exhibition will be curated by the first Latin American and the first curator based in the Southern Hemisphere, Adriano Pedros.
Read on for our must-see guide to this year’s Biennale.
Must-See National Pavilions
Kith and kin by Archie Moore
Australia Pavilion
Image Courtesy of Creative Australia
As indigenous artists are continuing to garner more recognition at major art festivals, Archie Moore, a Kamilaroi and Bigambul artist, is set to showcase his installation at the Australia Pavilion in 2024. Moore is anticipated to once again address the issues related to Aboriginal history, a theme he has frequently explored. The pavilion is being curated by Ellie Buttrose, a curator specializing in contemporary Australian art at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane.
Archie Moore’s exhibition for the Australia Pavilion was named the recipient of the coveted Golden Lion for Best National Participation at La Biennale De Venezia 2024. This marks the first time in history that an Australian artist has received this accolade.
Where: Giardini
Greenhouse Collective by Mónica de Miranda, Sónia Vaz Borges, and Vânia Gala
Portugal Pavilion
Image Courtesy to the artists and Anna Jarosz
Representing for the Portuguese Pavilion, Mónica de Miranda, Sónia Vaz Borges, and Vânia Gala have taken inspiration from Creole gardens seen throughout French Guinea, Réunion and the West Indies. The artists seek to create an exhibition that serves as a sculpture display, a school, and a stage. Their pavilion is expected among the untraditional pavilions staged at the Venice Biennale this year.
Where: Palazzo Franchetti, San Marco 2842
Compose by Yuko Mohri
Japan Pavilion
Image Courtesy of the artist and the Art Newspaper
Yuko Mohri has been making appearances at biennials in recent years, participating in the 2023 Gwangju Biennale, the 2022 Biennale of Sydney and the 2021 Bienal de São Paulo. In 2024, she is now set to represent Japan. Mohri's pavilion will be inspired by the pandemic and recent climate protests being held at art museums, aiming to explore "how a crisis, paradoxically, sparks the highest levels of creativity in people."
Where: Giardini
Nigeria Imaginary
Nigerian Pavilion
Image Courtesy of Marco Cappelleti Studio and Museum of West African Art
For the second time, Nigeria will have a national pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Curated by Aindrea Emelife, the 2024 pavilion will feature a cross-generational exhibition entitled “Nigeria Imaginary.” The exhibition will include works by eight artists: Ndidi Dike, Onyeka Igwe, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Abraham Oghobase, Precious Okoyomon, Yinka Shonibare, and Fatimah Tuggar.
Where: Palazzo Canal, Rio Terà Canal, Dorsoduro 3121
Seeing Forest by Robert Zhao Renhui
Singapore Pavilion
Image Courtesy of Robert Zhao Renhui
Robert Zhao Renhui, an artist and curator that frequents international biennials, is representing Singapore at the Venice Biennale. He has been featured in various biennials including the Biennale of Sydney and the Singapore Biennale. He will debut a new immersive installation with connections to his previous works, which has focused on the Anthropocene, regrowth, and forests. Haeju Kim, the pavilion's curator, previously organized the Busan Biennale 2022 and is the current senior curator at the Singapore Art Museum.
Zhao has focused on secondary forests in Singapore—forests that have regrown from deforested land due to human intervention—and the new ecosystems that have emerged within. For the Singapore Pavilion, he condensed decades of studies into an intensive installation that complements the scale and condition of the Singapore Pavilion in Arsenale. It reveals how Singapore has evolved to its present state, demonstrating how human urban design can shape the natural world. Seeing Forest also highlights phenomena that are universally relatable to those living in any urban environment.
Where: Arsenale
That’s a Very Large Number - A Commerzbau by Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir
Iceland Pavilion
Image Courtesy of Ugo Carmeni and Icelandic Art Center
An artist based in Reykjavik, Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir represents Iceland at the Venice Biennale. Birgisdóttir's work frequently plays on systems of classification and notions of beauty, shedding light on how objects are distributed and produced. The pavilion will be curated by Dan Byers, director of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.
Where: Arsenale
Events Not to Miss at Venice Biennale
Mirror Stage by Rebecca Ackroyd
Image Courtesy of Peres Projects
Presented by Kestner Gesellschaft, Mirror Stage will showcase a new collection of works where Rebecca Ackroyd's singular processes of replication and fragmentation distort perception of reality is assembled into a dreamlike installation. Themes of desire and disgust, the familiar and the uncanny, past and present, will converge into an intriguing phantasmagoria that comprises large-scale works, sculptures, drawings and ready-made objects.
When: 20 April – 24 November 2024
Where: Fondaco Marcello, Venice, IT
I Wish I Were Irreplaceable by Trevor Yeung
Hong Kong in Venice
Image Courtesy of M+.
In Trevor Yeung: Courtyard of Attachments, Hong Kong in Venice, Trevor Yeung delves into personal experiences and observations that tackles the relationships between humans and aquatic ecosystems. The exhibition invites viewers to reflect on the emotional disconnection and power dynamics that has been prevalent in society today.
When: 20 April – 24 November 2024
Where: Campo della Tana, Castello 2126, 30122, Venice, Italy
Everyday War by Yuan Goang-Ming
Image Courtesy of Yuan Goang-Ming
In Everyday War at the Biennale Arte 2024, Taiwanese artist Yuan Goang-Ming presents a solo exhibition that reflects on past and present allegories while possibly the future of humanity. It explores the artist's personal and collective expreriences and questions about home in an era defined by conflict and fragility. Through his art, Goang-Ming prompts viewers to contemplate questions such as: "What is survival? What is living? What is peace? safety? freedom? and poetry?"
"Everyday War" together with "Foreigner Everywhere" presents a direct insight into the artist's perspective on these existential questions and their importance.
When: 20 April – 24 November 2024
Where: Palazzo delle Prigioni, Castello 4209, San Marco 30122 Venice, Italy
A Journey to the Infinite by Yoo Youngkuk
Image Courtesy of Yoo Youngkuk Art Foundation
The Yoo Youngkuk Art Foundation presents an exhibition, curated by Kim Inhye, that exhibits works by the renowned Korean painter Yoo Youngkuk at the Biennale Arte 2024. This exhibition will mark the artist's first solo show in Europe.
A Journey to the Infinite: Yoo Youngkuk showcases works from the 1960s and 1970s, a significant period in Yoo's life. The exhibition sheds light on the stages of his exploration highlighting his study of organic and geometric forms, as well as his dive into color theory and perspectival placement, where he integrated traditional Korean aesthetics with Western Art movements.
When: 20 April – 24 November 2024
Where: Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Campo Santa Maria Formosa, Venice, Italy
Dichotomy ፊት አና ጀርባ by Elias Sime
Image Courtesy of James Cohan Gall
Dichotomy ፊት አና ጀርባ explores the impact of globalization and digital technology on the human psyche and our environment. Sime uses materials essential to digital communication to create dimensional meditations that prompt contemplation. Co-curated by Felicity Korn and Meskerem Assegued, the exhibition illuminates the intricate balance between humanity's private and public dualities.
Sime's practice involves weaving, layering, and braiding using repurposed technological equipment into intricate assemblages. In a site-specific installation at the entryway, panels of electronic components and wires are engaged in a dialogue with the city's ancient infrastructure.
When: 20 April – 24 November 2024
Where: Spazio Tana, Castello, Venice, Italy
In Nebula, A Restrospective Restrospective of the work of Chu Teh-Chun
Image Courtesy of Fondation Chu Teh-Chun
In Nebula of Chu Teh-Chun shows viewers through a series of emblematic paintings produced from 1955 onwards. This retrospective exhibition challenges the traditional format by opening with his recent works and progressing in reverse chronological order back to his earliest small paintings. The 3D scenography resonates with the uncertainty of space of Chu's pictorial nebula and the complex volumes of the venue.
The goal of the exhibition is to offer a renewed perspective on Chu's work. The exhibition also aims to highlight the exceptional aesthetic singularity of his universe, which is the richness of historical resonances that echo in the most contemporary creations.
When: 20 April – 24 November 2024
Where: Fondazione Giorgio Cini San Giorgio Maggiore Island 30124, Venice, Italy
Venice 3024 by Daniel Arsham
Image Courtesy of Perrotin Gallery and Daniel Arsham
In collaboration with the Perrotin Art Gallery, Daniel Arsham, a renowned artist known for for his dynamic sculptures that depicts decaying technological devices and crumbling cultural artifacts, creates art that appears that it has been unearthed in an archaeological excavation.
The exhibition introduces new techniques to Arsham's Fractured Idols series and features works from his signature Fictional Archaeology series. Arsham presents a suite of sculptures inspired by antiquity, alongside a new suite of mosaic works in glass created in collaboration with the Italian design company Bisazza.
When: 20 April – 24 November 2024
Where: Chiesa di Santa Caterina, Venice, Italy
Over more than a centennial, Venice Biennale has showcased diverse visual arts around the globe. The 60th edition promises a variety of art experiences making art accessible to all while creatively transforming spaces that display exemplary works from artists around the world, inviting visitors to explore their personal connection to art.
To find out more about the 60th Venice Biennale, click here.
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