The Biennale from A to Z: Our guide to the national pavilions of the 60th International Art Exhibition, open to the public from Saturday, April 20 to Sunday, November 24, 2024
Discover the national pavilions and the vernissages of the Art Biennale 2024 with us: from April 16 to 20 we will be on the ground to provide live coverage of contemporary art, the artists, and the vibrant culture of the most important days of the year in Venice.
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Discovering the National Pavilions of the Venice Biennale 2024
Pavilions from A to G
Pavilions from H to Q
Pavilions from R to Z
- ALBANIA – Love as a glass of water
Arsenale
Curator: Antonio Grulli
Exhibitor: Iva Lulashi
The concept of the “glass of water theory” has its roots in the Russian pre-revolutionary period and is linked to the radical feminist thought of Alexandra Kollontai (St. Petersburg, 1872 – Moscow, 1952). It is a theory based on the idea of a sexual revolution in which impulses are considered a simple human necessity to be satisfied with the lightness and insouciance with which one usually drinks a glass of water.
At first glance, the metaphor of the glass of water might seem to highlight only the simplicity of the act of drinking. However, it is essential not to forget that water is the basic condition for life, just like love. It is curious that themes such as love and sexual desire cover only a small fraction of the art produced and exhibited today, as if they were taboos or minor subjects. Love, sex, and desire remain the last great eternally revolutionary force, intrinsically resistant to the iron control of power, whether political, economic, or ideological. It is a force that goes beyond politics and formality, similar to that of water—elusive, sometimes peaceful, yet still capable of overcoming every obstacle.
Iva Lulashi explores the theme of love and desire, especially of a feminine nature, through pictorial works based on frames from little-known films and videos, which suggest erotic scenarios without showing them explicitly. Her creations represent an ode to female desire, addressing themes such as strength, fear, and freedom.
- SAUDI ARABIA – Shifting Sands: A Battle Song
Arsenale
Curators: Jessica Cerasi, Maya El Khalil
Exhibitor: Manal AlDowayan
A multimedia installation by Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan inspired by the evolving role of women in Saudi Arabia. It stems from a reflection on the country’s social and cultural transformations, exploring the themes of femininity and identity through a unique and engaging artistic vision.
AlDowayan actively involved the female community of Saudi Arabia in this artistic creation, organizing workshops in various cities across the country, where she invited participants to share their experiences and explore the concept of visibility and invisibility through music and art.
It is a multifaceted work that integrates sounds, texts, and images to tell a universal story of transformation and resilience.
- ARGENTINA – Ojalá se derrumben las puertas
Arsenale and Alberta Pane Gallery, Calle dei Guardiani, Dorsoduro 2403H
Curators: Sofia Dourron and Ilaria Gianni
Exhibitor: Luciana Lamothe
Born in 1975, Lamothe represents the Argentina Pavilion. From April 16 to July 27, the artist will also present her solo exhibition In Folding Roads at the Alberta Pane gallery in Venice, a retrospective of the last ten years exploring the dynamics between body and matter through sculptures, drawings, photographs, and videos.
The exhibition offers an immersion into the artist’s creative universe through various media and materials, with a particular emphasis on the concept of trans-materiality.
- Republic of ARMENIA – Echo
Magazzino del Sale n. 3, Dorsoduro 264
Curator: Armen Yesayants
Exhibitor: Nina Khemchyan
On display are works by Nina Khemchyan inspired by medieval Armenian cultural heritage and universal spiritual principles, reinterpreted for the contemporary era. It will include two main installations: eleven blue ceramic spheres encrusted with gold, representing eleven chants of repentance written by Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet, and a 50 m long single paper scroll work illustrating the seven deadly sins.
The physical installation is accompanied by an a cappella performance of hymns by Hasmik Baghdasaryan-Dolukhanyan: an artistic fusion of sculpture and music that unites the tangible and the auditory to represent Armenian sacred music in a new and evocative way.
These works integrate to explore human sinfulness, repentance, and redemption, reflecting universal themes of identity and belonging. The exhibition will also include an educational program and meetings with the artist and curator.
- AUSTRALIA
Giardini
Curator: Ellie Buttrose
Exhibitor: Archie Moore
- AUSTRIA – Swan Lake
Giardini
Curator: Gabriele Spindler
Exhibitor: Anna Jermolaewa
- Republic of AZERBAIJAN – From Caspian to Pink Planet: I Am Here
Campo della Tana, Castello 2126/A
Curators: Luca Beatrice, Amina Melikova
Exhibitors: Vusala Agharaziyeva, Rashad Alakbarov, Irina Eldarova
The exhibition explores the various meanings of the expression “Foreigners Everywhere,” presented through the interpretations of the three artists selected by Rashad Aslanov, Commissioner of the Pavilion.
The exhibition, designed by the Venetian studio OSTUDIO, offers a contemporary perspective on Azerbaijan’s vibrant art scene through an engaging display, exploring the concepts of identity, origin, and migration, which are fundamental pillars of contemporary cultural debate.
- People’s Republic of BANGLADESH – The Contact
Spazio STAERT, San Stae, Santa Croce 1979/A
Curator: Viviana Vannucci
Exhibitors: Abdur Rab, Syeda Mahbuba Karim, Shahjahan Ahmed Bikash, Shahid Kbir, Claudia De Leonardis, Anna Carla De Leonardis, Roberto Saglietto, Natalia Revoniuk, Patrizia Casagranda, DoJoong Jo, Jiyoon Oh, Franco Marrocco
- BELGIUM – Petticoat Government
Giardini
Commissioner: Wallonia-Brussels Federation
Exhibitors: Denicolai & Provoost, Antoinette Jattiot, Nord and Speculoos
Uniting the disciplines of art, curatorial practices, architecture, typography, and cartography, the collective aims to adopt the exhibition format, working collaboratively and transdisciplinarily to transform it into chapters that span time and space, across physical and symbolic borders.
The artists have developed a scenario based on the participation of various communities from different backgrounds—Belgium, France, and Spain—to transform the Pavilion into a point of transit, reflecting on the journey taken so far and the one yet to come: a paradigm shift that blurs the boundaries between disciplines and between artistic and popular cultures.
The collective and its numerous collaborators seek to realize the potential of mixing genres and attitudes as a means of exploring complexity, highlighting the potential of collective action and working together as a vector for transformation.
- Republic of BENIN – Everything Precious Is Fragile
Arsenale
Commissioner: José Pliya
Curator: Azu Henry Nwagbogu and his team – curator Yassine Lassissi and scenographer Franck Houndégla
Exhibitors: Chloé Quenum, Moufouli Bello, Ishola Akpo, and Romuald Hazoumè
This marks the first participation of the Benin Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, reflecting its commitment to actively promoting the country’s art and culture. The decision to participate in the 2024 edition is particularly significant, as it follows the 2021 restitution of 26 treasures that had been taken from the royal family during the French colonization of the Kingdom of Danxomè.
Through the analysis of themes such as the slave trade, the role of the Amazons, spirituality, and the Voodoo religion, the Pavilion aims to offer an in-depth look at Beninese culture. Furthermore, the project will go further, examining contemporary reality and presenting Gèlèdé thought, focused on the concept of rematriation: a feminist assertion of “restitution” that is not limited to objects but also encompasses a return to the pre-colonial ideals and philosophy of Benin.
- Plurinational State of BOLIVIA – ABYA YALA – Desde la Patria Grande
Giardini
Commissioner: Juan Carlos Cordero Nina
Curator: Paola Pisanelli Nero
Exhibitors: Alexandra Bravo, Inés Fontenla, Ronald Moran, Lorgio Vaca, Humberto Velez, and many other Latin American artists
“The project brings together artists from Bolivia and friendly Latin American countries, and it is an opportunity to share and demonstrate the brotherhood and joy that unite us with these countries. What unites us is the common ground of our indigenous origins and the vocation to ‘live well’ in harmony and equity among ourselves and with our ‘Mother Earth’.”
Among the artists included are indigenous weaver Elvira Espejo Ayca, who is also the director of the National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore of Bolivia, Amazonian artist Duhigó, and self-taught painter Oswaldo “Achu” de León Kantule.
- BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – The Measure of the Sea
Palazzo Zorzi, UNESCO Venice Office, Castello 4930
Commissioner/Curator: Marin Ivanović
Exhibitor: Stjepan Skoko
- BRAZIL – Ka’a Pûera: we are walking birds
Giardini
Commissioner: Andrea Pinheiro, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
Curators: Arissana Pataxó, Denilson Baniwa, and Gustavo Caboco Wapichana
Exhibitors: Glicéria Tupinambá with the Tupinambá Community of Serra do Padeiro and Olivença in Bahia, Olinda Tupinambá, and Ziel Karapotó
- BULGARIA – The Neighbours
Sala Tiziano at the Don Orione Artigianelli Cultural Center, Fondamenta delle Zattere ai Gesuati 919
Commissioner: Nadezhda Dzhakova
Curator: Vasil Vladimirov
Exhibitors: Krasimira Butseva, Julian Chehirian, Lilia Topouzova
The Neighbours is an interactive multimedia installation that illuminates the neglected memories of survivors of political violence during the communist era in Bulgaria. The project combines 20 years of historical and artistic research, partially recreating the interiors of the survivors’ homes.
Fragments of interviews, audio, and video recordings from former detention sites are exhibited, providing an in-depth investigation into state violence and its scars. The project lifts the veil on the deliberate silence that has shrouded decades of atrocities and the lack of public memory, inviting reflection on the theme of Foreigners Everywhere proposed by Adriano Pedrosa.
- Republic of CAMEROON – Nemo propheta in patria
Palazzo Donà delle Rose, Fondamente Nove, 5038
Commissioner: Serge Achille Ndouma
Curators: Paul Emmanuel Loga Mahop, Sandro Orlandi Stagl
Exhibitors: Jean Michel Dissake, Hako Hankson, Kendji & Ollo Arts, Patrick-Joël Tatcheda Yonkeu, Guy Wouete, Angelo Accardi, Julia Bornefeld, Cesare Catania, Adélaïde Laurent-Bellue, Franco Mazzucchelli, Rex and Edna Volcan, Giorgio Tentolini, Liu Youju
- CANADA – Trinket
Commissioner: National Gallery of Canada
Curator: Gaëtane Verna, Executive Director of the Wexner Center for the Arts
Exhibitor: Kapwani Kiwanga
Kiwanga is recognized as one of the country’s most important contemporary artists, whose research-based work is instigated by marginalized or forgotten histories and is articulated through a variety of media, including sculpture, installation, video, and performance.
- CZECH Republic – The heart of a giraffe in captivity weighs twelve kilos less
Giardini
Commissioner: Michal Novotný, National Gallery of Prague
Curator: Hana Janečková
Exhibitor: Eva Koťátková, in collaboration with Himali Singh Soin, David Tappeser, Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures, and collectives of various ages
It is the story of Lenka, the first Czechoslovak giraffe, captured in Kenya in the 1950s and transported to the Prague Zoo. The project explores the relationship between humanity and nature, questioning the hierarchies and extractive practices related to animals.
Through ecological and decolonial perspectives, artists, children, the elderly, and the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collective will be involved, promoting an open and collaborative dialogue to imagine new, more equitable, and empathetic ways of relating to nature.
The Czech and Slovak representation at the Venice Biennale features contemporary artworks from both countries, while the project by Oto Hudec addresses the theme of protecting endangered trees.
- CHILE – Cosmonación
Magazzino n. 42, Marina Militare, Arsenale di Venezia, Fondamenta Case Nuove 2738/C
Commissioner: Florencia Loewenthal
Curator: Andrea Pacheco González
Exhibitor: Valeria Montti Colque
The Swedish artist of Chilean origin marks a historic moment for the Chilean diaspora, being the first Chilean in exile to obtain such an assignment. The exhibition will be an opportunity to explore the complex experience of the Chilean diaspora through works that blend myth, religion, and popular culture, offering a space for reflection on memory, belonging, and transformation.
Her work will explore themes such as diasporic conditions, racism, motherhood, and ecology through expressive installations that combine imaginary worlds and characters.
- People’s Republic of CHINA – Atlas: Harmony in Diversity
Arsenale
Commissioner: China Arts and Entertainment Group Ltd. (CAEG)
Curators: Wang Xiaosong, Jiang Jun
Exhibitors: Che Jianquan, Jiao Xingtao, Shi Hui, Qiu Zhenzhong, Wang Shaoqiang, Wang Zhenghong, Zhu Jinshi, in collaboration with A Comprehensive Collection of Ancient Chinese Paintings
- Republic of CYPRUS – On a wildflower-lined gravel track off a quiet thoroughfare…
Associazione Culturale Spiazzi, Calle del Pestrin, Castello 3865
Commissioner: Louli Michaelidou
Curators/Exhibitors: Forever Informed: Peter Eramian (LLC – Lower Levant Company), Emiddio Vasquez (LLC – Lower Levant Company), Andreas Andronikou (Endrosia), Marina Ashioti (Endrosia), Niki Charalambous (Endrosia), Doris Mari Demetriadou (Endrosia), Irini Khenkin (Endrosia), Rafailia Tsiridou (Endrosia), Alexandros Xenophontos (Endrosia), Haig Aivazian
The national pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale offers a profound look at the concept of “ghosting” through parafictional strategies. Through an innovative and engaging setup, the artists explore the subtleties of Cyprus’s social and historical memory within the context of the Middle East, offering a reflection on how the past and present intertwine in new modes of communication and platform economies. The exhibition proposes “ghosting” not only as a phenomenon but as an act of withdrawal and persistence, emphasizing the importance of keeping memory alive and focusing attention on unresolved issues. Through a curated work and an engaging visitor experience, the pavilion invites visitors to explore the boundaries between reality and fiction, offering a space for contemplation and reflection on the complexity of the contemporary world.
The term “ghosting” refers to the representation and exploration of phenomena related to memory, history, and the invisible presence of past events. The artists use parafictional strategies to examine how these “ghosts” of the past influence and permeate the present through new modes of communication, computational logic, and platform economies. “Ghosting” thus becomes a metaphorical concept for reflecting on unresolved issues, interpersonal relationships, and the transformations of contemporary society.
- Democratic Republic of the CONGO – Lithium
Gervasuti Foundation – Palazzo Canova, Calle longa Santa Caterina, Cannaregio 4998 – 5001/a
Commissioner: Joseph Ibongo Gilungula
Curators: Michele Gervasuti, James Putnam
Exhibitors: Freddy Tsimba, Freddy Lokole, Cédric Sungo, Steve Bondoma, Eddy Kamuanga llunga
- Republic of KOREA – Odorama Cities
Giardini
Commissioner: Arts Council Korea
Curators: Jacob Fabricius, director of Art Hub Copenhagen, and Seolhui Lee, curator at Kunsthal Aarhus in Denmark
Exhibitor: Koo Jeong A
Smell is the primary sense of the project exhibited for the South Korean pavilion. The artist invited over 600 people—born in both North and South Korea—to share their olfactory memories of Korea. From these memories, a perfume and 16 fragrances were created in collaboration with the perfume company NonFiction.
The installation, which will also include painting and sculpture, creates a portrait of the Korean peninsula. “We are aware that smells and fragrances have no borders,” states Fabricius. “It doesn’t matter if you are on the North Korean side of the border or the South, it will enter the other. The scents were produced by 14 different perfumers, and 13 of them are foreigners to Korea, interpreting the olfactory memories of Korea. This creates another wonderfully abstract layer to being an outsider.”
- IVORY COAST – The Blue Note
San Trovaso Art Space, Dorsoduro 947
Commissioner: Illa Ginette Donwahi
Curator: Simon Njami
Exhibitors: Jems Koko Bi, François Xavier Gbré, Sadikou Oukpedjo, Franck Abd-Bakar Fanny, Marie Claire Messouma
The Ivory Coast built its post-independence identity on the ideal of Pan-Africanism: a political and cultural movement promoting unity and solidarity among African populations, both within the African continent and in the African diaspora. In Venice, where art is a universal language and the Other is often marginalized, the Ivorian pavilion aims to activate a force of hope and resilience.
- CROATIA – By the Means at Hand
Fàbrica 33, Calle Larga dei Boteri, Cannaregio 5063
Commissioner: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia
Curator: Antonia Majača
Exhibitor: Vlatka Horvat
The pavilion will be an evolving project, with the artist occupying the space for the entire duration of the Biennale, transforming it into a studio and an exhibition gallery to reflect on themes and emergencies related to the experience of the diaspora.
During the months of the exhibition, Horvat will involve numerous artists living in different parts of the world, far from their original territories, encouraging them to participate in mutual exchanges of artworks and other materials. These will be sent between Venice and other destinations using improvised means: through friends, travelers, and unknown individuals acting as informal couriers for the project.
- CUBA – Curtain
Teatro Fondamenta Nove, Cannaregio 5013
Commissioner: Daneisy García Roque
Curator: Nelson Ramirez de Arellano
Exhibitor: Wilfredo Prieto García
- DENMARK – Rise of the Sunken Sun
Giardini
Commissioner: Danish Arts Foundation
Curator: Louise Wolthers
Exhibitor: Inuuteq Storch
The Danish Pavilion presents a photographic exhibition by the Greenlandic artist exploring the meaning of engagement in a decolonial process, emphasizing the importance of a conscious visibility of the complexities that constitute national, cultural, and personal identities.
Storch’s artistic project aims to tell the visual history of Greenlanders through their own eyes, expanding the predominant vision of Greenland. A vast selection of photographic works (in new site-specific formats) combines historical and contemporary photos through a process of juxtaposition: a varied visual narrative on the life and identity of the territory and the artist, including historical images of his family and the community of Sisimiut, his hometown.
The exhibition also includes musical compositions and soundscapes, along with a sculptural element symbolizing the sunset over the Arctic Circle, recalling the Greenlandic flag and Inuit traditions.
The Danish pavilion thus transforms into a kaleidoscopic experience that recounts ever-evolving memories, while remaining anchored in the Greenlandic experience and identity.
Finally, a significant gesture will be represented by the sign on the pavilion, which will replace the word “DENMARK” with “Kalaallit Nunaat”: Greenland in the Greenlandic language.
- EGYPT – Drama
Giardini
Commissioner: Egyptian Ministry of Culture – Academy of Egypt
Curator/Exhibitor: Wael Shawky
- UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – Abdullah Al Saadi: Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia
Arsenale
Commissioner: Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation
Curator: Tarek Abou El Fetouh
Exhibitor: Abdullah Al Saadi
Eight works by Abdullah Al Saadi spanning over four decades of creative practice. These include interactive narratives and live performances that invite viewers to explore the world of the artist—a key figure in the contemporary art scene of the United Arab Emirates—amidst inspirations, travels, and nature.
- ESTONIA – Hora Lupi
Church of Santa Maria delle Penitenti, Fondamenta Cannaregio 890
Commissioner: Maria Arusoo
Exhibitor: Edith Karlson
The title of the Pavilion refers to a moment before dawn, a symbol of transformation and deep darkness, creating an atmosphere of solemnity and human banality. it combines elements of sacredness and human depth with ordinary and common aspects of daily life: an environment that, while evoking a sense of solemnity and importance, also reflects the mundane and common aspects of the human condition, with its fragilities, imperfections, and shared experiences.
The clay and cement sculptures raise questions about the possibility of redemption in an imperfect world, amidst cracks and fissures that allow a glimpse of possible light. Karlson’s works, inspired by folklore and mythology, use animal forms and anthropomorphic figures to represent the brutal yet poetic nature of human instinct.
- ETHIOPIA – Prejudice and belonging
Palazzo Bollani, Castello 3647
Commissioner: Amb. Demitu Hambisa Bonsa
Curator: Lemn Sissay OBE FRSL
Exhibitor: Tesfaye Urgessa
For contemporary Ethiopian artist Tesfaye Urgessa, this year marks his national debut for Ethiopia with a project recounting the experience of thirteen years spent studying and painting in Germany. His works are imbued with emotions ranging from fragility to self-confidence, without prejudice and focusing on the human figure.
- PHILIPPINES – A kabila ng tabing lamang sa panahong ito / Waiting just behind the curtain of this age
Arsenale
Commissioner: National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Office of Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda
Curator: Carlos Quijon, Jr.
Exhibitor: Mark Salvatus
The artistic project for the Philippines revolves around the ethno-ecologies of Mount Banahaw and Lucban, the artist’s hometown. Among the sources of inspiration is the way the mountain “has shaped the music and faith of the people.”
The exhibition takes its title from the words of Apolinario de la Cruz, known as Hermano Poli (or Pule), the beacon for the people of Lucban who resisted discrimination by the Spanish Catholic Church. Concepts intended for exploration include “currents of mysticism and modernity, the deep past and the imminent future, as well as the coincidence between the cosmopolitan and the vernacular.”
- FINLAND (AALTO) – The pleasures we choose
Giardini
Commissioner: Raija Koli, Frame Contemporary Art Finland
Curators: Yvonne Billimore & Jussi Koitela
Exhibitors: Pia Lindman, Vidha Saumyaa, and Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen
The exhibition integrates the artistic practices of the three artists, influenced by their personal experiences of structural, environmental, and social balance in the world.
Each artist intertwines art, life, and activism, using a wide range of materials and processes such as performance, poetry, embroidery, drawing, and sculpture. Their works celebrate the pleasure of personal power as potent means to inhabit, imagine, and reconstruct multiple ways of seeing, interpreting, and experiencing the world, promoting diversity and inclusion through different perspectives.
- FRANCE – Attila cataracte ta source aux pieds des pitons verts finira dans la grande mer gouffre bleu nous nous noyâmes dans les larmes marées de la lune
Giardini
Commissioner: Institut français
Curators: Céline Kopp and Cindy Sissokho
Exhibitor: Julien Creuzet
Julien Creuzet, commissioned to represent France at the 60th Venice Art Biennale, unveiled his ambitious project for the Pavilion at a press conference held in Martinique, at the Maison Glissant: a place charged with symbolism and politics that already suggests the artist’s intentions, alongside curators Céline Kopp, director of Le Magasin, national center for contemporary art in Grenoble, and Cindy Sissokho, a UK-based curator, cultural producer, and writer.
More than 80 sculptures, six new video works, and seven musical sequences create a complex sensory experience that invites the audience to immerse themselves deeply in the world of the Franco-Caribbean artist, known for his multifaceted works that integrate poetry, music, sculpture, cinema, and animation, exploring the complex history of Martinique amidst colonization, creolization, and migration.
GEORGIA – The Art of Seeing – States of Astronomy
Palazzo Palumbo Fossati, San Marco 2597
Commissioner: Magda Guruli
Curators: Julia Marchand, David Koroshinadze
Exhibitors: Nikoloz Koplatadze, Grigol Nodia, Juliette George, Rodrigue de Ferluc; Iliazd, Max Ernst, Ernst Wilhelm Tempel
A collaborative project by curators and artists from Georgia and France, presenting the work “65 Maximiliana or the Illegal Practice of Astronomy,” created in 1964 by Georgian artist, poet, and publisher Ilia Zdanevich with Max Ernst, for an innovative concept of a dynamic archive through a contemporary perspective.
- GERMANY – Thresholds
Giardini and Certosa Island
Commissioner: Ellen Strittmatter, Head of Art Department, ifa
Curator: Çağla Ilk, architect and co-director at Germany’s Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden
Exhibitors: Yael Bartana, Ersan Mondtag, Michael Akstaller, Nicole L’Huillier, Robert Lippok, Jan St. Werner
The first thing that goes in memory loss is the very concept of the future. – Georgi Gospodinov, Time Shelter
Art between history and the future through the theme Thresholds, which represents the present as a transitory moment in which no one can remain, but which exists because it is something that has happened and is yet to happen. For people who have experienced migration, this present is seen as a threshold between the past and the future, as they live on the border of different belongings.
The artistic contribution to the German Pavilion explores the concept of thresholds, steps, and boundaries through three distinct scenarios: in the first, artist Yael Bartana explores a catastrophic present, imagining possibilities for future survival through a work that oscillates between dystopia and utopia; in the second scenario, Ersan Mondtag creates a space that contrasts the monumental character of the pavilion with a fragmentary narrative; the third involves the island of Certosa, where artists Michael Akstaller, Nicole L’Huillier, Robert Lippok, and Jan St. Werner create a site-specific installation that emphasizes the concept of passage and transition.
- JAPAN – Compose
Giardini
Commissioner: The Japan Foundation
Curator: Sook-Kyung Lee
Exhibitor: Yuko Mohri
What is the relationship between art and life? The fundamental question regarding the relationship between art and life constitutes the thematic core that artist Yuko Mohri (born in 1980 in Kanagawa) addresses through her artistic practice. Mohri emerges as one of the most significant and promising voices of her generation. Her artistic expression is distinguished by an approach that goes beyond mere aesthetic creation: installation and sculpture are not just means to build or compose, but rather tools to narrate and document phenomena in constant evolution, permeated by a multiplicity of conditions.
Through a transmedia exploration that also encompasses video and photography, Mohri conveys a profound reflection on existential and social dynamics. Her work takes the form of a visual chronicle of the changing human and environmental landscape, capturing the very essence of life in all its facets.
- GREAT BRITAIN – Listening all Night to the Rain
Giardini
Commissioner: Skinder Hundal MBE, Global Director of Arts at the British Council
Curator: Tarini Malik
Exhibitor: John Akomfrah
- GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG – A Comparative Dialogue Act
Arsenale, Sale d’Armi (first floor)
Commissioner: Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg on behalf of the Ministry of Culture
Curator: Joel Valabrega, Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean
Exhibitors: Andrea Mancini & Every Island
According to the traditional idea that a work of art is the result of the labor and creativity of a single artist, the project designed for the Luxembourg Pavilion challenges this traditional vision by offering a space of shared production where multiple artists collaborate to create collective sound works.
During the Biennale, the pavilion will host four emerging artists from different cultural backgrounds: Selin Davasse (b. 1992, Ankara), Célin Jiang (b. 1993, France), Stina Fors (b. 1989, Sweden), and Bella Báguena (b. 1994, Valencia), who will create and present new sound performances, thereby expanding the definition of an open work to new scenarios.
- GREECE – Dryland
Giardini
Commissioner: EΜΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens
Artistic Director: Katerina Gregos
Curator: Panos Giannikopoulos
Exhibitors: Thanassis Deligiannis, Elia Kalogianni, Giorgos Kyvernitis, Giannis Michalopoulos, Fotis Sagonas
- GRENADA – No Man is an Island
Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello, Cannaregio 4118
Commissioner: Susan Mains
Curator: Daniele Radini Tedeschi
Exhibitors: Frederika Adam, Breakfast, Jason de Caires Taylor, Antonello Diodato Guardigli (ADGART), Alma Fakhre, Suelin Low Chew Tung, Gabriele Maquignaz, Lorenzo Marini, Benaiah Matheson, The Perceptive Group, Nello Petrucci
- Islamic Republic of IRAN – Of One Essence is the Human Race
Palazzo Malipiero, San Marco, 3198
Commissioner: Mohammad Khorasanizadeh, Director General of Visual Art Office Ministry of Culture
Curator: Shoaib Hosseini Moghaddam
Exhibitor: Jafar Vahedi
Pavilions from H to Q
- IRELAND – Romantic Ireland
Arsenale
Commissioner: Culture Ireland
Curators: Sara Greavu with Project Arts Centre
Exhibitor: Eimear Walshe
- ICELAND – That’s a Very Large Number – A Com-Merz-Bau
Arsenale
Commissioner: Auður Jörundsdóttir
Curator: Dan Byers
Exhibitor: Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir
- ISRAEL – Motherland
Giardini
Commissioners: Michael Gov and Arad Turgeman
Curators: Mira Lapidot and Tamar Margalit
Exhibitor: Ruth Patir
- ITALY – Due Qui / To Hear
Arsenale
Commissioner: Angelo Piero Cappello, Director General for Contemporary Creativity, Ministry of Culture
Curator: Luca Cerizza
Exhibitor: Massimo Bartolini with the assistance of Francesca Verga
Within the exhibition path, works by other artists, young composers and musicians, writers, and poets will contribute to creating a network of relationships and collaborations, expanding the dialogue on themes of nature and spirituality. At the center of the pavilion will be a sound and environmental installation by the artist Massimo Bartolini, offering an immersive experience through the exhibition spaces, including the adjacent garden.
The project proposes an interpretation centered on the importance of listening to oneself as a foundation for understanding relationships with others. Due qui / To Hear invites us to reflect on our role in the world and on human connections through sound and interaction with the surrounding environment.
During the opening months of the Biennale, a Public Program of meetings curated by Luca Cerizza and Gaia Martino is scheduled, while a special event in the Park of Villa Fürstenberg in Mestre will feature the sound performance Ballad for Ten Trees, specifically conceived by Massimo Bartolini and involving ten saxophonists.
- Republic of KAZAKHSTAN – Jerūiyq
Museo Storico Navale di Venezia, Riva San Biasio Castello 2148
Commissioner: Aida Balayeva, Minister of Culture and Information
Curators: Danagul Tolepbay, Anvar Musrepov
Exhibitors: Kamil Mulashev, Saken Narynov, Yerbolat Tolepbay, Sergey Maslov, Anvar Musrepov, The2vvo
- KENYA – Roots of Return
Commissioner: Milka Mugo
Curator: Edward Mwaura Ndekere
Exhibitors: (TMMSAC) Elkana Ong’esa, Gerald Oroo Motondi, Robin Okeyo Mbera, John Tabule Abuya Ogao, Peter Kenyanya Oendo, Charles Duke Kombo
- Republic of KOSOVO – The Echoing Silences of Metal and Skin
Museo Storico Navale della Marina Militare, Riva S. Biasio, 2148
Commissioner: Hana Halilaj, National Gallery of Kosovo
Curator: Erëmirë Krasniqi
Exhibitor: Doruntina Kastrati
The Pavilion presents a sculptural installation addressing the theme of precarious female labor and workplace inequalities. Through an investigation into the loss of industries and factories, and the reduction of labor regulations, the artist explores the (im)material forms of employment in light industries in the period following the 1999 Kosovo War, characterized by a radical and sudden transition from a socialist system to a free-market system.
Although wage labor has provided women with a degree of financial independence and social emancipation, the increased female presence in the workforce has perpetuated traditional gender roles, leaving women economically vulnerable and pushing them to the political margins.
The work brings to light the narratives of women: stories of workers from a Turkish confectionery factory in Prizren, Kosovo’s second-largest city and the artist’s hometown.
- LATVIA – O day and night, but this is wondrous strange… and therefore as a stranger give it welcome
Arsenale
Commissioner: Daiga Rudzāte
Curator: Adam Budak
Exhibitor: Amanda Ziemele
Through an act of subtle yet bold subversion, Ziemele will transform the interior of the Latvian Pavilion into a living organism. With mastery, she will dominate the space and dimensions, creating a polyphonic habitat of hospitality that welcomes viewers.
Inspired by the deities and concepts of the famous 1884 novel Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by English author Edwin A. Abbott, published under the pseudonym of a Square, Ziemele’s exhibition can be interpreted as a parody of Victorian society, where entire existence is reduced to geometric dimensions.
- LEBANON – A la table de ses mythes (With her myth she dances)
Arsenale
Commissioner/Curator: Nada Ghandour
Exhibitor: Mounira Al Solh
- LITHUANIA – Inflammation
Church of Sant’Antonin, Salizada Sant’Antonin, 3477
Commissioner: Arūnas Gelūnas; Curator: Valentinas Klimašauskas, João Laia
Exhibitors: Pakui Hardware (Neringa Černiauskaitė and Ugnius Gelguda) and Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė
The Lithuanian Pavilion, set in the Church of Sant’Antonin—which is hosting a pavilion for the first time—presents a site-specific installation by Pakui Hardware and figurative paintings by Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė (1933-2007).
Architects Petras Išora-Lozuraitis and Ona Lozuraitytė-Išorė have created an exhibition space as a single hybrid techno-organism, with hybrid soil surfaces recalling the condition of a natural body infected by synthetic materials. Inflammation conveys the idea that inflammation is a systemic condition, prompting reflection on the effects of current economic and social conditions in the connection between our bodies and the planet.
- Republic of NORTH MACEDONIA – Inter Spem et Metum
Scuola dei Laneri, Santa Croce 131/A, Fondamenta del Gaffaro
Commissioner: Dita Starova Qerimi
Curator: Ana Frangovska, curator consultant at the National Gallery of Macedonia
Exhibitor: Slavica Janeshlieva
“It is up to each of us to discover the swan within ourselves.” These are the words of the curator of the transmedia and transnarrative project by Slavica Janešlieva, which is presented as a spatial installation immersed in the debris of civilization. Through multidimensional platforms and materials such as feathers, LED neon signs, projections, and mirrors, Janešlieva leads the visitor into various conceptual and narrative matrices, inviting us to face the ever-present feeling of strangeness: in me, in you, in them, in us…
A challenge of accepting or rejecting distinct labels, from the most familiar and ordinary to the most unusual, embracing differences in gender, sexual orientation, appearance, attitude, illness, nationality, religion, language, political orientation…
- MALTA – I Will Follow The Ship
Artiglierie, Arsenale
Commissioner: Arts Council Malta
Curators: Sara Dolfi Agostini and Elyse Tonna
Exhibitor: Matthew Attard
This is the first time the national pavilion has been entrusted entirely to a single Maltese artist. Attard’s latest research on artificial intelligence and digital technology applied to drawing will be exhibited. The project draws inspiration from the artist’s interest in historical images of naval “ex-votos,” evoking ancient local narratives and episodes of faith and salvation in the Mediterranean Sea.
In an attempt to explore the link between humanity, artificial intelligence, and digital technology, the title refers to the interaction between the terms “I” and “eye,” symbolizing the objective and subjective nature of the artist’s work. Furthermore, the title recalls the use of the eye-tracker, a tool that records eye movement, as a means of drawing, creating a parallel between the tangible history of drawing and various contemporary digital forms.
- MEXICO – Nos marchábamos, regresábamos siempre (We were leaving, we were always returning)
Arsenale
Commissioner: Ana Catalina Valenzuela González
Curator: Tania Ragasol
Exhibitor: Erick Meyenberg
The Mexican pavilion will be a tribute and an invitation to appreciate the unusual. A conceptual, theoretical, and artistic proposal centered on the reflection and intimate emotion of nostalgia as a common migratory call that is part of Mexico’s history.
The video installation, designed for the Pavilion, poetically seeks to evoke displacement and, simultaneously, the rooting represented by the family, as well as the solemnity of absence, arrivals and departures, or the sharing of dreams for a more favorable future for all.
- MONGOLIA – Discovering the Present from the Future
Arsenale Castello 2127A, Campo della Tana
Commissioner: Nomin Chinbat, Minister of Culture of Mongolia
Curator: Oyuntuya Oyunjargal
Exhibitor: Ochirbold Ayurzana
The interactive sculptures of Ochirbold Ayurzana explore the spiritual dimension through the theme of consciousness and the soul’s connection with the human subconscious. Inspired by the figure of the Buddhist deity Citipati, they address and reflect on profound and current concepts such as the transience of life and the impact of technological innovation on society and human consciousness.
- MONTENEGRO – It Takes an Island to Feel This Good
Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, Castello, 6691, Barbaria de le Tole
Commissioner: Vladislav Šćepanović
Curator: Ana Simona Zelenović
Exhibitor: Darja Bajagić
- NICARAGUA
Commissioner: Eddy Luz Telleria Lanuza
- NIGERIA – Nigeria Imaginary
Palazzo Canal, 3121 Rio Tera Canal, Dorsoduro
Commissioner: Godwin Obaseki, Governor Edo State Government
Curator: Aindrea Emelife
Exhibitors: Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Ndidi Dike, Onyeka Igwe, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Abraham Oghobase, Precious Okoyomon, Yinka Shonibare CBE RA and Fatimah Tuggar
Aindrea Emelife, a British-Nigerian curator at the Museum of West African Art in Benin City, Nigeria, is in her second edition of curating the Nigerian pavilion. This year she brings a group of artists from different generations for an exhibition that will look hopefully toward the future while considering Nigeria’s history.
Emelife will also include a pop culture element, with audio excerpts of contemporary music and sounds from a project first initiated by the curator last year with local musicians in Lagos and Benin City; and an accompanying playlist produced in collaboration with the Nigerian music label Native Records.
- Sultanate of OMAN – Malath – Haven
Palazzo Navagero Gallery, Castello 4147
Commissioner: Sayyid Saeed bin Sultan bin Yarub Al Busaidi
Curator: Alia Al Farsi
Exhibitors: Alia al Farsi, Ali al Jabri, Essa al Mufarji, Adham al Farsi, Sarah al Olaqi
Inspired by the significant events of the last two years in Oman, the pavilion is a chronological journey through the past, highlighting the country’s rich history as a crossroads of different cultures. An abstract habitat has been created, including a culinary path, composed of elements significant for future generations, such as relics of the present destined to be passed down and preserved over time.
- NETHERLANDS – The International Celebration of Blasphemy and The Sacred
Giardini
Commissioner: Mondriaan Fund
Curator: Hicham Khalidi
Exhibitors: Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC): Djonga Bismar, Alphonse Bukumba, Irène Kanga, Muyaka Kapasa, Matthieu Kasiama, Jean Kawata, Huguette Kilembi, Mbuku Kimpala, Athanas Kindendi, Felicien Kisiata, Charles Leba, Philomène Lembusa, Richard Leta, Jérémie Mabiala, Plamedi Makongote, Blaise Mandefu, Daniel Manenga, Mira Meya, Emery Muhamba, Tantine Mukundu, Olele Mulela, Daniel Muvunzi, René Ngongo, Alvers Tamasala, Ced’art Tamasala
The Dutch Pavilion will present a collective, part of the artistic community of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in collaboration with the artist Renzo Martens and the curator, in a project committed to liberating, regenerating, and transforming the Lusanga plantation into sacred forests, as well as promoting greater spiritual, ethical, and economic reflection.
The exhibition will take place simultaneously at the Rietveld Pavilion in Venice, under the patronage of the Mondriaan Fund, and at the White Cube in Lusanga; a museum inaugurated in 2017 by Martens and CATPC that also includes a school, a conference hall, a kitchen, and a social space for the community. For both exhibitions, the community collective will use soil from the last remaining portions of forest around the plantation, mixing it with materials extracted directly from the area.
Furthermore, CATPC is calling for the temporary return of the sacred Balot sculpture, currently held in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, believing that many Western museums were funded with plantation profits. The Dutch Pavilion is committed to promoting this cause, showcasing CATPC’s commitment and work for the recovery of stolen lands and the regeneration of sacred forests.
- NORDIC COUNTRIES (SWEDEN, NORWAY, FINLAND) – The Altersea Opera
Giardini
Commissioner: Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Curator: Asrin Haidari, curator at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm
Exhibitors: Lap-See Lam with artist Kholod Hawash and composer Tze Yeung Ho
For the Nordic pavilion, Swedish artist Lap-See Lam has brought a dreamlike vision to life: a dragon-shaped ship, inspired by a three-story Chinese vessel that sails the sea from Shanghai to Gothenburg (in Sweden). Lam’s imposing dragon head and prow will move from the Arctic Archipelago to the Lagoon, adorning the exterior of the pavilion’s permanent structure.
The Altersea Opera, lasting one hour, is an extraordinary work of art combining video, music, sculpture, and fabric, telling the story of Lo Ting, a mythological figure half-human and half-fish, who navigages through time periods distant from the sea and culture he knows.
Representing three countries—Norway, Finland, and Sweden—the Nordic pavilion has always fostered a sense of intercultural collaboration, an element that Haidari wanted to keep alive through a production layered by diverse collaborators with multilingual and cultural backgrounds. Hybridity, in-between spaces, and migratory stories represent the emotional state of exile and alienation, but also of reconciliation and kinship.
- Republic of PANAMA – Traces: on the body and on the land
Spazio Castello 2131
Commissioner: Itzela Quirós
Curators: Ana Elizabeth Gonzalez, Monica Kupfer
Exhibitors: Brooke Alfaro, Isabel De Obaldía, Cisco Merel, Giana De Dier
- PERU – Cosmic Traces
Arsenale
Commissioner: Armando Andrade de Lucio
Curator: Alejandro León Cannock
Exhibitor: Roberto Huarcaya
Third edition for the Lima-born photographer Roberto Huarcaya, previously present in Venice in 2001 and 2016, with the project Cosmic Traces.
- POLAND – Repeat after Me II
Giardini
Commissioner: Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, Minister of Culture and National Heritage
Curator: Marta Czyż
Exhibitor: Open Group (Yuriy Biley, Pavlo Kovach and Anton Varga)
A look at the narrative of war through a video installation presenting the collective portrait of witnesses to the ongoing war in Ukraine: all civilians with refugee experience, who shared their war stories through the sounds of the weapons they remember.
This installation transforms the traditional concept of an art exhibition into an immersion into the personal and traumatic experiences of war witnesses. Through the use of karaoke, visitors are invited to repeat the sounds of weapons, creating an active participation that challenges the conventions of contemporary art.
“Repeat after Me II” is not just an art installation, but a powerful tool for raising awareness and understanding of the realities of war and human trauma. Through the juxtaposition of footage from 2022 and 2024, the work provides a penetrating look at the continuity of memory and changes in warfare technology, highlighting the challenges and complexities of our contemporary world.
- PORTUGAL – Greenhouse
ACP – Palazzo Franchetti (II piano nobile), San Marco 2842
Commissioner: Américo Rodrigues, Direção-Geral das Artes
Curators/Exhibitors: Mónica de Miranda, Sónia Vaz Borges, Vânia Gala
An innovative project exploring the connections between art, theory, and teaching, transforming the exhibition space into a vibrant crossroads between a garden, a living archive, and a place for the creation of a continuous exchange between artists and the public. With a multidisciplinary curatorial team composed of a visual artist, a choreographer, and a researcher, the project promotes collective actions that research the relationships between the natural environment, ecology, and political dynamics.
Pavilions from R to Z
- ROMANIA – What work is
Giardini and New Gallery of the Romanian Institute of Culture and Humanistic Research at Palazzo Correr, Campo Santa Fosca, Cannaregio 2214
Commissioner: Ioana Ciocan; Curator: Ciprian Mureșan
Exhibitor: Șerban Savu and Atelier Brenda;
- Republic of SAN MARINO – Nomader
Fucina del futuro, Castello 5063/B, calle San Lorenzo
Commissioner: Paolo Rondelli
Curator: Alison M. Gingeras
Exhibitor: Eddie Martinez
The participation of the Republic of San Marino in the Venice Biennale reflects the country’s long tradition of welcoming foreign artists: a tradition rooted in the history of this small country, today an important international tourist and university center.
The nomadic life of American artist Eddie Martinez is closely linked to the theme of the Biennale Arte 2024. Since childhood, he has traveled with his family across the United States from coast to coast, several times a year. An experience that has deeply influenced his worldview and his approach to art.
- HOLY SEE – With my eyes
Venice Women’s Prison, Giudecca, Sant’Eufemia 712
Commissioner: Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education of the Holy See
Curators: Chiara Parisi of the Centre Pompidou-Metz and Bruno Racine, former president of the French National Library
Exhibitors: Maurizio Cattelan, Bintou Dembélé, Simone Fattal, Claire Fontaine, Sonia Gomes, Corita Kent, Marco Perego & Zoe Saldana, Claire Tabouret
The Vatican Pavilion will be hosted in the Giudecca women’s prison, which gives an additional social and inclusive dimension to the event, with the participation of prominent artists and collectives, including Maurizio Cattelan, known for his provocative artistic works, who will present a new piece.
An innovative and engaging initiative, which will see the inmates not only actively participating in the exhibition but also acting in a short film directed by Saldana and Perego, thus contributing to the creation of an artistic experience that focuses on the theme of human rights and the empowerment of marginalized people, in harmony with the message of Pope Francis.
- SENEGAL – Bokk – Bounds
Arsenale
Commissioner: Mariéme Ba
Curator: Massamba Mbaye
Exhibitor: Alioune Diagne
- SERBIA – Exposition Coloniale (Colonial Exhibition)
Giardini
Commissioner: Jelena Medakovic
Curator: Ksenija Samadržija
Exhibitor: Aleksandar Denić
The title of the exhibition evokes the consequences of the colonial era, paving the way for the artist’s exploration of the contemporary implications of colonialism and the ongoing impact of the division and subordination of peoples and cultures.
The artist captures the moment when history transforms into biography, following Heiner Müller’s theory on the constant need to question systems of thought and values through art, capable of making reality an impossible experience.
Heterotopia, a concept theorized by Foucault, manifests in the conception of this exhibition, where the space, while being physically real, contains symbolic and cultural elements that represent an alternative to the outside world, offering new perspectives and intellectual stimuli.
Through a transformation of spatial elements, the artist generates a tension that goes beyond the simple physicality of the works, involving the viewer in a “multi-layered” narrative between sounds, lights, and other sensory elements that contribute to enriching the experience, blurring the boundaries between tangible and emotional reality.
- Republic of SEYCHELLES
Arsenale
Commissioner: Emmanuel D’Offay
Curator: Martin Kennedy
Exhibitor: Jude Ally, Ryan Chetty, Danielle Freakley, Juliette Zelime AKA Jadez
- SINGAPORE – Seeing Forest
Arsenale
Commissioner: LOW Eng Teong, Chief Executive Officer, National Arts Council, Singapore
Curator: Haeju Kim
Exhibitor: Robert Zhao Renhui
“Every forest is liminal, even a forest growing in the center of a city. Overlooked and expendable in urban planning, it remains a universe apart.”
The exhibition stems from the collaboration between the Singaporean artist and the curator, and aims to be a tribute to the free and untamed forests found on the margins of our urban life, offering a distinctive counterpoint to the theme of this edition of the Biennale.
Discovering secondary forests, grown after deforestation caused by human intervention, urban development, or intensive cultivation. Often invaded by plant and animal species introduced in the 19th century, creating a boundary between the primary forest and urbanized areas. This project invites reflection on the complex relationship between human and non-human presence, on themes such as colonization, migration, and sustainability, suggesting that the boundary between city and nature might be a much deeper frontier than one might think.
- SLOVAK Republic – Floating Arboretum
Giardini
Commissioner: Monika Krčmárik
Curator: Lýdia Pribišová
Exhibitor: Oto Hudec
- Republic of SLOVENIA – Garden Secret for You
Serra dei Giardini di Castello, via Garibaldi 1254
Commissioner: Martina Vovk
Curator: Vladimir Vidmar
Exhibitor: Nika Špan
For the first time, the Slovenian pavilion takes the form of a project in a public space, addressing the issue of the lack of a permanent national pavilion.
The pavilion presents itself as a sculptural architectural work, a nomadic structure that serves as both a national pavilion and a paradigmatic foreign one, a symbolic and conceptual presence as an expression of others and the different, challenging the conventions and expectations of the surrounding environment.
- SPAIN – Pinacoteca Migrante / Migrant Art Gallery
Giardini
Commissioner: AECID (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation) AC/E (Acción Cultural Española)
Curator: Agustín Pérez Rubio
Exhibitor: Sandra Gamarra Heshiki
Curator and art historian Agustín Pérez Rubio worked with Peruvian artist Sandra Gamarra Heshiki to revisit the concept of the national museum with a critical and anti-colonial perspective.
Gamarra conducted research on several museums in Spain with a colonial past, creating a critical vision of the dynamics of this history that is still reflected today. Migration, education, and diversity of race and gender are the central themes of this re-reading of the museum institution.
The pavilion will incorporate design elements recognizable from museums around the world, challenging the conventions that confer a sense of authority and objectivity, questioning the normative approach of museums to museology, and highlighting how truth is shaped by lighting, wall colors, and labeling. The artworks will present counter-narratives to overturn and subvert original representations, encouraging viewers to look beyond.
- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – the space in which to place me
Giardini
Commissioner: Kathleen Ash-Milby, Louis Grachos, Abigail Winograd
Curators: Abigail Winograd and Kathleen Ash-Milby, respectively independent curator and curator of Native American art at the Portland Art Museum
Exhibitor: Jeffrey Gibson
For the first time, the United States will be represented by an indigenous artist of Cherokee and Choctaw descent. A choice that marks a moment of historical significance, as never before has a Native American been chosen for a solo exhibition at the Venetian event.
Jeffrey Gibson, 51, a native of Colorado Springs but a long-time resident of Brooklyn, belongs to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the only federally recognized American Indian tribe. His personal experience and indigenous cultural heritage are sources of inspiration for his works, which address crucial themes such as identity and history, belonging and cultural appropriation.
Through suspended sculptures in the shape of punching bags to large-format canvases in bright colors, Gibson transforms the USA Pavilion into a fluid and engaging artistic journey, combining performance and multimedia installations to offer the public a high-impact multisensory experience.
- Republic of SOUTH AFRICA – Quiet Ground
Arsenale
Commissioner: Nosipho Nausca-Jean Jezile, Ambassador of South Africa
Curator: Portia Malatjie
Exhibitor: MADEYOULOOK Molemo Moiloa and Nare Mokgotho
- SWITZERLAND – Super Superior Civilizations
Giardini
Commissioner: Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia: Sandi Paucic, Rachele Giudici Legittimo
Curator: Andrea Bellini
Exhibitor: Guerreiro do Divino Amor
A project by Swiss-Brazilian artist Guerreiro do Divino Amor presenting new chapters of the “Superfictional World Atlas” saga, titled “The Miracle of Helvetia” and “Roma Talismano.” A monumental work developed by the artist over the last twenty years, exploring the relationship between urban space and collective imagination, and investigating themes such as architecture, ideology, and national identity.
The immersive installation combines classical architectural elements with symbols of presumed Western racial superiority, creating a scenography that suggests power and supremacy.
“The Miracle of Helvetia” represents Switzerland as a surreal earthly paradise, while “Roma Talismano” embodies the imagery of Roman civilization and its presumed moral and cultural superiority. Brazilian artist Ventura Profana will give voice to the Capitoline Wolf, narrating the deeds of mythical figures linked to white identity and its imaginary superiority.
- United Republic of TANZANIA – A Flight in Reverse Mirrors (The Discovery of Others)
La Fabbrica del Vedere, Calle del Forno 3857
Commissioner: Leah Kihimbi, Assistant Director of Arts of the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Sports in Dodoma, Tanzania
Curator: Enrico Bittoto
Exhibitors: Happy Robert, Naby, Haji Chilonga and Lutengano Mwakisopile
At the Fabbrica del Vedere in Venice, a cultural center founded in 2008 by Venetian critic and director Carlo Montanaro, and a place dedicated to the history and art of cinema, artists Happy Robert, Naby, Haji Chilonga, and Lute Mwakisopile bring the culture and creativity of the African continent.
The United Republic of Tanzania will be present at the Biennale for the first time with a National Pavilion, offering the opportunity to share the culture and creativity of the African country with an international audience.
The Pavilion explores the complex interaction between man and nature, focusing on the evolution of the concept of the “Other” embodied in the archetype of the trickster, a mythological figure acting as a mediator between the divine and the human. Throughout history, the perception of nature and “others” has often generated prejudice and distrust, fueled by ignorance. The exhibition project aims to highlight the importance of overcoming such preconceptions to facilitate a constructive dialogue.
- Democratic Republic of TIMOR LESTE – Kiss and Don’t Tell
Spazio Ravà, San Polo 1100
Commissioner: Jorge Soares Cristóvão
Curator: Natalie King
Exhibitor: Maria Madeira
- TURKEY – Hollow and Broken: A State of the World
Arsenale
Commissioner: Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV)
Exhibitor: Gülsün Karamustafa
The artist presents an installation composed of sculptural works made from found materials and invites visitors to reflect on the current state of the world, exploring themes of devastation and human conflict. The exhibition offers an intense and provocative look at a reality marked by wars, migrations, and nuclear threats.
- UKRAINE – Net Making
Arsenale
Commissioner: Taras Shevchenko, Deputy Minister for European Integration
Curators: Viktoria Bavykina and Max Gorbatskyi
Exhibitors: Katya Buchatska, Andrii Dostliev, Lia Dostlieva, Daniil Revkovskyi, Andrii Rachynskyi, Oleksandr Burlaka
- UGANDA –
Wan Acel. Tuli Bamu, Turi Bamwe, We are one
Bragora Gallery, Castello 3496
Commissioner: Juliana Naumo Akoryo
Curator: Elizabeth Acaye Kerunen
Exhibitors: Artisan Weavers’ Collective, Sana Gateja, Taga Nuwagaba, Xenson Ssenkaba, Jose Hendo, Odur Ronald
The project for the pavilion is an invitation to redefine art through the work of a diverse group of thirty artists from different generations, operating both individually and collectively, and questioning the dominant narratives that influence the creation and preservation of artistic heritage. The title of the exhibition represents the borderless origins of the featured artists, rooted in the various cultures of the broader Africa. Through an exploration of collective memory, the intimate and multisensory gaze focuses on materiality and craftsmanship, inviting viewers to ask questions such as “How are you?” instead of “Who are you?” and “Why are you here?”, thus opening the door to a deeper and more meaningful dialogue on the nature of art and its relationship with society.
- HUNGARY
– Techno Zen
Giardini
Commissioner: Julia Fabényi, Director Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest
Curator: Róna Kopeczky
Exhibitor: Márton Nemes
Márton Nemes’s work is influenced by techno subcultures, the subcultures associated with rave music and culture, which have roots in electronic music, particularly techno.
The pictorial explosion and arrangement in Nemes’s work bestow a psychedelic character, evoking a visual atmosphere similar to today’s nightclubs. By combining painting and sculpture, his multimedia installations create a hypnotic spatial dynamic that pushes the viewer from the harsh real world into a fluid, dizzying, and fluorescent chromatic field.
For the Hungarian Pavilion, he has designed an immersive Gesamtkunstwerk that expands from painting to media. The term techno in the title also refers to techné and technological art; the fusion of industrial technologies and materials with a more conventional approach reveals itself as a pictorial object, an installation, or a moving pictorial environment. Laser-cut steel, car paint, enameled steel sheet, projection, DMX lights, speakers, and colored fans are the tools Nemes integrates into his practice to reinterpret the palette of painting. In this way, he creates a multisensory environment where the vitality of techno is transformed into a Zen resonance.
- URUGUAY
– Latente
Giardini
Commissioner: Facundo de Almeida
Curator: Elisa Valerio
Exhibitor: Eduardo Cardozo
- Republic of UZBEKISTAN – Don’t Miss the Cue
Arsenale, Tese Cinquecentesche
Commissioner: Art and Culture Development Foundation
Curator: Center for Contemporary Art Tashkent
Exhibitor: Aziza Kadyri
The pavilion is curated for the first time by the Centre for Contemporary Art Tashkent and led by Uzbek artist Aziza Kadyri.
In collaboration with the Qizlar collective, the art project explores the challenges of belonging and identity through the stories of Central Asian women, highlighting their process of redefinition during migration.
The exhibition concept is closely connected to the theme of the Biennale Arte 2024, offering visitors an immersive journey into the culture and history of Eurasia, with installations that reinterpret traditional Uzbek “suzani” embroidery using artificial intelligence.
This fusion of tradition and technology reflects the cultural changes of the modern world to provide a new perspective on identity and culture.
- VENICE – Sestante domestico
Giardini
Commissioner: Maurizio Carlin
Curator: Giovanna Zabotti
Exhibitors: Pietro Ruffo, Safet Zec, and Vittorio Marella
The exhibition represents a journey through history and personal introspection, exploring themes related to nature, love, and identity. Through the poems of Franco Arminio, the works of the artists, with contributions from young talents of the Venice Academy of Fine Arts and emerging artists from the Artefici del Nostro Tempo competition, aim to probe an affective and universal dimension.
An intimate look toward the search for self and a sense of belonging in feeling at home in a complex and changing world.
The exterior of the Pavilion will be enriched by an installation composed of flowers and lights, hosting a sculpture by Koen Vanmechelen.
- Bolivarian Republic of VENEZUELA –
Participatory Experience. Juvenal Ravelo
Giardini
Commissioner: Reinaldo J Landaeta Diaz
Curator: Edgar Ernesto Gonzalez
Exhibitor: Juvenal Ravelo
This project is a tribute to the Master of kinetic art and sociologist of art at the Sorbonne, with over 70 years of national and international artistic research and production, in which he defends the cultural component of art in society.
On a two-dimensional plane, his proposal focuses on the study of light, color, and form in a dimension of optical illusions. In this space, he “fragments” and decomposes the chromatic range through a sequence worked with different media, to invite the viewer to reflect and interact with the visual effects created. Each work on display constitutes an innovative installation conceived ad hoc. The works integrate various researches on light, an essential part of the artist’s thought and visual language.
The exhibition uses new media and technologies to create an immersive, participatory, and sensory path, comparing the artist’s own concepts: the effect of double exposure; optical instability; fragmented light; the environment of chromatic activity; the light and color of the new millennium. Three works that dialogue between the analog of art-participation, the kinetic environment, and digital art. It is an encounter with the physical experience of light and color through dynamic interactions.
- Republic of ZIMBABWE –
Undone
Santa Maria della Pietà, Castello, 3701
Commissioner: Raphael Chikukwa, National Gallery of Zimbabwe
Curator: Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa
Exhibitors: Gillian Rosselli, Kombo Chapfika, Moffat Takadiwa, Sekai Machache, Troy Makaza, Victor Nyakauru
Cover image by Andrea Antoni Stailuan.
All photos:
The photo of the Giardini and the Central Pavilion is by Andrea Avezzù.
Ochirbold Ayurzana, photo by Sukhzorig Bayansan ©/courtesy of 2024mongolian-pavilion.org
Artist Robert Zhao Renhui with Curator Haeju Kim, 2023. Image courtesy of the Artist
Andrea Mancini & Every Island ©Alessandro Simonetti
Ced’art Tamasala (CATPC), Matthieu Kasiama (CATPC), Renzo Martens, Hicham Khalidi, Mbuku Kimpala (CATPC). ©Koos_Breukel, 2023
Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv © Achim Sorg
Portrait of Nina Khemchyan by Zaven Khacikyan. Courtesy of Nina Khemchyan
Pia Lindman, Installation view of Nose Eyes Ears at 32ª Bienal de São Paulo, 2016. © Pedro Ivo Trasferetti: Fundação Bienal de São Paulo. Courtesy the artist
Matthew Attard, Eye-tracking concept sketch (I WILL FOLLOW THE SHIP), 2023 Eye-tracking drawing, Photo, Generative Algorithm Digital image – Variable dimensions © Matthew Attard and Galleria Michela Rizzo
Eva Koťátková and Hana Janečková, photo by Aleksandra Vajd
The artists of the German Pavilion 2024 photographed by Andrea Rossetti, Nick Ash
Gülsün Karamustafa, Mistik Nakliye, 1992. “Saat Kaç?” 2019. Photo by Can Yıldırım
Aziza Kadyri and Qizlar collective, courtesy of Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation
Guerreiro do Divino Amor and Andrea Bellini, Artist and Curator of the Swiss Pavilion 2024. Ph. © Samuele Cherubini
Creole Garden, Monica de Miranda, 2024
We are one by Acaye Kerunen
The exterior of the Venice Pavilion is from the pavilion’s Facebook page
Luca Cerizza and Massimo Bartolini © Matteo de Mayda
Pakui Hardware, Inflammation, 2023. Photo: Ugnius Gelguda. Courtesy of the artists, Lithuanian National Museum of Art and Carlier|Gebauer (Berlin/Madrid)
Vusala Agharaziyeva, Pink Planet, 2024. Photo by Nigar Rzayeva. Image courtesy of Vusala Agharaziyeva
Edith Karlson portrait by Alana Proosa
Ishola Akpo © Joannes Mawuna
Chloé Quenum © Tadzio
Moufouli Bello © Moufouli Bello
Romuald Hazoume © J-D Burton
Portrait of Vlatka Horvat by Hugo Glendinning
Luciana Lamothe, Portrait 2024. Ph Lucia Bonells
Petticoat Government, Portraits. N°1 Sophie Boiron N°2 Valentin Bollaert N°3 Simona Denicolai N°4 Pauline Fockedey N°5 Pierre Huyghebaert N°6 Antoinette Jattiot N°7 Ivo Provoost, 2023. Courtesy Petticoat Government (Denicolai & Provoost, Antoinette Jattiot, Nord, Spec uloos)
Céline Kopp, Cindy Sissokho et Julien Creuzet © Magasin CNAC. Photo by Pascale Cholette
Abdullah Al Saadi at his studio, Image courtesy of the National Pavilion UAE-La Biennale di Venezia, Photo by Roman Mensing
Amanda Ziemele. Photo: Kristīne Madjare. Culture project agency INDIE
Yuko-Mohri_portrait_Photo-kugeyasuhide
Erick Meyenberg. ‘Things We Do for Love’. Arte Abierto. Photo Oscar Caballero
Jeffrey Gibson, Kathleen Ash-Milby, Abigail Winograd, Louis Grachos
Claire Fontaine, Siamo con voi nella notte (2007), Blue Led letters, framework, transformers and cables. Photo by Leonardo Morfini, copyright Studio Claire Fontaine, Courtesy of Claire Fontaine
Portrait of Valeria Montti Colque in her studio by Stefan Wrenfelt
Portrait of Mark Salvatus. Photo Sharjah Art Foundation
Happy Robert, Haji Chilonga and Lutengano Mwakisopile by Rangi Gallery
Vittorio Marella for the Venice Pavilion 2024
‘Soon Will Summer be Over’ series 2023. Image credit Inuuteq Storch
Portrait of Aindrea Emelife. Courtesy of Aindrea Emelife
Sandra Gamarra Heshiki, Migrant Garden VI, 2024. Photo by Antoine Henry Jonquères. Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain
Portrait of Asrin Haidari by Ikram Abdulkadir. Courtesy of Moderna Museet
Portrait of Lap-See Lam with dragon head made by Lu Guangzheng, for The Altersea Opera, 2024. Photo by Mattias Lindbäck/Moderna Museet. Courtesy of Moderna Museet
Behind the scenes of the production for the Techno Zen project 2024 Budapest Photography Ornella Mari
Koo Jeong a portrait Pilar Corrias
Open Group (Yuriy Biley, Pavlo Kovach, Anton Varga), Repeat after Me, 2022, video, © Open Group
Nika Špan. Courtesy of the artist
Shifting Sands: A Battle Song ph Iman Aldabbagh. Courtesy of the Visual Arts Commission, Ministry of Culture
Iva Lulashi, Qualunque sia il suo nome (Whatever its Name is), 2021. Oil on canvas, 69 x 69 cm. Courtesy of the artist. Private collection. Photo: Ludovica Mangini
Bruno Hibombo as Past Lo Ting. Lap-See Lam, “The Altersea Opera”, 2024. Photo: Mai Nestor/Moderna Museet. Textile work © Kholod Hawash. © Lap-See Lam. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Nordenhake and Moderna Museet
Inter Spem et Metum, 2024 (detail). Installation with mirrors, dimensions variable. Photo: Robert Jankuloski
Portrait of Roberto Huarcaya photo © Luis Gonzáles
