Isotta Esposito

The 60th International Art Exhibition, titled Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, will open to the public from Saturday April 20 to Sunday November 24, 2024, at the Giardini and the Arsenale; it will be curated by Adriano Pedrosa and organised by La Biennale di Venezia. The Press Office of the Global Campus of Human Rights was invited and is participating to the pre-opening days which started today April 17, and will continue on 18 and 19 with a series of events. The International Jury of the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Veneziais made up of Julia Bryan-Wilson (president), American curator and professor at Columbia University; Alia Swastika, Indonesian curator and writer; Chika Okeke-Agulu, Nigerian curator and art critic; Elena Crippa, Italian curator; and María Inés Rodríguez, French-Colombian curator. THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION of the Curator Adriano Pedrosa The Exhibition takes place in the Central Pavilion (Giardini) and in the Arsenale, and it is presented in two sections: the Nucleo Contemporaneo and the Nucleo Storico. As a guiding principle, the Biennale Arte 2024 has favored artists who have never participated in the International Exhibition —though a number of them may have been featured in a National Pavilion, a Collateral Event, or in a past edition of the International Exhibition. Special attention is being given to outdoor projects, both in the Arsenale and in the Giardini, where a performance programme is being planned with events during the pre-opening and closing weekend of the 60th Exhibition. Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, the title of the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, is drawn from a series of works started in 2004 by the Paris-born and Palermo-based collective Claire Fontaine. The works consist of neon sculptures in different colours that render in a growing number of languages the words “Foreigners Everywhere”. The phrase comes, in turn, from the name of a Turin collective who fought racism and xenophobia in Italy in the early 2000s. «The expression Stranieri Ovunque – explains the curator Adriano Pedrosa – has several meanings. First of all, that wherever you go and wherever you are you will always encounter foreigners—they/we are everywhere. Secondly, that no matter where you find yourself, you are always truly, and deep down inside, a foreigner.» «Adriano Pedrosa is the first curator of Biennale Arte from South America – said President Roberto Cicutto – whom I selected so that he could bring his personal point of view on contemporary art by reinterpreting different cultures as if in a movie reverse shot. La Biennale’s international nature makes it a privileged vantage point from which to observe the state of the world through the transformation and evolution of the arts. No curator, in choosing the theme of their exhibition, seeks directly to capitalise on the hot issues of the moment, but all of them are influenced by them and the changing perception of the exhibitions themselves may be felt in the way they are interpreted by visitors, professionals in the field and the press. But it is first and foremost the real presence of the National Pavilions, that this year reached 88 participating countries and 30 Collateral Events, that make La Biennale a unique meeting ground between the arts and the changes in society. The autonomy of the artistic directors is the strongest guarantee that La Biennale di Venezia formula continue to work and produce sometimes surprising effects, even on the diplomatic and political level. The dialogue with the Countries, which with equal dignity and the freedom to choose their own curators take on the challenge of our contemporary age, expressing themselves freely on both the artistic and social level, makes the different with respect to any other cultural institution in the world.» NATIONAL PARTICIPATIONS The Exhibition will also include 88 National Participations in the historic Pavilions at the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in the city centre of Venice. 4 countries will be participating for the first time at the Biennale Arte: Republic of Benin, Ethiopia, United Republic of Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Timor Leste. Republic of Panama and Senegal participate for the first time with their own pavilion. The Italian Pavilion at the Tese delle Vergini in the Arsenale, sponsored and promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture, is curated by Luca Cerizza. The project Due qui / To hear by the artist Massimo Bartolini includes contributions specifically created by musicians and writers. The City of Venice participates with its own pavilion, the Venice Pavilion, at the Giardini of Sant’Elena, that also counts this year with the support and participation of our Global Campus partners: belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen and Fondazione Berengo. COLLATERAL EVENTS 30 Collateral Events were admitted by the Curator and promoted by non–profit national and international bodies and institutions, which are taking place in several locations around the city of Venice. They offer a wide range of contributions and participations that enrich the global diversity of voices that characterizes the Exhibition. BIENNALE COLLEGE ARTE The selected projects for the 2nd edition of Biennale College Arte 2023/24 are by Agnes Questionmark, Joyce Joumaa, Sandra Poulson, Nazira Karimi. The 4 artists will receive a grant of 25,000 euros for the realization of the final work. The artworks will be presented, out of competition, as part of the 60th International Art Exhibition. Over 150 young emerging artists under 30 from 37 countries around the world have joined the call for participation. GOLDEN LIONS FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT The Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement will be awarded to The Italian-born Brazilian artist Anna Maria Maiolino and the Paris-based Turkish artist Nil Yalter during the Biennale Arte 2024 awards and inauguration ceremony, that will be held on Saturday 20th April, 2024 at Ca’ Giustinian, headquarters of La Biennale di Venezia. BIENNALE SESSIONS, the project for Universities For the thirteenth consecutive year, La Biennale dedicates the Biennale Sessions project to institutions that develop research and training programmes in architecture, the arts and related fields, and to Universities and Fine Arts Academies. The aim is to facilitate self-organised three-day visits for groups of at least 50 students and teachers, with the possibility of holding seminars in the exhibition venues offered free of charge and assistance in coordinating travel and accommodation. EDUCATIONAL For the past decade, La Biennale di Venezia has been devoting increased attention to learning activities and has developed a growing commitment to educational initiatives addressed to the audience of its Exhibitions, to universities, young people, and children,