59th Venice Biennale

The 59th Venice Biennale is an international contemporary art exhibition held between April and November 2022. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Cecilia Alemani curated its central exhibition.

59th Venice Biennale
GenreArt exhibition
BeginsApril 23, 2022
EndsNovember 27, 2022
Location(s)Venice
CountryItaly
Previous event58th Venice Biennale (2019)
Next event60th Venice Biennale (2024)

Background

The Venice Biennale is an international art biennial exhibition held in Venice, Italy. Often described as "the Olympics of the art world", participation in the Biennale is a prestigious event for contemporary artists. The festival has become a constellation of shows: a central exhibition curated by that year's artistic director, national pavilions hosted by individual nations, and independent exhibitions throughout Venice. The Biennale parent organization also hosts regular festivals in other arts: architecture, dance, film, music, and theater.[1]

Outside of the central, international exhibition, individual nations produce their own shows, known as pavilions, as their national representation. Nations that own their pavilion buildings, such as the 30 housed on the Giardini, are responsible for their own upkeep and construction costs as well.[1] Nations without dedicated buildings create pavilions in the Venice Arsenale and palazzos throughout the city.[2]

The 59th Biennale will run from April 23, 2022, through November 27.[3] Originally scheduled for the year prior, the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the 2020 architecture biennale into 2021 and the art biennale into 2022. As a result of the displacement, the art biennale will coincide with Documenta 15, another major contemporary art exhibition.[4]

Central exhibition

Cecilia Alemani, chief curator of High Line Art, will serve as the 59th Venice Biennale's artistic director. Her central exhibition is titled "The Milk of Dreams", after a book by the English-born Mexican surrealist artist Leonora Carrington filled with magical tales in which everything can be transformed through imagination.[5] The exhibition follows three themes: body representation and metamorphosis, human relationships with technology, and the relationship between the body and Earth.[5] Alemani developed the concept from conversations with artists and questions following the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] Her curator's essay invokes feminist activist Silvia Federici and science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin.[6]

"The Milk of Dreams" features 213 artists. Unlike prior shows, in which the majority of artists identified as male, instead less than 10 percent of Alemani's artists identified as male. Alemani underplayed this element and did not describe her show as overtly feminist, but has spoken about questioning the "universal ideal of the white, male 'Man of Reason' as the fixed center of the universe and measure of all things".[6] Many of the central exhibition's artists are associated with the 20th century avant-garde. Nearly half of Alemani's artists are deceased, much higher in proportion than prior Biennales. These avant-garde artists are underrepresented, having been underrecognized in their time, and the Biennale services to highlight their work.[7]

After the exhibition was postponed one year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Alemani hoped to use the extra year to prepare new projects and use the opening, which now precedes the Italian Liberation Day, to mark an occasion of togetherness.[4] Alemani is the first Italian woman to serve as the Biennale's artistic director.[8] She previously curated the 2017 Biennale's Italian pavilion. Her husband, Massimiliano Gioni, curated the 2013 Biennale.[9]

National pavilions

A total of 80 national pavilions participated in the 59th edition, with five countries participating for the first time: Cameroon, Namibia, Nepal, Oman and Uganda.[10][8] Each country selected artists to represent their pavilion, ostensibly with an eye to the Biennale's theme.[1] As a sign of solidarity Ukraine and against war, Russian pavilion curator Raimundas Malašauskas withdrew his project and Russia's pavilion remained closed.[11] In a statement, Alexandra Sukhareva, one of the artists participating in Russia's Pavilion, posted in a statement on Instagram that “there is no place for art when civilians are dying under the fire of missiles, when citizens of Ukraine are hiding in shelters [and] when Russian protestors are getting silenced”.[12]

Unlike prior biennales, in which there were clear frontrunners for the jury recognition of best national pavilion, such as Germany's Faust in 2017 or Lithuania's Sun & Sea in 2019, there was no such frontrunner in 2022.[13]

Nation Location Artist(s) Curator(s) Ref
AlbaniaArsenaleLumturi BlloshmiAdela Demetja [14]
ArgentinaArsenaleMónica HellerAlejo Ponce de León[15]
AustraliaGiardiniMarco FusinatoAlexie Glass-Kantor [16][17]
AustriaGiardiniJakob Lena Knebl and Ashley Hans ScheirlKarola Kraus [18][19]
BelgiumGiardiniFrancis AlÿsHilde Teerlinck [20]
BrazilGiardiniJonathas de AndradeJacopo Crivelli Visconti, José Olympio da Veiga Pereira[15]
BoliviaAround VeniceWarmichacha CollectiveRoberto Aguilar Quisbert - Mamani Mamani, Judith Cuba
CanadaGiardiniStan DouglasReid Shier [21][15]
CataloniaAround VeniceLara FluxàOriol Fondevila[15]
DenmarkGiardiniUffe IsolottoJacob Lillemose[15]
EstoniaGiardini (Dutch pavilion)Kristina Norman and Bita RazaviCorina Apostol, Maria Arusoo [15]
FinlandGiardiniPilvi TakalaChristina Li [22]
FranceGiardiniZineb Sedira [23][24]
GermanyGiardiniMaria EichhornYilmaz Dziewior [25]
Great BritainGiardiniSonia BoyceTBD [26]
Hong KongAround VeniceAngela SuFreya Chou [27]
IcelandAround VeniceSigurður GuðjónssonMónica Bello [16]
IrelandArsenaleNiamh O'MalleyTemple Bar Gallery + Studios Curatorial Team [28]
Israel Giardini Ilit Azoulay Dr. Shelley Harten [29]
Italy Arsenale Gian Maria Tosatti Eugenio Viola [30]
Republic of KosovaArsenaleJakup FerriInke Arns
LuxembourgAround VeniceTina Gillen [16]
MaltaArsenaleArcangelo Sassolino, Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci, Brian SchembriKeith Sciberras, Jeffrey Uslip
Netherlands Around Venice Melanie Bonajo Maaike Gouwenberg, Geir Haraldseth, Soraya Pol [31]
NepalAround VeniceTsherin SherpaSheelasha Rajbhandari, Hit Man Gurung [32][33]
Nordic PavilionGiardiniPauliina Feodoroff, Máret Ánne Sara, Anders Sunna [34]
New ZealandAround VeniceYuki KiharaNatalie King [16][35]
PolandGiardiniMałgorzata Mirga-TasZachęta National Gallery of Art, Wojciech Szymański, Joanna Warsza [36]
SpainGiardiniIgnasi AballíBeatriz Espejo [16]
SwitzerlandGiardiniLatifa EchakhchFrancesco Stocchi [37]
TaiwanAround VeniceSakuliu PavavaljungPatrick Flores [16]
TurkeyAround VeniceFüsun OnurBige Örer [38]
Ukraine Arsenale Pavlo Makov Lizaveta German, Maria Lanko, Borys Filonenko [33]
United Arab EmiratesAround VeniceMohamed Ahmed IbrahimMaya Allison [39]
United States Giardini Simone Leigh Eva Respini [40]
Venezuella Giardini Palmira Correa, César Vázquez, Mila Quast, Jorge Recio Zacarías García [41]

Awards

A jury presented the three main prizes:

The 59th Biennale's Golden Lion for lifetime achievement went to Katharina Fritsch and Cecilia Vicuña.[13][42]

Reception

The 2022 Biennale was its most attended edition with over 800,000 tickets sold. While the 2022 Biennale had sold a third more tickets than the 2019 Biennale, it was also 14 percent longer, lasting 197 days.[43]

Recounting the year's biggest moments, ArtNews said that two Black women winning the Beinnale's top awards was both a "legendary moment and a possible sign that the canonization of Black female artists was ... underway". The effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was another big moment, felt at the Biennale with the closure of the Russian pavilion and conspicuous absence of Russian oligarchs.[44]

References

  1. Russeth, Andrew (April 17, 2019). "The Venice Biennale: Everything You Could Ever Want to Know". ARTnews. Archived from the original on April 20, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  2. Herriman, Kat (May 16, 2019). "What to See at the Venice Biennale". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 2, 2019.
  3. Rea, Naomi (June 9, 2021). "Cecilia Alemani's 2022 Venice Biennale Will Explore the Power of the Human Imagination to Adapt to a Changing Planet". Artnet News. Archived from the original on June 13, 2021. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  4. Farago, Jason (May 18, 2020). "Venice Biennale Postpones Next Two Editions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 20, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  5. "Biennale Arte 2022 | Statement by Cecilia Alemani". La Biennale di Venezia. June 9, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  6. Reilly, Maura (February 10, 2022). "With a Majority-Female 2022 Edition, the Venice Biennale Will Make History for Women Artists". ARTnews.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  7. Durón, Maximilíano; Greenberger, Alex (February 4, 2022). "The Venice Biennale By the Numbers: From an Unprecedented Number of Women to an Emphasis on the 20th-Century Avant-Garde". ARTnews.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  8. Nayeri, Farah (April 19, 2022). "This Venice Biennale Has a New Star: Women". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  9. Cascone, Sarah (January 10, 2020). "The Venice Biennale Has Appointed Cecilia Alemani, the Artistic Force Behind New York's High Line, as the Curator of Its 2021 Edition". Artnet News. Archived from the original on January 12, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  10. Solomon, Tessa (February 1, 2022). "Nepal to Make Venice Biennale Debut with Pavilion by Tsherin Sherpa". ARTnews.com. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  11. Volner, Ian (April 22, 2022). "The Venice Biennale, Without the Russians (or Their Yachts)". Vulture. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  12. Harris, Gareth (April 21, 2022). "Artist protests against war outside Russian Pavilion at Venice Biennale". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
  13. "Sonia Boyce and Simone Leigh Win Golden Lions at the Venice Biennale for Work Honoring the Visions of Black Women". April 23, 2022.
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  19. "Knebl und Scheirl 2021 für Österreich bei Kunstbiennale Venedig" Archived February 21, 2022, at the Wayback Machine in derstandard.at (in German)
  20. Greenberger, Alex (June 15, 2020). "Francis Alÿs, Artist with a Timely Interest in Borders, Will Represent Belgium at 2022 Venice Biennale". ARTnews.com. Archived from the original on January 1, 2022. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  21. Greenberger, Alex (January 15, 2020). "Stan Douglas, Leading Video Artist with an Eye Toward the Marginalized, Will Represent Canada at 2021 Venice Biennale". ARTnews.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2020. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  22. Selvin, Claire (February 5, 2020). "Celebrated Video and Performance Artist Pilvi Takala Will Represent Finland at 2021 Venice Biennale". ARTnews.com. Archived from the original on February 15, 2020. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  23. Selvin, Claire (January 27, 2020). "Zineb Sedira Becomes First Algerian Artist to Represent France at Venice Biennale". ARTnews.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
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  25. "Maria Eichhorn to Represent Germany at 2022 Venice Biennale". Artforum. February 17, 2021. Archived from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  26. Rea, Naomi (February 12, 2020). "Artist Sonia Boyce Will Be the First Black Woman to Represent the UK at the Venice Biennale". Artnet News. Archived from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  27. Tsui, Enid (June 17, 2021). "Artist Angela Su to represent Hong Kong at 2022 Venice Biennale". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on October 25, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
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  29. "For Ilit Azoulay, The Kingdom Has Crashed. Long Live The Queendom!". Whitewall. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
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  34. Greenberger, Alex (October 13, 2020). "To Mark Rare Showcase for Indigenous Art, Nordic Pavilion Changes Name for 2022 Venice Biennale". ARTnews.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2022. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
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  37. Greenberger, Alex (January 28, 2020). "Latifa Echakhch, Rising Star Focused on Immigration and Alienation, Will Represent Switzerland at 2021 Venice Biennale". ARTnews.com. Archived from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
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  44. "The Defining Art Events of 2022". ARTnews. December 7, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2023.

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