VENICE ART BIENNALE

‘shifting sands: a battle song’ by @manaldowayan at the @saudipavilion tunes into the energy of #saudi women during a period of profound cultural transformation. in her installation, #manalaldowayan brings together the sonic and geological features of the desert with the voices of women, in a collective expression that defies misconceptions about their lives. large-scale petal-like sculptures take their forms from the desert rose, a crystal commonly found in the desert sands near the artist’s hometown in dharhan. #saudipavilion #biennaleBOOM #veniceartbiennale #venicebiennale @labiennale #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #venicebiennale2024

the #lithuanianpavilion takes over the sant’antonin church with ‘inflammation’, an installation by artist duo @pakui_hardware (@contentfree and @ugnius_gelguda ) that features paintings by the late marija teresė rožanskaitė. the immersive, site-specific project explores the inflammatory effects of current economic and social conditions on human and planetary bodies. aluminum and glass sculptures by #pakuihardware resemble an enlarged nervous system with pulsating hotspots of inflammation, resonating with #marijateresėrožanskaitė’s paintings, which depict bodies ravaged by unnamed diseases, sterile operating theatres and medical consultation rooms, viscera-like assemblages, and machines. architects @isorapetras and @onalozurai have created a unified hybrid techno-organism for the exhibition set up that includes a surface of hybrid soil, referring to the condition of a natural body that has been infected and inflamed by synthetic matter. commissioner: @nacionalinisdailesmuziejus curators: joao____laia and @valentinas_klimasauskas #biennaleBOOM #veniceartbiennale #venicebiennale @labiennale #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #venicebiennale2024

the first @benin_pavilion at the #veniceartbiennale brings together works by @chloequenum , @isholacontemporaryartstudio , @moufouli.b and #romualdhazoume . under the curation of @azubogu , ‘everything precious is fragile’ explores the rich history of #benin , touching on themes such as the slave trade, the amazon motif, spirituality, and the vodun religion. it also delves into the contemporary realm with the gèlèdé philosophy, focusing on ‘rematriation’, a feminist interpretation of restitution that advocates not only the return of objects but also beninese philosophy and ideals predating the colonial era. #beninpavilion #everythingpreciousisfragile #isholaakpo #chloequenum #mofoulibello #arsenale #biennaleBOOM #veniceartbiennale #venicebiennale @labiennale #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #venicebiennale2024

#linabobardi’s glass easels in the #arsenale . in a space of 2,000 square metres, the easels are distributed in rows as if in a parade or mimicking a forest of artworks. bo bardi’s legendary exhibition display was specially conceived for MASP’s picture gallery and was first revealed at the museum’s opening in 1968. it consists of a thick glass plate inserted into a concrete cube, forming a self-supporting transparent panel onto which a picture is hung. the artwork’s label is affixed to the back, so that the visitor may first encounter the work without any historical contextualisation. #biennaleBOOM #veniceartbiennale #venicebiennale @labiennale #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #venicebiennale2024

at the #egyptianpavilion , wael shawky chronicles an anti-colonial uprising through ‘drama 1882’, an operatic film blending fact, fable, and fantasy. directed, choreographed, and composed by the artist, the epic musical staging allegorizes a sequence of events taking place in 1882, that began with a café fight, erupted into riots, and ended in a full- scale bombardment of alexandria by british forces and the historic battle of tel el kebir. across the screen, characters sway and spin like puppets and marionettes to hypnotic hums sung in classical arabic, with the narrative extending across the room with pieces from the film’s sets. vitrines, sculptures, paintings, drawings, and a murano mirror relief together weave a story of the urabi revolt and its catastrophic nationalism. #waelshawky #egyptpavilion image 1: wael shawky, drama, 1882, 2024 © wael shawky | courtesy of sfeir-semler gallery, lisson gallery, lia rumma, and barakat contemporary all other images © designboom #biennaleBOOM #veniceartbiennale #venicebiennale @labiennale #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #venicebiennale2024

@mo_hrizm fills the #japanesepavilion with sound, light, movement, and smell. curated by @slee.whitworth , ‘compose’ asks what it means for people to be and work together in a world facing multiple global crises. inspired by ad hoc efforts seen in #tokyo subway stations to stop water leaks, ‘moré moré (leaky)’ artificially creates leaks and then attempt to fix them, improvising with a variety of household goods available in #venice to construct kinetic sculpture. decomposition generates sounds and light by inserting electrodes into fruits and converting their moisture into electric signals. #yukomohri #thejapanfoundation #japanesepavilion #giardini #biennaleBOOM #venicebiennale #artbiennale @labiennale #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #venicebiennale2024

@solcalero_ ’s ‘pabellón criollo’ in the #giardini 🌱 the site-specific installation takes shape as a kaleidoscope of shapes and colors. the pavilion reflects on calero’s continuing interest in how objects and architectural forms signify cultural preconceptions and also articulate forms of self-exoticisation, as often seen in sites related to tourism. #solcalero #biennaleBOOM #venicebiennale #artbiennale @labiennale #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #venicebiennale2024

suspended neons by @foreignerseverywhere at the #arsenale . ‘foreigners everywhere / stranieri ovunque (60th international art exhibition / 60. esposizione internazionale d’arte) (2004-24)’ comprises a series of #neon sign sculptures spanning multiple languages, capturing the nuanced ambivalence embedded in its title. the works draw inspiration from the name of an anarchist collective that fought against xenophobia in turin in the early 2000s. #clairefontaine #biennaleBOOM #venicebiennale #artbiennale @labiennale #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #venicebiennale2024

@julien.creuzet transforms the #frenchpavilion into a space irrigated with fluids in which a radical and collective imaginary opens up, populated with divine presences, and connected to venice by its water. titled ‘attila cataract your source at the feet of the green peaks will end up in the great sea blue abyss we drowned in the tidal tears of the moon,’ the exhibition invites visitors into a multi-sensory environment of places, colors, movements, sounds, rhythms, textures, luminosities, obscurities, landscapes, mythologies, disasters and emotions. #juliencreuzet #biennaleBOOM #venicebiennale #artbiennale @labiennale #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #venicebiennale2024

@danaawartanistudio ’s ‘come, let me heal your wounds. let me mend your broken bones’ is a requiem for the historical and cultural sites that have been destroyed in the arab world during wars and by acts of terror. this edition of the installation adds testimony to the devastation in #gaza and sites that have been flattened indiscriminately through bombings and bulldozers. the palestinian-saudi artist tears holes across yards of silk, each rip marking a site, and then darns each gash tenderly as a gesture for healing. the fabric is dipped in herb and spice-based natural dyes that carry medicinal value. #danaawartani #arsenale #biennaleBOOM #venicebiennale #artbiennale @labiennale #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #venicebiennale2024

‘odorama cities’ by @koojeonga transforms the @korean_pavilion into a collection of olfactory memories. with the aim of making a scent portrait of the #korean peninsula, #koojeonga collected scent memories by reaching out to north and south koreans and non-koreans alike – anyone who has a relationship to korea – and asking the question: ‘what is your scent memory of korea?’ this open call generated more than 600 written statements about korean scents that are interpreted into 16 distinct scent experiences for the pavilion and a single commercial fragrance. #biennaleBOOM #venicebiennale #artbiennale @labiennale #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #venicebiennale2024

two iconic works by nil yalter, who received the #goldenlion for lifetime achievement, are exhibited in the nucleo contemporaneo in the #giardini . ‘topak ev’ (1973), was made in reference to the tents made by bektik nomadic community in central anatolia, traditionally made by brides-to-be and emblematic of gender roles in such communities. ‘exile is a hard job’ (1977–2024), named using the words of turkish poet nâzim hikmet, features videos and fly-posters documenting the lives and experiences of immigrants and exiles. #nilyalter #biennaleBOOM #venicebiennale #artbiennale @labiennale #stranieriovunque #foreignerseverywhere #biennalearte #biennaleartevenezia #venicebiennale2024