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Venice Biennale 2022
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Venice Biennale 2022: all the national pavilions, artists and curators

The latest details about the key participants of the 59th International Art Exhibition

José da Silva and Lee Cheshire
2 March 2022
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The Venice Biennale's Central Pavillion in the Giardini © Silva

The Venice Biennale's Central Pavillion in the Giardini © Silva

The Venice Biennale, the oldest art biennial, is back after being delayed a year due to the pandemic—and it is seemingly as jam-packed with artists as ever. To help you get your head around who is showing where, we have brought together all the national pavilions and artists.

• Venice Biennale: 59th International Art Exhibition, Giardini, Arsenale and various venues around Venice, 23 April-27 November 2022

Albanian pavilion Photo: Riccardo Tosetto

Albania

Artist: Lumturi Blloshmi

Organisers: Adela Demetja; Ministry of Culture of Albania

Where: Arsenale

Website

Mónica Heller Courtesy of Piedras

Argentina

Artist: Mónica Heller

Organisers: Alejo Ponce de León

Where: Arsenale

Armenian pavilion Photo: Claudio Fleitas

Armenia

Artist: Andrius Arutiunian

Organisers: Anne Davidian, Elena Sorokina; Arayik Khzmalyan

Where: Castello 2125, Campo Tana

Website

Marco Fusinato performing for his DESASTRES (2022) installaition at the Australia pavilion Photo: Andrea Rossetti

Australia

Artist: Marco Fusinato

Organisers: Alexie Glass-Kantor; Australia Council

Where: Giardini

Website

The Australian pavilion will be filled with the sounds of electric guitar for almost 200 days as Marco Fusinato performs a marathon durational work called Desastres (disasters in Spanish). It sounds like it will be quite the feat of endurance and, unlike many performances that are pared back after the opening week, it will take place each day for the duration of the Biennale. The work is partly inspired by Goya’s The Disasters of War series (1810-20), which chronicled the horrors of the Napoleonic Wars, and by the events of the past couple of years. According to a press release, the artist will use his guitar to “improvise slabs of noise, saturated feedback and discordant intensities”. Do not expect sunny Aussie pop tunes.

• For more on this pavilion, see 'Most people won't like my work': Marco Fusinato, artist representing Australia at the Venice Biennale, reveals pavilion plans and The gossip from the Venice Biennale: Tinie Tempah takes on Tintoretto and totes too many totes

Jakob Lena Knebl and Ashley Hans Scheirl with the curator Karola Kraus

Photo: Christian Benesch

Austria

Artists: Jakob Lena Knebl and Ashley Hans Scheirl

Organisers: Karola Kraus; Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport

Where: Giardini

Website

Sabiha Khankishiyeva's Dragon © ugo carmeni

Azerbaijan

Artists: Zhuk (Narmin Israfilova), Infinity, Ramina Saadatkhan, Fidan Novruzova, Fidan Akhundova, Sabiha Khankishiyeva and Agdes Baghirzade

Organisers: Emin Mammadov; Mammad Ahmadzada

Where: Procuratie Vecchie, San Marco 153/a/139

Website

Bangladesh

Artists: Jamal Uddin Ahmed, Mohammad Iqbal, Harun-Ar-Rashid, Sumon Wahed, Promity Hossain, Mohammad Eunus, Marco Cassar, Franco Marrocco and Giuseppe Diego Spinelli

Organisers: Viviana Vannucci; Liaquat Ali Lucky

Where: Palazzo Rossini, San Marco 4013

Installation view of Francis Alÿs's The Nature of the Game in the Belgium pavilion Photo: Roberto Ruiz

Belgium

Artist: Francis Alÿs

Organisers: Hilde Teerlinck; Jan Jambon

Where: Giardini

Play can be a serious business. The Antwerp-born, Mexico-based artist Francis Alÿs, who represents Belgium at this year’s Biennale, has been investigating and documenting human behaviour through the medium of children’s games for more than 20 years. “Recording them has become a way of seeing through the patterns people live by,” says the pavilion’s curator, Hilde Teerlinck. “Some games are specific to a particular local or cultural tradition, but most are played around the world. This gives the work its universal character.” Twelve new games filmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Belgium, Canada, Iraq and Hong Kong will be shown in the pavilion along with a series of paintings from 1994 to 2021, which outline the context in which some of the films were made. “From Kabul to Ciudad Juárez, from Jerusalem to Shanghai, [the paintings] testify to Alÿs’s unmistakable poetic sensitivity to social and political issues,” Teerlinck says.

• For more on this pavilion, see The best of the Venice Biennale: our critics’ review

Bolivia

Artists: Warmichacha

Organisers: Warmichacha; Roberto Aguilar Quisbert

Where: Artspace4rent, Cannaregio 4120

Jonathas de Andrade in the Brazilian pavilion Courtesy Ding Musa / Fundação Bienal de São Paulo

Brazil

Artist: Jonathas de Andrade

Organisers: Jacopo Crivelli Visconti; José Olympio da Veiga Pereira, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo

Where: Giardini

Michail Michailov immersed in Headspacing, part of his exhibition There You Are at the Bulgarian pavilion © Photo: Kalin Serapionov

Bulgaria

Artist: Michail Michailov

Organisers: Irina Batkova; Iara Boubnova

Where: Spazio Rav, San Polo 1100

Jorge R Pombo's Variazione del 'Salvator Mundi' di Leonardo da Vinci (2022)

Cameroon

Artists: Francis Nathan Abiamba (Afran), Angéle Etoundi Essamba, Justine Gaga, Salifou Lindou, Shay Frisch, Umberto Mariani, Matteo Mezzadri, Jorge R. Pombo; NFT work (Kevin Abosch, João Angelini, Marco Bertìn (Berxit), Cryptoart Driver, Lana Denina, Alberto Echegaray Guevara, Genesis People, Joachim Hildebrand, Meng Huang, Eduardo Kac, Giulia Kosice, Julio Le Parc, Marina Nuñez, Miguel Soler-Roig, Miguel Ángel Vidal, Burkhard von Harder, Gabe Weis, Clark Winter, Shavonne Wong, Wang Xing, Alessandro Zannier, ZZH)

Organisers: Paul Emmanuel Loga Mahop and Sandro Orlandi Stagl

Where: Liceo Artistico Guggenheim and Palazzo San Bernardo

Stan Douglas Photo: © Evaan Kheraj. Courtesy of the artist, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner

Canada

Artist: Stan Douglas

Organisers: Reid Shier; National Gallery of Canada

Where: Giardini and Magazzini del Sale n5

Website

Stan Douglas’s dual-screen video work Doppelgänger was a highlight of the Biennale’s main exhibition in 2019. This year the artist is representing his home country in the Canadian pavilion. His works, in photography, video, installation and theatre, are often concerned with historical enactment or showing an alternative story.

• For more on this pavilion, see Venice Biennale 2022: the must-see pavilions in the Giardini

Lara Fluxà's LLIM in the Catalonia pavilion Photo: Violeta Mayoral

Catalonia

Artist: Lara Fluxà

Organisers: Oriol Fondevila; Institut Ramon Llull

Where: Docks Cantieri Cucchini, Ramo del Zoccolo, Castello 40

The artists Ariel Bustamante, Carla Macchiavello, Dominga Sotomayor and Alfredo Thiermann are making a work about peatlands for the Chile pavilion Photo: Dominga Sotomayor, Karukinka Natural Park, 2022

Chile

Artists: Ariel Bustamante, Carla Macchiavello, Dominga Sotomayor, Alfredo Thiermann

Organisers: Camila Marambio; Ximena Moreno

Where: Arsenale

Website

Unsexy but essential, peatlands are the new frontline in the fight against climate change. They are drying out and being destroyed around the world, going from being carbon sinks to carbon emitters. A project in Chile’s pavilion seeks to find new ways to conserve peatlands, rooted in the ancestral knowledge of the indigenous Selk’nam people of Patagonia.

• For more on this pavilion, see Venice Biennale 2022: the must-see pavilions in the Arsenale

Venice Biennale 2022

All the top exhibitions to see during the Venice Biennale in 2022

Lee Cheshire

China

Artists: Liu Jiayu, Wang Yuyang and Xu Lei

Organisers: Zhang Zikang; China Arts and Entertainment Group Ltd.

Where: Arsenale

The curator of the Croatian pavilion Elena Filipovic and the artist Tomo Savić-Gecan Photo: Jasenko Rasol

Croatia

Artist: Tomo Savić-Gecan

Organisers: Elena Filipovic; Ministry of Culture and Media

Where: via Garibaldi

Website

Cuba

Artists: Rafael Villares, Kcho and Giuseppe Stampone

Organisers: Nelson Ramirez de Arellano Conde; Norma Rodriguez Derivet

Where: Isola di San Servolo

Uffe Isolotto's We Walked the Earth installaion in the Danish pavilion © Ugo Carmeni

Denmark

Artist: Uffe Isolotto

Organisers: Jacob Lillemose

Where: Giardini

Egypt

Artist: Weaam Ahmed El-Masry, Mohamed Shoukry and Ahmed El-Shaer

Organisers: Ministry of Culture

Where: Giardini

Bita Razavi, Corina Apostol andKristina Norman. Photo: Dénes Farkas/CCA Estonia

Estonia

Artists: Kristina Norman and Bita Razavi

Organisers: Corina L. Apostol; Maria Arusoo, Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art

Where: Giardini (Dutch pavilion)

Website

• For more on this pavilion, see Estonian pavilion: Baltic country gets its chance to bloom

Pilvi Takala Photo: Ugo Carmeni, Frame Contemporary Art Finland

Finland

Artist: Pilvi Takala

Organisers: Christina Li; Frame: Contemporary Art Finland

Where:Giardini

Website

What do a wellness consultant, a marketing trainee at Deloitte and Snow White have in common? They have all been impersonated by the Finnish artist Pilvi Takala in her documentary-style works. For her pavilion commission, Close Watch, Takala became a fully qualified security guard, working for six months at one of Finland’s largest shopping centres for the security company Securitas. Her video installation will be based on workshops she carried out afterwards exploring some of the issues raised by the job, including what it means for the state to hand over roles of power to private companies and who is carrying out these roles. “I’m interested in how control is enforced within the private security industry, and how we ultimately govern each other’s behaviour,” Takala says.

• For more on this pavilion, see Finnish pavilion: The artist who became an undercover security guard

The artist Zineb Sedira and the curator Yasmina Reggad outside the French pavilion © Thierry Bal

France

Artist: Zineb Sedira

Organisers: Yasmina Reggad and artReoriented (Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath); Institut Français, French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, and the French Ministry of Culture

Where: Giardini

Website

Zineb Sedira is the first artist of Algerian descent to be selected to represent France at the Venice Biennale. This year will mark the 60th anniversary of Algerian independence from France, and Sedira’s presentation in the pavilion will focus on Algerian cinema of the 1960s and 1970s and its links to the Italian and French film industries.

• For more on this pavilion, see Zineb Sedira reveals plans for pavilion focused on activist filmmaking and Sonia Boyce's British pavilion wins Venice Biennale's coveted Golden Lion for best national exhibition

Mariam Natroshvili and Detu Jincharadze

Georgia

Artists: Mariam Natroshvili and Detu Jincharadze

Organisers: In-between Conditions (Vato Urushadze, Khatia Tchokhonelidze and Giorgi Spanderashvili); Magda Guruli

Where: Spazio Punch, Fondamenta S. Biagio, 800/o

Website

Maria Eichhorn Photo: Jens Ziehe

Germany

Artist: Maria Eichhorn

Organisers: Yilmaz Dziewior

Where: Giardini

Website

6. Afroscope's Ashe Sunsum Kasa (2022) at the Ghana pavilion Photo © David Levene

Ghana

Artist: Na Chainkua Reindorf, Afroscope and Diego Araúja

Organisers: Nana Oforiatta Ayim; Akwasi Agyeman, Ministry of Tourism, Arts And Culture

Where: Arsenale

• For more on this pavilion, see Ghanaian pavilion: returning country's presentation to spill out across Venice and The best of the Venice Biennale: our critics’ review

Sonia Boyce in her installation at the British pavilion Photo: Cristiano Corte © British Council

Great Britain

Artist: Sonia Boyce

Organisers: Emma Ridgway; Emma Dexter, British Council

Where: Giardini

Website

The British artist Sonia Boyce won the Golden Lion award for best national pavilion at the Venice Biennale for her installation titled Feeling Her Way, which features a chorus of Black female voices set against tessellating wallpaper and golden geometric objects.

• For more on this pavilion, see Sonia Boyce's British pavilion wins Venice Biennale's coveted Golden Lion for best national exhibition, Sonia Boyce on being the first Black female artist to represent the UK at the Biennale and The best of the Venice Biennale: our critics’ review

A still from Loukia Alavanou's On The Way to Colonus (2020) © Loukia Alavanou

Greece

Artist: Loukia Alavanou

Organisers: Giannis Arvanitis and Heinz Peter Schwerfel; National Gallery

Where: Giardini

The Greek artist Loukia Alavanou has created a virtual reality (VR) film titled On The Way to Colonus, based on the ancient Athenian play Oedipus in Colonus by Sophocles. The artist asked members of a Roma community living on the outskirts of Athens to act out scenes from the play, drawing parallels between Oedipus being outcast from the city of Thebes and the mistreatment of the Roma people by the local authorities.

Empathy of Place (2021) by Asher Mains, one of the Cypher Art Collective of Grenada Photo courtesy of the artist

Grenada

Artist: Cypher Art Collective of Grenada (Oliver Benoit, Billy Gerard Frank, Ian Friday, Asher Mains, Susan Mains, Angus Martin and Samuel Ogilvie)

Organisers: Daniele Radini

Where: Il Giardino Bianco

Guatemala

Artist: Chrispapita (Christian Escobar)

Organisers: Felipe Amado Aguilar Marroquin

Where: Spuma, Space For The Arts, Giudecca 800/R

Angela Su Photo: Winnie Yeung, Visual Voices; Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Artist: Angela Su

Organisers: Freya Chou; M+ Museum and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council

Where: Campo della Tana, Castello

Website

The artist Zsófia Keresztes and the curator Mónika Zsikla at the Hungarian pavilion

Hungary

Artist: Zsófia Keresztes

Organisers: Mónika Zsikla; Julia Fabényi

Where: Giardini

Sigurður Guðjónsson's Perpetual Motion in the Icelandic pavilion Courtesy of the artist and BERG Contemporary, Photos: Ugo Carmeni

Iceland

Artist: Sigurður Guðjónsson

Organisers: Mónica Bello; Icelandic Art Center

Where: Arsenale

Website

• For more on this pavilion, see Icelandic pavilion: The magnetic attraction of light and sound

The artist Niamh O’Malley (centre) with curators Clíodhna Shaffrey and Michael Hill Courtesy of Temple Bar Gallery+Studios

Ireland

Artist: Niamh O’Malley

Organisers: Clíodhna Shaffrey and Michael Hill, Temple Bar Gallery+Studios; Culture Ireland and the Arts Council Ireland

Where: Arsenale

Website

Ilit Azoulay in her Berlin studio Courtesy of the artist and Braverman Gallery

Israel

Artist: Ilit Azoulay

Organisers: Shelley Harten

Where: Giardini

The curator Eugenio Viola with the artist Gian Maria Tosatti at the Italian pavilion

Italy

Artist: Gian Maria Tosatti

Organisers: Eugenio Viola; Onofrio Cutaia, Ministero della Cultura

Where: Arsenale

Website

• For more on this pavilion, see Venice Biennale 2022: the must-see pavilions in the Arsenale and Italian pavilion: ‘What is the future for humans?’ asks artist Gian Maria Tosatti

Ivory Coast

Artists: Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Abdoulaye Diarrassouba dit Aboudia, Armand Boua, Saint-Etienne Yéanzi dit Yeanzi, Laetitia Ky and Aron Demetz

Organisers: Massimo Scaringella and Alessandro Romanini; Henri Koffissé N'koumo

Where: Magazzino del Sale 3, Dorsoduro 264

The Japanese pavilion Photo: Yuki Seli, ©Dumb Type, Courtesy of The Japan Foundation

Japan

Artist: Dumb Type

Organisers: Japan Foundation

Where: Giardini

Website

ORTA collective

Kazakhstan

Artist: ORTA collective

Organisers: Meruyert Kaliyeva

Where: Spazio Arco, Dorsoduro 1485

Website

Kenya

Artist: TBC

Organisers: Jimmy Ogonga; Kiprop Lagat

Where: Zattere Gallery, Dorsoduro 46-48

Kosovo

Artist: Jakup Ferri

Organisers: Inke Arns; Alisa Gojani-Berisha

Where: Arsenale

Firouz FarmanFarmaian

Kyrgyzstan

Artist: Firouz FarmanFarmaian

Organisers: Janet Rady; Saltanat Abdyldaevna Amanova

Where: Hydro Space, Giudecca Art Center, Giudecca 211/C

Selling Water by the River (no.1.) (2022) by Skuja Braden © Skuja Braden (Ingūna Skuja and Melissa D. Braden). Photo: Kristīne Madjare

Latvia

Artist: Skuja Braden (Ingūna Skuja and Melissa D. Braden)

Organisers: Andra Silapētere; Solvita Krese, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art, Ministry of Culture

Where: Arsenale

Ayman Baalbaki and Danielle Arbid Photos: © Thierry Van Biesen and © Philippe Lebruman

Lebanon

Artist: Ayman Baalbaki and Danielle Arbid

Organisers: Nada Ghandour

Where: Arsenale

Lithuania

Artist: Robertas Narkus

Organisers: Neringa Bumblienė; Kęstutis Kuizinas

Where:Castello 3200 and 3206, Campo de le Gate

Luxembourg

Artist: Tina Gillen

Organisers: Christophe Gallois; Mudam Luxembourg

Where: Arsenale

Website

Iao Hon Dynasty (2021) by “Yiima” Art Group © “Yiima” Art Group

Macao

Artist: YiiMa Art Group

Organisers: João Miguel Barros; Macao Museum of Art

Where: In front of the Arsenale, Campo della Tana, Castello 2126

Malta

Artist: Brian Schembri, Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci and Arcangelo Sassolino

Organisers: Keith Sciberras and Jeffrey Uslip; Arts Council Malta

Where: Arsenale

Website

Mexico

Artist: Mariana Castillo Deball, Naomi Rincón Gallardo, Fernando Palma Rodríguez and Santiago Borja Charles

Organisers: Catalina Lozano and Mauricio Marcin; Diego Sapién

Where: Arsenale

Website

Journey through Vulnerability by Munkhtsetseg Jalkhaajav Photo: Jantsankhorol Erdenebayar

Mongolia

Artist: Munkhtsetseg Jalkhaajav

Organisers: Gantuya Badamgarav; Nomin Chinbat

Where: Castello 2131

Montenegro

Artists: Dante Buu, Lidija Delić & Ivan Šuković, Darko Vučković, Jelena Tomašević, Art Collection of Non-Aligned Countries

Organisers: Natalija Vujošević; Jelena Božović

Where: Palazzo Malipiero, San Marco 3078-3079/A, Ramo Malipiero

Namibia

Artist: “Renn”

Organisers: Marco Furio Ferrario; Marcellinus Swartbooi, Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture

Where: Isola della Certosa

The Nepal pavilion curators Hit Man Gurung and Sheelasha Rajbhandari, with the artist Tsherin Sherpa Photo: Chhiring Dorje Gurung, courtesy of the artists

Nepal

Artist: Tsherin Sherpa

Organisers: Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung

Where: Sant’anna Project Space One

Several nations will be making their Venice Biennale debut this year, many using the event as a way of countering stereotypical ideas of their countries. Nepal is no exception, as the organisers attempt to shake off the Shangri-La stereotype. “In contradiction to a mythical utopia—shrouded in happiness, longevity and bliss—is the reality of an intricately interconnected peoples who have repeatedly experienced displacement, loss and the insurmountable task of reconstituting their lives,” say the curators Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung. The Nepal pavilion artist Tsherin Sherpa, whose work typically plays with traditional iconography and techniques, will be collaborating with artists from around the country “to create a space to reflect and re-evaluate these biases”.

Big Spoon film still from When the body says Yes by Melanie Bonajo Courtesy of the artist

Netherlands

Artist: Melanie Bonajo

Organisers: Orlando Maaike Gouwenberg, Geir Haraldseth and Soraya Pol; Mondriaan Fund

Where: Chiesetta della Misericordia

Website

In somewhat stereotypical liberal Dutch fashion, the Dutch pavilion’s pick Melanie Bonajo is not only an artist and film-maker, but also a “certified sexological bodyworker and somatic sex coach”. Bonajo will be creating an immersive video installation exploring the importance of touch and intimacy in an age of increasing digital-led isolation, which has only been intensified more recently by a disease that relies on proximity to propagate. After more than two years of social distancing, Bonajo’s work might be a very welcome hug that many people need (or perhaps not, depending on the severity of the pandemic at the time). Note, too, the exhibition—titled When the Body Says Yes—will be outside the Giardini, with the Netherlands’s usual spot being given over to Estonia this year.

Two Faʻafafine (After Gauguin) (2020] from the Paradise Camp series by Yuki Kihara Image courtesy of Yuki Kihara and Milford Galleries, Aotearoa New Zealand

New Zealand

Artist: Yuki Kihara

Organisers: Caren Rangi and Natalie King; Creative New Zealand

Where: Arsenale

Website

Themes of ecology, queer rights and decolonisation will be explored by the Pasifika artist Yuki Kihara in New Zealand’s pavilion. Kihara, who identifies as Fa’afafine, a third gender in Samoan culture, says that the presentation “is intended to camp the notion of paradise”. The show, playfully called Paradise Camp, will be made up of archival material coupled with photography and film shot on the paradisal Samoan island of Upolu.

North Macedonia

Artist: Robert Jankuloski

Organisers: Ana Frangovska; Dita Starova Qerimi, National Gallery of the Republic of North Macedonia

Where: TBC

Hassan Meer, one of the five artists representing Oman Image courtesy of the National Pavilion of the Sultanate of Oman

Oman

Artists: Anwar Sonya, Hassan Meer, Budoor Al Riyami, Radhika Khimji and Raiya Al Rawahi

Organisers: Sayyid Saeed Al Busaidi and Aisha Stoby

Where: Arsenale

Making its Venice Biennale debut, the Sultanate of Oman will be presenting the works of five artists covering the past 50 years of Omani contemporary art. The selection of artists is centred on a local collective called Circle Group, established in the late 1990s by Hassan Meer, and its subsequent series of group exhibitions.

Peru

Artist: Herbert Rodriguez

Organisers: Jorge Villarcorta; Armando Andrade

Where: Arsenale

Philippines

Artist: Gerardo Tan, Felicidad A. Prudente and Sammy N. Buhle

Organisers: Yael Buencamino Borromeo and Arvin Jason Flores

Where: Arsenale

Website

The artist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas (centre) with the curators Wojciech Szymański and Joanna Warsza Photo: Daniel Rumiancew

Poland

Artist: Małgorzata Mirga-Tas

Organisers: Wojciech Szymański and Joanna Warsza; National Gallery of Art, Warsaw

Where: Giardini

Website

Against a backdrop of rising nationalism, the Polish pavilion’s decision to select a Romani artist seems bolder than ever. According to the organisers, it is the first time that a Romani artist has been represented in a national pavilion and Małgorzata Mirga-Tas will be placing her heritage at the heart of the exhibition. The Polish-born artist is creating 12 textile works inspired by 15th-century frescoes in the Hall of the Months in Ferrara, which depict Olympian gods, pagan rituals and seasonal activities. Mirga-Tas’s textiles will show scenes from Roma history as well as Romani mythologies, coupled with more personal aspects of the artist’s life. The project’s title, Re-enchanting the World, reflects Mirga-Tas’s goal of reinserting one of Europe’s most marginalised groups of people back into a shared history.

Pedro Neves Marques's Autofiction (2020) Courtesy of the artist and Galleria Umberto Di Marino

Portugal

Artist: Pedro Neves Marques

Organisers: João Mourão and Luís Silva; Direção-Geral das Artes

Where: Palazzo Franchetti

Adina Pintilie in a still from her work You Are Another Me - A Cathedral of the Body Courtesy of the artist; Photo: George Chiper-Lillemark

Romania

Artist: Adina Pintilie

Organisers: Cosmin Costinas and Viktor Neumann; Attila Kim

Where: Giardini and Romanian Institute for Culture and Humanistic Research

The Russian pavilion in the Giardini, Venice

Russia - no longer participating

Artists: Kirill Savchenkov and Alexandra Sukhareva

Organisers: Raimundas Malašauskas

Where: Giardini

Following the the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the artists Kirill Savchenkov and Alexandra Sukhareva, and the curator Raimundas Malašauskas have pulled out of representing Russia at the 59th Venice Biennale. Their decision means that there will be no official Russian representation and its pavilion will remain closed.

San Marino

Artists: Elisa Cantarelli, Nicoletta Ceccoli, Roberto Paci

Dalò, Endless, Michelangelo Galliani, Rosa Mundi, Mouna Rebeiz, Anne-Cécile Surga and Michele Tombolini

Organisers: Vincenzo Rotondo; Riccardo Varini

Where: Palazzo Donà Dalle Rose and Chiesa Anglicana di San Giorgio

Máret Ánne Sara, Anders Sunna and Pauliina Feodoroff Photo: Marta Buso, OCA

Sápmi (formerly Nordic countries: Norway, Sweden, and Finland)

Artists: Pauliina Feodoroff, Máret Ánne Sara and Anders Sunna

Organisers: Katya García-Antón, Liisa-Rávná Finbog and Beaska Niillas; Office for Contemporary Art Norway

Where: Giardini

Website

The Nordic pavilion has been renamed the Sámi pavilion for the 59th Venice Biennale and will show works by three artists from Sápmi, a region in northernmost Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia predating current national borders. The selection of artists and name change is “a symbolic reversal of colonial claims that have sought to erase Sámi land and culture,” according to statement from the organisers, the Office for Contemporary Art Norway.

Saudi Arabia

Artist: Muhannad Shono

Organisers: Reem Fadda; Visual Arts Commission, Ministry of Culture

Where: Arsenale

Scotland

Artist: Alberta Whittle

Organisers: Glasgow International; Scotland+Venice

Where: Arsenale Docks Cantieri Cucchini

Website

Vladimir Nikolic and Biljana Ciric

Serbia

Artist: Vladimir Nikolic

Organisers: Biljana Ciric; Maja Kolaric, Museum of Contemporary Art

Where: Giardini

Website

A film still of a censored 16th century edition of Petrarch Courtesy of Shubigi Rao

Singapore

Artist: Shubigi Rao

Organisers: Ute Meta Bauer; Rosa Daniel, National Arts Council Singapore

Where: Arsenale

Website

Visitors to the Singapore pavilion will be able to lose themselves both figuratively in the books on display and literally, in a paper maze. The show is the latest iteration of a decade-long series by Rao that explores the destruction of books and libraries. Working with the architect Laura Miotto, Rao will create a maze-like installation at the heart of which will be 5,000 copies of her book Pulp III: A Short Biography of the Banished, which visitors can take away to read. Both the book and an accompanying film will look at Venice and Singapore as historical centres of printing.

Slovenia

Artist: Marko Jakše

Organisers: Robert Simonišek; Aleš Vaupotič

Where: Arsenale

South Africa

Artists: Roger Ballen, Lebohang Kganye and Phumulani Ntuli

Organisers: Amé Bell; Nosipho Nausca-Jean Ngcaba

Where: Arsenale

Yunchul Kim's Chroma III (2021) Courtesy of the artist

South Korea

Artist: Yunchul Kim

Organisers: Youngchul Lee; Arts Council Korea

Where: Giardini

Spain

Artist: Ignasi Aballí

Organisers: Beatriz Espejo

Where: Giardini

Latifa Echakhch Photo: Pro Helvetia/Keystone/Christian Beutler

Switzerland

Artist: Latifa Echakhch with Alexandre Babel

Organisers: Alexandre Babel and Francesco Stocchi; Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia

Where: Giardini

Website

Syria

Artists: Saousan Al Zubi, Ismael Nasra, Adnan Hamideh, Omran Younis, Aksam Tallaa, Giuseppe Amadio, Marcello Lo Giudice and Lorenzo Puglisi

Organisers: Emad Kashout

Where: Isola di San Servolo

Taiwan

Artist: [New artist to be announced. See, Taiwan drops Venice Biennale pavilion artist over sexual assault accusations]

Organisers: Patrick Flores; Taipei Fine Arts Museum

Where:Palazzo delle Prigioni

Turkey

Artist: Füsun Onur

Organisers: Bige Örer; Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts

Where: Arsenale

Website

Collin Sekajugo's Stock Image 013 - Engaged (2018/21) Photo: Maximilien de Dycker Ⓒ Collin Sekajugo Studio


Uganda

Artists: Acaye Kerunen and Collin Sekajugo

Organisers: Shaheen Merali; Naumo Juliana Akoryo

Where: Palazzo Palumbo Fossati, San Marco 259

Website

Pavlo Makov and his work The Fountain of Exhaustion photograhed in 1996 © Pavlo Makov. Courtesy of the artist

Ukraine

Artist: Pavlo Makov

Organisers: Lizaveta German, Maria Lanko and Borys Filonenko; Kateryna Chuyeva, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine

Where: Arsenale

Following the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the organisers of the Ukrainian pavilion put their plans for the Venice Biennale on hold. However, according to the artist Pavlo Makov, his work was smuggled out the country on 26 February, making it possible that it may still be exhibited in Venice.

The curator Maya Allison and the Emirati artist Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim Courtesy National Pavilion UAE; Photo: Augustine Paredes

United Arab Emirates

Artist: Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim

Organisers: Maya Allison; Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation

Where: Arsenale

Website

Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim’s colourful papier-mâché sculptures look set to brighten up the UAE pavilion in the Arsenale. His show’s title, Between Sunrise and Sunset, is inspired by the changing light of the veteran artist’s hometown, Khor Fakkan. As he explains: “The show demonstrates the tension between Khor Fakkan’s colourful bright mornings, when the sun rises over the ocean, and the disappearance of colours in mid-afternoon, when the sun drops behind the mountains that loom over my hometown.” The biomorphic sculptures, inspired by the fantastical imagery in a children’s book by the Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, also tie in nicely with some of the Biennale’s main exhibition themes, such as “bodies and their metamorphoses”.

Simone Leigh in the studio © Simone Leigh. Courtesy the artist and Matthew Marks Gallery. Photo: Shaniqwa Jarvis

United States

Artist: Simone Leigh

Organisers: Jill Medvedow and Eva Respini

Where: Giardini

Website

The American sculptor Simone Leigh will be dedicating her exhibition at the US pavilion entirely “to the experiences and contributions of Black women,” says the pavilion’s co-curator Jill Medvedow. As well as the Chicagoan’s signature figurative sculptures of Black women—sculpted full size in clay before being cast in bronze—the commission will also include a three-day symposium about their overlooked histories and achievements. After the biennial, the presentation will travel to the ICA in Boston for Leigh’s first major US exhibition.

Uruguay

Artist: Gerardo Goldwasser

Organisers: Laura Malosetti Costa and Pablo Uribe; Silvana Bergson

Where: Giardini

Uzbekistan

Artistsl: Saodat Ismailova, Vyacheslav Useinov and Space Caviar

Organisers: Studio Space Caviar; Art and Culture Development Foundation

Where: Arsenale

Venezuela

Artists: Palmira Correa, César Vázquez, Mila Quast and Jorge Recio

Organisers: Zacarías García; Paola Claudia Posani Urdaneta

Where: Giardini

Zimbabwe

Artists: Wallen Mapondera, Ronald Muchatuta, Kresiah Mukwazhi and Terrence Musekiwa

Organisers: Fadzai Muchemwa; National Gallery of Zimbabwe

First published on 17 December 2021; last updated on 25 May 2022
Venice Biennale 2022Venice BiennaleVenice Biennials & festivalsVenice Biennale 2022 national pavilions
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