Details of the Venice Biennale 2024 have already started to be announced. The 60th edition of the most prestigious and oldest-running art biennial will open on 20 April 2024 (until 24 November). To help you keep on top of the latest pavilion news, we have brought together all the participating artists and organisers announced so far.
• Venice Biennale: 60th International Art Exhibition, Giardini, Arsenale and various venues around Venice, 20 April-24 November 2024
Archie Moore's United Neytions (2017) on show at Carriageworks in Sydney Photo: Sofia Freeman, The Commercial
Australia
Artist: Archie Moore
Organisers: Ellie Buttrose; Australia Council for the Arts
Where: Giardini
The First Nations artist Archie Moore’s work often addresses and confronts contentious issues from Australia’s national history in highly personal installations, which draw material from his daily life. The pavilion’s curator Ellie Buttrose says that Moore is “singular in his ability to engage audiences on an emotional level through memories and familial stories in artworks that stimulate discussion about how we bear the responsibility for social change.”
Jump for joy: Anna Jermolaewa (right) with the curator Gabriele Spindler Photo: Maria Ziegelböck
Austria
Artist: Anna Jermolaewa
Organisers: Gabriele Spindler; Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport
Where: Giardini
The Russia-born Vienna-based artist, who works mainly in lens-based media and installation, will be presenting new work based on different expressions of non-violent resistance. Previous artworks include an installation about famous carrier pigeons and hiring impersonators of Russian leaders—Lenin, Stalin, Gorbachev, and Putin—and filming them in public spaces for The Doubles (2021).
Belgium
Artist: Petticoat Government collective
Organisers: Antoinette Jattiot; Wallonia-Brussels Federation and Wallonia-Brussels International
Where: Giardini
Benin
Artist: [to be announced]
Organisers: Azu Nwagbogu
Benin will be taking part in the Venice Biennale for the first time in 2024. The country’s participation is part of a wider effort by its government to promote Benin’s cultural history and “diplomacy around the restitution of Benin’s royal treasures,” according to a press statement.
Kapwani Kiwanga © Bertille Chéret 2016
Canada
Artist: Kapwani Kiwanga
Organisers: Gaëtane Verna; National Gallery of Canada
Where: Giardini
The Paris-based Canadian artist Kapwani Kiwanga’s work often tackles forgotten histories using a wealth of different media. The artist, who studied anthropology and comparative religion, “is interested in the role of art as a catalyst for revealing and addressing alternative and often silenced, marginalised socio-political narratives that are part of our shared histories,” according to the pavilion’s curator Gaëtane Verna.
Edith Karlson Photo: Marii Kiisk/Müürileht
Estonia
Artist: Edith Karlson
Organisers: Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art
The Tallinn-based sculptor Edith Karlson will create an immersive installation for the Estonian pavilion. The artist’s “evocative installations take the audience on an epic journey, through history, moods and myths,” says the curator Geir Haraldseth, who was part of the international selection committee for the pavilion. “Karlson’s belief in the power of art, and in particular sculpture, to affect us all, is sorely needed today.”
Vidha Saumya, Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen and Pia Lindman Photo: Jo Hislop / Frame Contemporary Art Finland
Finland
Artists: Pia Lindman, Vidha Saumya and Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen
Organisers: Yvonne Billimore and Jussi Koitela; Frame Contemporary Art Finland
Where: Giardini
The three artists representing Finland—Pia Lindman, Vidha Saumya and Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen—all create work that explores the human body and our bodily experience. According to a press statement, each of the artists “has crafted a transdisciplinary practice in which art, life and activism are consciously intertwined” and have been commissioned to create new pieces that will work in dialogue with each other.
Julien Cruezet Courtesy of BMW Group
France
Artist: Julien Creuzet
Organisers: Institut Français, French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, and the French Ministry of Culture
Where: Giardini
The French artist Julien Creuzet grew up on the French-Caribbean island of Martinique and his “singular work and his gift for oral literature are informed by creolisation, bringing together a diversity of materials, stories, forms and gestures,” says the selection committee who voted unanimously for him to represent France. Recent exhibitions include Luma Arles and Camden Art Centre in London.
John Akomfrah
Great Britain
Artist: John Akomfra
Organisers: Tarini Malik; British Council
Where: Giardini
At the 2022 Biennale, Sonia Boyce’s presentation in the British pavilion won the Golden Lion prize for best national participation, so the pressure will be on for the film-maker John Akomfrah, representing the UK in 2024. The British-Ghanaian artist is best known for his searing video installations exploring issues such as climate change and post-colonialism. He says in a statement: “I’m grateful to be given a moment to explore the complex history and significance of this institution [the British Pavilion] and the nation it represents, as well as its architectural home in Venice, with all the stories it has told and will continue to.”
The Hong Kong pavilion artist Trevor Yeung and the curator Olivia Chow Photo: South Ho. Courtesy of M+, Hong Kong
Artist: Trevor Yeung
Organisers: Olivia Chow; M+ Museum and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council
The Chinese-born, Hong Kong-based artist Trevor Yeung uses complex installations to explore societal roles and human relationships with other species. His latest exhibition at London’s Gasworks uses light and scent, as well as tree made of soap, in an installation that “interrogate[s] his emotional connection with Hampstead Heath, a park that is popular among cruisers since the 19th century”. Of his selection to represent Hong Kong, Yeung says: “as the world adjusts to the re-opening of borders and new ways of interaction after the pandemic, it is particularly meaningful for me to present new work influenced by cross cultures and my immediate surrounding.” Following the Biennale, Yeung’s presentation will go on show at M+ in 2025.
Márton Nemes Photo: Mónus Márton
Hungary
Artist: Márton Nemes
Organisers: Róna Kopeczky; Julia Fabényi, Ludwig Museum
Where: Giardini
Márton Nemes’s abstract paintings and sculptures are often inspired by digital and techno subcultures, from which they borrow visual tropes. For the Hungarian pavilion, the artist will be creating “an immersive environment, a Gesamtkunstwerk rooted in expanded painting,” according to the organisers. The work will take up the whole space and also use sound and touch.
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir Photo: Eyþór Árnason
Iceland
Artist: Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir
Organisers: Dan Byers; Icelandic Art Center
Where: Arsenale
Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir’s playful sculptures incorporate mundane, everyday objects—computer buttons, stickers, car air fresheners—and draw attention to their overlooked design, aesthetics and even beauty. The organisers say that Birgisdóttir “often uses and misuses the systems we have developed to produce our material world,” while the pavilion’s curator Dan Byers adds that the artist’s work is “aesthetically subversive and slyly political”.
Eimear Walshe Photo: Cáit Fahey
Ireland
Artist: Eimear Walshe
Organisers: Sara Greavu; Project Arts Centre, Culture Ireland and the Arts Council Ireland
Where: Arsenale
The Irish artist and writer Eimear Walshe’s work often deals with the history and the politics of contested land in Ireland, but with a focus on gender and sexuality. Walshe, who works in a variety of media, has described it as “trying to marry different histories that appear to be in contradiction with one and other.” The pavilion’s curator Sara Greavu adds: “Walshe’s extraordinary work speaks of and from a precarious generation, and proposes new ways to claim a sense of kinship, place and love; refusing estrangement from history and community, language and tradition.” After the Biennale, the work is due to go on a nationwide tour of Ireland.
Pakui Hardware Photo: Laura Schaeffer
Lithuania
Artists: Pakui Hardware (Neringa Cerniauskaite and Ugnius Gelguda) and Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė
Organisers: Valentinas Klimasauskas and João Laia; Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Lithuanian Council for Culture
The artist duo Pakui Hardware are planning an immersive installation for the Lithuania pavilion, which will feature paintings by the late Surrealist artist Marija Teresė Rožanskaitė. According to a press statement, the “exhibition will explore the inflammation of (post)human bodies under the current economic and social conditions.”
Ced’art Tamasala, Matthieu Kasiama Kilapi and Lisette Mbuku Kimpala from CATPC with the Dutch artist Renzo Martens (centre) and the curator Hicham Khalidi (second from right) © Koos_Breukel 2023
Netherlands
Artists: Renzo Martens and Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC)
Organisers: Hicham Khalidi, Mondriaan Fund
Where: Giardini
The Dutch artist Renzo Martens will be collaborating with the Cercle d’Art des Travailleurs de Plantation Congolaise (CATPC), to create an exhibition that will run concurrently in the Dutch pavilion and at the White Cube art centre in Lusanga, Democratic Republic of Congo. CATPC is a collective of plantation workers and was founded in 2014. It uses money made from art to buy back plantations and turn them into biodiverse environments and in 2017 the collective worked with Martens to open the White Cube space on a former plantation, where much of the group’s activities are now based.
Yinka Shonibare and Toyin Ojih Odutola are two of the eight artists representing Nigeria at the Venice Biennale Tom Jamieson, 2023 / Courtesy of the artist
Nigeria
Artists: Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Ndidi Dike, Onyeka Igwe, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Abraham Oghobase, Precious Okoyomon, Yinka Shonibare and Fatimah Tuggar
Organisers: Aindrea Emelife; Godwin Obaseki, Federal Ministry of Culture and Information
Where: Dorsoduro
The group exhibition of eight artists in the Nigerian pavilion will be called Nigerian Imaginary and is described by its curator Aindrea Emelife as being an exploration of “the many Nigerias that live in our minds”. She adds: “It is complete serendipity that Adriano Pedrosa’s theme for the Biennale is Foreigners Everywhere. It speaks to me as a phrase about movement and evolution, finding one’s home, and exploring one’s attachment to nationhood.” It is only the second time that Nigeria presents a pavilion at the Biennale.
Tze Yeung Ho, Kholod Hawash and Lap-See Lam Photo: Robert Schittko
Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden and Finland)
Artists: Lap-See Lam, Kholod Hawash and Tze Yeung Ho
Organisers: Asrin Haidari; Moderna Museet
Where: Giardini
The Swedish artist Lap-See Lam will be collaborating with the Finish artist Kholod Hawash and the Norwegian composer Tze Yeung Ho to make a “large-scale Gesamtkunstwerk”, according to the Nordic pavilion organisers. The sound installation and performance will be inspired by Cantonese opera, characterised by its elaborate makeup and costumes with plots drawing on Chinese history and myths. “Our three invited participants are all phenomenal storytellers, who use sound and images to amalgamate conflicting feelings of national identity, involving parallel experiences of alienation and cultural affinity,” says the pavilion’s curator Asrin Haidari. She adds: “The Gesamtkunstwerk takes us on a journey into the world of fairy tales, where supernatural beings turn the logic of the real world on its head.”
Robert Zhao Renhui Image courtesy of the artist
Singapore
Artist: Robert Zhao Renhui
Organisers: Haeju Kim; Singapore Art Museum and Low Eng Teong, National Arts Council Singapore
Where: Arsenale
Robert Zhao Renhui works primarily in photography but also uses other media to create installations reflecting on humanity’s relationship with the natural world. His recent work has focused on the regenerative potential of secondary forests in Singapore and, according to a press statement, in Venice he will create an “immersive, interdisciplinary installation that builds on the complex and rich multiplicity of his ecological research through art.”
Koo Jeong A Courtesy the artist and Pilar Corrias, London
South Korea
Artist: Koo Jeong A
Organisers: Jacob Fabricius and Lee Seol-hui; Arts Council Korea
Where: Giardini
Koo Jeong A is planning an immersive installation for the South Korean pavilion, where visitors will be taken on a “Korean scent journey” through the country’s cities. The artist has used scent in previous works, such creating the smell of a city just before a rainstorm for a show at the Dia Art Foundation in New York or filling a disused London tube platform with the smell of the endangered Agar tree. Koo is perhaps best known publicly for her glow-in-the-dark skateparks made using phosphorescent paint.
Spain
Artist: Sandra Gamarra
Organisers: Adriano Pedrosa
Where: Giardini
The Peru-born, Madrid-based artist Sandra Gamarra will present Pinacoteca migrante, a work based on the consequences of Spanish colonisation. The artist is also the author of a fictional museum called LiMac - Museum of Contemporary Art of Lima, where all the artefacts, even the museum shop merchandise, are hand painted. Gamarra previously represented Peru at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009.
Guerreiro do Divino Amor © Diego Paulino
Switzerland
Artist: Guerreiro do Divino Amor
Organisers: Andrea Bellini,; Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia
Where: Giardini
The Swiss-Brazilian artist Guerreiro do Divino Amor (whose name translates from Portuguese as warrior of divine love) will be creating an exhibition titled Super Superior Civilizations, which will explore nationalism and political mythologies. It will be the latest instalment in the artist’s long running project Superfictional World Atlas, which he began in 2005.
Jeffrey Gibson Photo: Brian Barlow
United States
Artist: Jeffrey Gibson
Organisers: Kathleen Ash-Milby, Louis Grachos and Abigail Winograd; Portland Art Museum in Oregon and Site Santa Fe
Where: Giardini
Jeffrey Gibson is the first Indigenous artist to represent the US at the Venice Biennale. The artist’s work often employs colourful and complex patterns in a variety of media, referencing US, Indigenous and Queer histories as well as imagery from popular culture. “His inclusive and collaborative approach is a powerful commentary on the influence and persistence of Native American cultures within the United States and globally, making him the ideal representative for the United States at this moment,” says the co-curator Kathleen Ash-Milby.