dyton mupawaenda
Arts Reporter
ORGANISERS of the world’s most special art exhibition dubbed the Venice Biennial have named the 331 artists and collectives that will take part in this year’s edition, which includes Zimbabweans.
The exhibition is set to run from April 20 to November 24 and the 60th La Biennial di Venizia chief curator Adriano Pedrosa announced the list.
The Brazilian renowned curator selected five Zimbabwean artists for his show.
Sharing the news with the media, Zimbabwean curator and National Gallery of Zimbabwe executive director Raphael Chikukwa said he was happy that the country was fully represented at the prestigious event.
“I share the news with you all, your support for the Venice Biennial means a lot to the Zimbabwean art scene and the global art scene at large,” he said. “Being part of the global art scene is a dream for every country. Allow me to congratulate Doreen Sibanda, Taylor Nkomo, Shalom Kufakwatenzi, the late Josia Manzi and Kudzayi Chiurayi.
“The Zimbabwe Pavilion will have six artists and it means Zimbabwe will have 11 artists at the 60th Venice Biennial.”
Chikukwa thanked Government officials and arts authorities for their support for the sector.
“To our Honourable Minister Dr Kirsty Coventry, Permanent Secretary Nicholas Moyo and the entire Ministry of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, I thank you,” he said.
“To the Gallery Board and my entire team, I thank you, and to the Zimbabwean arts community, let’s continue to shine together for we are safe in numbers.”
The number of artists featured in this year’s Biennial far surpasses the 213 artists that were included in the 2022 edition.
Pedrosa, who is the artistic director of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, is well-known for his groundbreaking exhibition initiative “Histórias”, which turns over the museum’s programming for the year to under-known histories, such as those of Afro-Atlantic, indigenous women, and other people.
During the press conference, Pedrosa said the Claire Fontaine works speak to “a world rife with multifarious crises concerning the movement and existence of people across countries, nations, territories, and borders, which reflect, in turn, the perils and pitfalls of language, translation, nationality, expressing differences and disparities conditioned by race, identity, nationality, gender, sexuality, freedom, and wealth.
“In this panorama, the expression ‘Foreigners Everywhere’ has several meanings. “First of all, wherever you go, and wherever you are, you will always encounter foreigners. They are everywhere.
“Secondly, that no matter where you find yourself, you are always truly and deep down inside, a foreigner. Yet, one may also think of the expression as a motto, a slogan, a call to action, a cry of excitement, joy, or fear: “Foreigners Everywhere.”
Pedrosa noted that the Biennial’s home, Venice itself experiences visitors, or foreigners, daily, with tourists numbering more than 165 000 in a single day, compared with the local population of some 50,000. Pedrosa said the guiding theme of the “Nucleo Contemporaneo” was an expansive definition of “foreigner” which will include a section dedicated to the Disobedience Archive, a project founded by Milan-based curator Marco Scotini in 2005 that has collected “a video archive focusing on the relationships between artistic practices and activism”, for nearly two decades.”
Online Reporter