At this edition of the Venice Biennale, you will not only see a diversity of art, but you will also learn about history, the latter of which is not intentional on the part of the exhibitors.
克莱尔·方舟(Claire Fontaine) 装置作品 Foreigners Everzwhere
The title of the Biennale is Foreigners Everywhere, which translates to "Foreigners Everywhere" in Chinese. To put it simply, outsiders here are mostly immigrants, self-taught, or queer artists. After looking at the entire thematic exhibition, you will find that in fact, "outsiders" have another deep meaning, which does not specifically refer to a certain group, but represents the other who lacks the right to speak—the non-Western.
As we all know, it was the Westerners who started modernism, and it was they who formulated the history of modernism, and modernism outside of the non-West was not part of this history. "Let the West pay off its historical debts" is a goal of Adriano Pedrosa, the curator of this edition of the Venice Biennale. Hailing from the Southern Hemisphere, he is the first curator from Latin America in the history of the Biennale. He believes that modernist works from the southern hemisphere have their own characteristics, which are completely comparable to those of the West. In the thematic exhibition, he invited 331 artists, almost all of whom were from the southern hemisphere.
The scene of this year's Weishuang theme exhibition
In a global context, how should we understand and treat modernism outside the West? The reason why we ask this question is that when we talk about non-Western modernism, it has an object of reference, and that is Western modernism. On the contrary, Western modernism is independent, born out of the idea of discarding the old and innovating. Modernism in the Southern Hemisphere, of course, has its own significance, and it is obviously problematic to put it in the same place as the Western modernist assumptions, and it needs a new theory. Curator Phaedosa apparently ignores this part, and as such, he does not give the viewer the possibility of looking at these works in a new light.
The Venice Biennale, which has been held since 1895, is now in its 60th year. Held every two years, it focuses on the most acute issues of the International Art Forum, and at the same time, heralds trends in contemporary art. This year, there are more than 80 participating countries. In recent years, Europe has not been at peace, first with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and later with the wars between Israel and Hamas and Iran. These factors are also influencing the artist's creation.
Outside the Weishuang Israel Pavilion this year
In the run-up to the exhibition, Israeli artist Ruth Patir decided to close the Israel Pavilion to the public. She put up a poster on the transparent glass wall to show her attitude: unless the war stops and the captured Jews are released, they will not open the door. A few police officers stood by the Jewish Pavilion at all times, for fear that something unexpected might happen, such as the possibility that activists might come and make trouble at any time. Since February, more than 20,000 people have signed an open letter calling for Israel's exclusion from the biennale, including many prominent artists.
BUMBUMBUMBUM...,TUTUTUDUTZz... From time to time, such voices are heard in the Polish Pavilion, which is the description of weapons by Ukrainian refugees after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In order to survive the war, they learned how to distinguish between these different voices and determine their location. In the middle of the description of the sounds, they invite the audience to read aloud in order to draw attention to the war.
天鹅湖排练,2024 图片: Mark Krottendorfer
Where there is war, there are refugees. Not far away, at the Austrian Pavilion, a young dancer named Oksana Serheieva, a refugee from Ukraine, performs the Swan Lake dance. She was invited to work with refugee artist Anna Jermolaewa. During the political turmoil of the Soviet Union, Tchaikovsky's famous ballets were closely linked to politics. If the head of state dies, this dance music is played on television all the time as a sign of mourning. Sometimes it plays for days on end.
This is one aspect of this Biennale, which seems calm on the surface, but there is a lot of disharmony lurking underneath. In the Russian Pavilion, it is not Russia that holds the exhibition, but Bolivia. The Iranian pavilion, which is located on the fringe of the exhibition, closes its doors tightly without any hints or explanations.
In stark contrast to this desertion, many national pavilions are overcrowded, and spectators need to enter in batches. For example, the German Pavilion, the French Pavilion and the Italian Pavilion. Germany focuses its problems on immigration in its own country and its responsibilities because of its history.
The relics of Hassan Aygun
雅伊尔·巴尔塔纳的作品 Light to the Nations
In the 60s of the 20th century, a Turk named Hasan Aygün died of illness after 30 years of working in an asbestos factory in order to leave his poor hometown and work as a guest worker in West Germany. He was just one of many Turks who went to Germany to make a living in those days. At the Biennale, his descendant, the German playwright Ersan Mondtag, presented a portrait of Hassan Aygun to the world on behalf of Germany.
In the first space at the entrance to the German Pavilion, there is a moving spaceship, the work of Jewish artist Yael Bartana. In her work, she combines speculative theology with the mystical Kabbalah teachings of Judaism, turning the spaceship into a medium of salvation. In the German Pavilion, which was deliberately adapted to Hitler's aesthetic (the pursuit of grandeur, shock, and solidity), the confrontation between reality and history is particularly strong.
This year's exhibition of works by Julian Kreuzer of Weishuang
The French Pavilion opposite, is a different sight. Remnants of the ocean that have been washed away by the sea for an unknown amount of time are processed by artistic hands and presented in the space together with textiles. On one side of the wall, the underwater world is constantly played, and you can see that there are often garbage and other things floating by, and the poetic music connects all the elements of the scene, and the whole exhibition is like a fantastical surreal work. France is represented by French artist Julien Creuzet, a former French colony from Martinique. His poetic work expresses his own diaspora and his relationship with his ancestral home of Martinique, as well as the history of slavery, transatlantic African diaspora communities, and the violence of colonial powers. When we look at the slogan "Bringing the imagination of the Caribbean to the Venice Biennale" proposed to him by the French Ministry of Culture, we will see that colonial ideas are always there, whether intentional or unintentional.
Outside the Wai Shuang U.S. Pavilion this year
Jeffrey Gibson 作品
At this year's Venice Biennale, many countries are paying attention to minorities because it is a trend and the theme of this Biennale.
The U.S. Pavilion gave the opportunity to Native American artist Jeffrey Gibson. He used bright colors and dazzling patterns to give the U.S. Pavilion a new look.
This year's Weishuang Archie Moore installation works
Image courtesy of the Australia Pavilion
Similarly, the Australia Pavilion gave the opportunity to their Aboriginal artist, Archie Moore. In the installation, Moore used chalk to draw a vast Australian Aboriginal family tree on the walls and ceiling of the pavilion, based on his own family. With this project, the Australian Pavilion also won the Best National Pavilion of this year's Weishuang. The jury praised the work as "intensely aesthetic, lyrical and evokes a shared sense of loss from an unknown past".
Looking back at the Biennale, I think it would end with a quote from the artist Archie Moore when he presented the award: "We share a responsibility for all living beings – now and in the future. Human beings – regardless of nationality or tribe – are always inevitably linked and must share the planet. ”
Yes, only then can we eliminate discrimination, hatred and oppression. "Outsiders everywhere" reminds us that everyone should be tolerant.
英国馆展览 Listening All Night To The Rain，图片由英国馆提供。
Exhibition at the Brazil Pavilion, courtesy of the Brazil Pavilion
希腊馆展览,图片:Yorgos Kyvernitis
Solo exhibition of Yuko Mohri, Japan Pavilion
西班牙馆 Sandra Gamarra展览Migrant art gallery
Italian Pavilion Exhibition
威尼斯双年展 Foreigners Everywhere 主题展
(Article from 99 Art)
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