The title for the 60th
International Exhibition
of La Biennale di Venezia
is “Foreigners Everywhere,”
a title selected by curator
Adriano Pedrosa, who is
currently the artistic director
of the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP). The title is taken from ‘a series of works made by the Paris-born and Palermo-based collective Claire Fontaine since 2004,’ which consists of neon sculptures in different colors that ‘render in a growing number of languages the expression “Foreigners Everywhere”.’ The title was also appropriated by a collective in Turin in the early 2000s, which fought racism and xenophobia in Italy – Stranieri Ovunque.
The exhibition features 331 artists and/or collectives who live or have lived in 80 countries. The exhibition also includes 87 national participations and 4 countries participating for the first time (Republic of Benin, Ethiopia, United Republic of Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Timor Leste). Additionally, 30 collateral events were admitted by the curator.
In preparing for curating the exhibition, Pedrosa engaged in an eleven-month journey to multiple countries that included Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Angola, South Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Middle East.
Left:
MDM MAHKU
Photo by: Matteo De Mayda
Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia
Above:
Adriano Pedrosa and Roberto Cicutto,
Photo by Jacopo Salvi, Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia
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