Exibart: La Biennale and surroundings, what to see in Venice #6: From the Gardens to Giudecca
by the editorial staff
The opening week of the Venice Art Biennale, to be discovered with the maps of Untitled Association: Giardini della Biennale, MAGMA Gallery, Palazzo Novagero, Hotel Metropole, Ocean Space, Fondazione dell'Albero d'Oro, Kunsthaus Göttingen, Spazio Punch.
Immagine della mostra Re-Stor(y)ing Oceania (Elisapeta Hinemoa Keta), Ocean Space, Venezia, 2024 - Ph. Giacomo Cosua - Courtesy Ocean Space
Untitled association takes you on a discovery of the initiatives that will enliven the intense opening week of the 60th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale,Stranieri Ovunque / Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Adriano Pedrosa (preview 17, 18 and 19 April, open to the public from 20 April to 24 November 2024). A series of itineraries spread throughout the city, day by day, designed for professionals in the sector, connoisseurs and art enthusiasts, including exhibitions, events and unmissable spaces.
Here we are, finally, on the day of the opening to the public of the 60th Edition of the Venice Biennale – Foreigners Everywhere – curated by Adriano Pedrosa, the starting point of our journey. Without going too far, near the Giardini della Marinaressa, we reach MAGMA Gallery. We then walk along Riva degli Schiavoni to reach Palazzo Novagero and visit the Oman Pavilion and the nearby Hotel Metropole, we sink into the Sestiere Castello up to Ocean Space, to then regain and cross the Grand Canal and reach the Fondazione dell'Albero d'Oro, in the San Polo area. We travel to the Dorsoduro area with Kunsthaus Göttingen at Palazzo Rocca Contarini Corfú and conclude our itinerary on Giudecca Island with Spazio Punch.
We open today with the long-awaited 60th edition of the Venice Biennale, Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, the first Latin American to curate the International Art Exhibition of the Biennale. Today will be the awards ceremony – during which the Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement will be awarded to Anna Maria Maiolino and Nil Yalter. Pedrosa's exhibition will be divided between the Central Pavilion in the Giardini and the Arsenale into two distinct nuclei: Contemporary Nucleus and Historical Nucleus. Special attention has been paid to outdoor projects, both in the Arsenale and the Giardini, and to a program of performances during the pre-opening days and the last weekend of the 60th Exhibition.
The title Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere is taken from a series of works created since 2004 by the Claire Fontaine collective, born in Paris and based in Palermo. The expression was in turn taken from the name of a Turin collective of the same name that in the early 2000s fought against racism and xenophobia in Italy. "The expression Stranieri Ovunque – explains Adriano Pedrosa – has more than one meaning. First of all, it means that wherever you go and wherever you are, you will always meet foreigners: they are/we are everywhere. Secondly, that regardless of your location, deep down you are always truly foreigners."
Jim Dine, Clouds over Paris, 2023 – © Jim Dine
Together we pass Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, reaching the Dorsoduro district in Palazzo Rocca Contarini Corfú, near the Gallerie dell'Accademia, for the inauguration of Jim Dine – Dog on the Forge , curated by Gerhard Steidl, in collaboration with the Kunsthaus Göttingen. The exhibition is a collateral event of the 60th Venice Biennale. The retrospective exhibition presents the work of the American painter, sculptor and poet Jim Dine from the 1980s to the present, with 32 new works ranging from paintings, drawings and sculptures, both in bronze and wood. Dine has also created an outdoor installation with large-scale bronze sculptures.
