As a reminder, all NeueHouse members receive complimentary access to Essentialist´s bespoke travel planning services. Complete this form to activate your membership and begin planning your next getaway.
—
The 60th edition of the Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte (also known as the Biennale Arte, or Venice Biennale) has been dubbed the Olympics of the Art World. It attracts artists, dealers, gallerists, critics and style-conscious hangers-on from all over the globe and, this year, some 330 participants from 88 countries. The main exhibition areas fill the vast, atmospheric spaces of the Arsenale (the shipyards of La Serenissima) and the leafy Giardini while numerous sites throughout the city – grand palazzi, churches, gardens and even a prison – also host exhibits. Headlining collateral shows include Abstract Expressionist painter Willem de Kooning at The Accademia gallery.
‘The Biennale Arte 2024’s primary focus is artists who are themselves foreigners, immigrants, expatriates, diasporic, émigrés, exiled, or refugees,” says Brazilian curator Adriano Pedrosa who curated this year’s festival, titled Stranieri Ovunque: Foreigners everywhere.
With tourist season ebbing as summer wanes, the fall months offer a chance to see art in a quieter, more reflective setting. The Venice Biennale continues through November, and our travel partners at Essentialist have curated a guide to the must-see exhibitions and experiences in the Floating City.
Holy See Pavilion
One of the most talked-about exhibits, which includes works by feminist art collective Claire Fontaine, is that of the Holy See (The Vatican) which occupies part of the Women’s Prison on the Giudecca. With My Eyes invites the viewer, to question their own perspective, especially when seeing those that are different from ourselves. Maurizio Cattelan’s thought-provoking fresco ‘Father’, depicting worn, wounded feet, covers the façade of the building. Inmates were involved both in making the art and in showing visitors around the exhibits and events which include installations, dance, cinema and painting.
Australia Pavilion
In his quietly powerful kith and kin (which has been awarded the prestigious Golden Lion award), First Nations artist Archie Moore has transformed the Australian Pavilion in Giardini with a genealogical chart spanning 65,000 years. The artist reminds us that Australia’s First Nations peoples is among the oldest continuous living cultures on Earth and one of the most mistreated. A chalk on blackboard mural traces his own Kamilaroi and Bigambul (on his mother’s side) and Scottish (his father’s) roots in an engulfing family tree while piles of official State documents float in the void of a reflection pool referencing incarceration, massacres, disease and displacement. Ulltimately, it is also a celebration of resilience.
Must-See Exhibitions
The Japan Pavilion
Tokyo-based artist Yuko Mohri created her ‘Compose’ installations on site in the months leading up to the Biennale. For ‘Moré Moré’ (Leaky), a host of everyday objects from local markets were assembled and inspired by the ‘ad-hoc efforts seen in Tokyo subway stations to stop water leaks’. Her second installation is the multi-part ‘Decomposition’ which involves hanging lights and electrodes inserted into pieces of fruit which power the bulbs and are converted into sounds. As the fruit decays, it begins to smell; eventually it is gathered to make compost for the plants in the Giardini.
Nigeria Pavilion
For Nigeria’s first major presentation at the Biennale, curator Aindrea Emelife has assembled work (sculpture, painting and photography) by eight artists with Nigerian roots in the Palazzo Canal in Dorsoduro. Nigeria Imaginary explores significant moments in Nigeria’s history and imagines a Nigeria for the future. Most striking is Yinka Shonibare’s towering installation comprising 150 clay replicas of the famous ‘Benin Bronzes’, looted by British soldiers in 1897; it presents a new perspective on the stolen objects.
Small Talk: Save Venice
A Member Experience with Essentialist
NeueHouse members that travel to the Serenissima have a unique opportunity to experience an exceptional behind-the-scenes tour with Save Venice to watch art restorers at work on Veronese’s magnificent 500-year-old ceiling paintings. For details on how to how to book this and more in Venice and the Biennale, activate your complimentary Essentialist membership.
Your Essentialist Member Benefit
As a reminder, all NeueHouse members receive complimentary access to Essentialist, a bespoke travel planning service, for all your travel needs. Click here to find out more and get started on your next trip!
