The Venice Biennale is directed for the first time by a Latin American

The Venice International Art Exhibition (popularly known as the Venice Biennale) has been organized every two years since 1895 and is considered by many to be the most relevant and prestigious art exhibition in the world. Around 90 countries participate with the objective of “the dissemination and promotion of contemporary art through exhibitions and research of all artistic disciplines: visual arts, architecture, cinema, dance, music and theater.” For this it has various festivals.
History of the Biennale

Its first edition arose as a celebration of the silver wedding (25 years) of King Umberto I and Margaret of Savoy. After its premiere, the Italian Government decreed to “adopt an invitation system”: reserving a section of the exhibition for foreign artists and, in addition, admitting works by non-invited Italian artists selected by a jury.
Marta Minujín exhibited The Multiplication of Hercules at the 1986 Venice Biennale. Source: Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat Collection.

In the 20th century, the biennial was consolidated thanks to the emergence of new artistic trends. Among its pavilions were works from the now classics Gustav Klimt and Pablo Picasso, to the Argentine artists Marta Minujín and Julio LeParc (the latter with a digital work of looped videos). Currently, its participants can be awarded by this jury with the following recognitions:

     Golden Lion for the best National Pavilion
     Golden Lion for best artist
     Silver Lion for Young Artist
     Special mention for the National Pavilion
     Special mention for artist
     Golden Lion on the run

2024 Edition

This year's Venice Biennale will be held from April 20 to November 24 and its main curator is Adriano Pedrosa. Pedrosa is artistic director of the São Paulo Museum of Art and the first Latin American to organize the main exhibition of the event. He is known for his innovative exhibition initiatives. Cuentosque dedicates the museum's annual programming to little-known stories, such as those of Afro-Atlantic, indigenous, women and queer people.

Under his direction, the main exhibition in Venice will be titled Foreigners Everywhere, a name that was inspired by a series of works with neon letters in several languages (some now extinct), by the French artist collective Claire Fontaine.
As the director explained, deciding on this title responds to “a world plagued by multiple crises related to the movement and existence of people across countries, nations, territories and borders, which in turn reflect the dangers and traps of language, translation, nationality, expressing differences and disparities conditioned by race, identity, nationality, gender, sexuality, freedom and wealth. Without going any further, he pointed out, the same city where the biennial is held receives more than 165,000 tourists daily, compared to a local population of about 50,000 inhabitants.

“In this scenario, the expression Foreigners everywhere has several meanings. First of all, wherever you go and wherever you are, you will always find foreigners. They (we) are everywhere. Secondly, that no matter where you are, you are always, truly and deeply, a foreigner... However, you can also think of the expression as a motto, a slogan, a call to action, a cry of excitement, joy or fear . : foreigners everywhere,” he concluded.
Participants

Pedrosa's edition will be divided into two parts, “Nucleo Contemporaneo” and “Nucleo Storico”, for contemporary and historical works, respectively. The leader explained that the common thread of the “Contemporary Nucleus” is a broad definition of “foreigner” that also includes “the queer artist, who moves between different sexualities and genres, often persecuted or proscribed; the outsider artist who is situated on the margins of the art world, such as the self-taught artist, the folk artist and the popular artist, as we call them in Brazil and Latin America, as well as the indigenous artist, often treated as a foreigner in his own land ".

On January 31, the complete list of artists who will participate was announced. Among them, the 16 Argentines (many naturalized who reside here) are:

     Claudia Alarcón & Silät, La Puntana Community, Salta
     Libero Badii, Buenos Aires
     Elda Cerrato, Buenos Aires
     Víctor Juan Cúnsolo, Lanús.
     Juan Del Prete, Buenos Aires
     Juana Elena Diz, Buenos Aires.
     Raquel Forner, Buenos Aires.
     María Martorell, Salta,
     Emilio Pettoruti, La Plata
     La Chola Poblete, Mendoza
     Lidy Prati, Resistance
     Kazuya Sakai, Buenos Aires,
     Mariana Tellería, Rosario.
     Clorindo Testa, Buenos Aires.
     Kim YunShin, Buenos Aires
     Bibi Zogbé, Mar del Plata