Controversy over the project that will represent Peru at the 2024 Venice Biennale

The jury opted for 'Cosmic Traces', by photographer Roberto Huarcaya, a proposal criticized by several specialists for not being part of the spirit of the 60th edition of the exhibition.

The next Venice Biennale, which will be held between April and November 2024, is an edition that promotes a radical break with the most rigid views of contemporary art: for the first time a Latin American will assume the task of curating the exhibition. The Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa has made it clear that his appointment will not be an anecdote, as he has proposed that the 60th edition vindicate the figure of the foreigner and, in that sense, give visibility to the production of artists who are usually displaced and do not receive the same reflectors. “The queer artist, who has moved within different sexualities and genres and has been persecuted for it; the outsider, who is situated on the margins of the art world; and the indigenous artist, frequently treated as a foreigner in his own land,” Pedrosa has described. They will be the main protagonists of the event that will be called Foreigners everywhere.

Roberto Huarcaya, working in the jungle with his project that consists of capturing shadows of nature on large format photosensitive papers.

Although they are not obliged, several countries have echoed Pedrosa's call and will send immigrant, exiled, Afro-descendant, indigenous artists and even those whose roots belong to former colonies. This is the case of the Peruvian of Japanese descent Sandra Gamarra, who will be the first artist not born in Spain to represent Picasso's country. The election of the United States will also be an event: for the first time in almost 130 years of the Venice Biennale, the North American pavilion will revolve around the work of an indigenous artist. This is Jeffrey Gibson whose origins are the Choctaw and Cherokee people. Ireland, for its part, will send the queer artist, Eimear Walshe. And the list goes on.

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https://elpais.com/cultura/2023-10-23