Venice Biennale 2024: ‘Foreigners Everywhere’

The Venice Biennale has announced the 332 artists and collectives participating in the 60th Edition, running from April 20 to November 24.

Curated by Adriano Pedrosa, the artistic director of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, the exhibition’ title “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere,” is inspired by a series of neon works by the Palermo-based French artist collective Claire Fontaine.

Foreigners Everywhere (English), 2005
Courtesy of Claire Fontaine and Galerie Neu, Berlin

Pedrosa explained that the theme “Foreigners Everywhere” reflects the global crises related to people’s movement and existence across borders, and the complexities of language, translation, nationality, and disparities conditioned by race, identity, nationality, gender, sexuality, freedom, and wealth.

The list of participating artists includes emerging, mid-career, and established living artists including Beatriz Cortez, Yinka Shonibareas well as well-known historical and recently deceased artists such as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Carmen Herrera.

The Biennale will be divided into two parts: “Nucleo Contemporaneo” for contemporary work and “Nucleo Storico” for historical work.

The “Nucleo Contemporaneo” will explore an expansive definition of “foreigner,” including queer artists, outsider artists, self-taught artists, folk artists, popular artists, and Indigenous artists. First-time participants include the MAHKU—Movimento dos Artistas Huni Kuin collective from Brazil, the Mataaho Collective from Aotearoa (New Zealand), and three historical outsider female artists, Madge Gill, Anna Zemánková, among others.

The “Nucleo Storico” will feature 112 artists focussing on “global modernisms and modernisms of the Global South,” with three sections dedicated to portraiture and representation, abstraction, and the Italian diaspora in the Global South.

The full list of 2024 invited artists can be downloaded here

The Exhibition will also include 90 National Participations in the historic Pavilions at the Giardini, at the Arsenale and in the city centre of Venice while the City of Venice will feature with its own pavilion, the Venice Pavilion, at the Giardini of Sant’Elena.

In parallel, a series of collateral events and special projects will take place in several locations around the city of Venice.

Purchase your tickets here