Venice Biennale | Women steal the show

Despite Russia’s war in Ukraine, the 59^and Venice Biennale attracts contemporary art lovers from all over the world. Until November 27, they will crisscross the green Giardini to visit the national pavilions or get lost in the historic spaces of the Arsenale, where the International Exhibition has been set up. A first in Venice this year: women artists are in the majority.

Eric Clement
The Press

At the Ukraine pavilion, architect Dana Kosmina created Piazza Ucraina, an installation in tribute to the Ukrainian people currently under fire from the Russian army. The war is obviously in the background in Venice, which is 1850 km from Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelensky made a video appearance at the Biennale, during its opening, warning that a Russian victory would be a great danger for art, because President Vladimir Putin does not like “the power of art” , he said.

Even if the drama of this war is on everyone’s mind, the Venice Biennale is in a bubble. Fans from all over the world come here – usually for a week – to relax, forget their worries and discover the widest selection of international art gathered in one place on the planet, with the works of some 300 artists.

Venice is a bit like the Oscars of contemporary art. A snapshot of what is being created in the visual arts world right now. With, this year, 80 exhibitions in 80 national pavilions, in particular those of the Giardini (a large park in Venice), and an International Exhibition which displays – at the Arsenale and in the central pavilion of the Giardini – the work of 213 artists from 58 countries, 180 of which are exhibiting at the Biennale for the first time. A profusion that gives the impression of a real artistic whirlwind.

Of the 213 artists in the international exhibition, The Milk of Dreams, concocted by Commissioner Cecilia Alemani, a majority are women or non-gendered people, she announced. This is a first in 127 years at the Venice Biennale. And that’s not for everyone. Some art critics felt that by giving pride of place, in an unprecedented way, to female artists (mostly from Europe and America), the curator would not have completely covered the theme of the exhibition. and that the quality of the presentation would suffer.

Haven’t visited yet The Milk of Dreams, we will be careful not to enter into this debate. It should be noted, however, that Cecilia Alemani, an Italian curator based in New York, wanted to encourage reflection on the survival of species, including ours, life, the representation of the body, our relations with technologies and with our environment. To show works “that can help us imagine new ways of coexisting,” Ms.^me Alemani during the opening of the Biennale.

Back in Montreal, Rhéal Lanthier, co-founder of Mature Art, who went to the Biennale for the fourth time, believes that 2022 is a vintage very open to differences. “We felt an openness to include people from different nations, with different approaches,” he says. I found it very inclusive. »

Variety is on the menu of this 59^and edition, the modern nations seeming more and more to listen to the demands expressed so that a fairer representation of the demographic reality is respected. Canada, with Stan Douglas, chose for the first time a black artist to occupy its pavilion.

The United States selected black sculptor Simone Leigh. A wise choice, since the Biennale jury awarded her the highest distinction of the event, the Golden Lion for best artist.

Great Britain has also chosen a black artist, Sonia Boyce. This earned the Brits the Golden Lion award for best pavilion for the exhibition Feeling Her Wayby this feminist visual artist and performer who presents a video installation celebrating black female musicians.

France had also bet on diversity by presenting the work of Zineb Sedira in its pavilion. Originally from Algeria and born in Paris in 1963, she studied in London, where she currently lives. The jury awarded France a Special Mention for Dreams have no title by M^me Sedira. This exhibition is a tribute to the cinematographic avant-garde of the 1960s and 1970s, illustrated in three film cities – Algiers, Venice and Paris – by means of a film, a performance and film studio sets.

Inuit artist Shuvinai Ashoona from Kinngait also received a Special Mention from the Venice jury, to the delight of his gallery owner, Hugues Charbonneau. “She was thrilled with her success,” he said. When I spoke to her [dans un appel vidéo avec plusieurs personnes], she humbly reminded us why we were all together. Because beyond the prestige of the Biennale, artists make works, she said. She then showed us the drawings she was working on that day in her studio in Kinngait, surrounded by her community, thousands of kilometers from Venice. Then, she politely turned away from this celebration to return to her work table…”