“Vases, fillets, réceptacles, coquilles”: installation in the Arsenal exhibition space at the Venice Biennale 2022 including objects by 9 women artists representing 9 different countries. Image credit: photograph taken by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra on May 6, 2022, and published on FLICKR. Courtesy of Dalbéra.
Guest writer: Mia Reede
Coined as the Art World Olympics, the Venice Biennale was finally able to commence their 59th showcase of contemporary visual art this April. Occupying well over 7,000 square meters, including a main exhibition space, national pavilions, and other sites throughout Venice, it will remain open until November of 2022. Normally held in odd years and alternating biannually with the city’s prestigious architecture show, hence the name “Biennale,” the greatly-anticipated, tourism-driving event had been forced to postpone for an additional year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
This year’s Biennale exhibition, entitled The Milk of Dreams, was curated by Cecilia Alemani, an Italian-born curator working in New York. Its title derives from a book about a magic world by Surrealist writer and artist Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) and, according to Alemani, is meant to evoke the overarching theme of an imaginative lens/or lenses through which re-envisioning and transformation are possible and nods to the subtle thread between artists selected.
Despite the delay, artists remained eager to be featured at the esteemed international event, and this year’s show marks an especially unique milestone in terms of diversity. After sharing their list of artists in February 2022, it was confirmed that not only do the 213 artists represent 58 countries around the world, but also, with just 21 men participating, the majority of exhibiting artists are female or female- identifying. This lineup is a stark contrast to Venice Biennales in years past. As recently as 1995, 90% of the Biennale’s artists were male; a percentage which is now reversed.
Simone Leigh, a mid-career Chicago-based artist and sculptor was selected as the artist to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale this year. Her work, exploring themes of gender, race, and labor, has been increasingly visible in public collections over the last decade. The Biennale’s decision to select Leigh to represent the United states makes history as well as it is the first time an African American woman has received this honor.
Centering the theme of African and African American women’s collective and individual work, which has traditionally gone unseen and unsung, Leigh’s powerful and moving exhibition “Sovereignty” employs transformed architecture, monumental sculpture, installation and video to compel visitor attention, bring the past and the present into conjunction, and raise critical questions around history, race, labor, and gender.
If you have visited the 2022 Venice Biennale, or if you intend to, Boulevard Arts would love to hear what you think about its 59th iteration, and which installations you found/find the most interesting or moving.