This year’s Venice Biennale has the largest number of participants from the African continent. There are 13 countries presenting in total, up from nine last year, with Benin, Senegal, Tanzania and Ethiopia making their debuts. While 14 countries from the continent were originally due to participate, Morocco’s pavilion was canceled last month after a dispute with the country’s Ministry of Culture saw the curator and three commissioned artists replaced. The Venice Biennale has confirmed that the country, which was supposed to make its debut at the event this year, will no longer be participating.
We take a look at all the countries they’re presenting, the themes they explore and the artists they represent.
Egypt
As one of two African countries with a permanent national pavilion, Egypt has long been a fixture at the Venice Biennale. This year’s exhibition is curated and directed Wael Shawky, and invites the audience to interrogate the (fictional) past with him. At the booth, Shawky points Drama 1882, a film centered on the Urabi Revolution. “I think translating this story into a different form allows us to analyze it.” he said Okay Africa earlier this weekhoping that by representing his country, “I can say something important in the end.”
South Africa
Participating for the seventh time, South Africa is the other African country with a permanent pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Under the direction of the Creative Repair Institute, this year’s booth showcases their work Molemo Moiloa and Nare Mokgothothe duo working together as MADEYOULOOK. Curated by Portia Malatjie, the pavilion is titled “Quiet Ground,” which explores the potential for individual and community reparations, a fitting theme as South Africa celebrates 30 years of democracy.
Photo by Jasper Kettner.
Molemo Moiloa and Nare Mogkotho make up the interdisciplinary duo, MADEYOULOOK.
Senegal
He is curating Senegal’s first participation in the Venice Biennale Mariem Ba and Masaba Baye and will be under the topic “Bokk-Limites”. The pavilion will feature just one artist – Alioune Diagne – whose works interrogate discrimination, heritage, ecology and other socio-cultural concerns plaguing the African continent. Diagne describes his artistic language as “Figuro-absturo”, a painting style inspired by calligraphy. Diagne has previously exhibited at the 14th Dakar Biennale in 2022. The Senegal Pavilion will showcase some of Diagne’s most innovative works.
Photo by Foc Kan/WireImage via Getty Images.
Alioune Diagne poses with his work during the “Seede” Alioune Diagne Preview at Daniel Templon Niemeyer on January 6, 2024 in Paris, France.
Nigeria
Nigeria debuted at the 2017 Venice Biennale and makes its second outing this year under the curatorial guidance of renowned art writer and curator Aindrea Emelife. this year, Ginka SonibarePrecious Okoyomon, Ndidi Dike, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Abraham Oghobase, Fatimah Tuggar and Onyeka Igwe will explore themes of new visions for an ever-changing country under the theme ‘Nigeria Imaginary Pavilion’.
Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images for 14-18 NOW.
Yinka Shonibare MBE poses with his work ‘End of Empire’ at Turner Contemporary as part of the 14-18 NOW programme.
Benin
For its first presentation at the Venice Biennale, Benin clicked Azu Nwagbogu, founder and director of the African Artists Foundation (AAF) as its curator. Nwagbogu chose four artists — Chloé Quenum, Ishola Akpo, Moufouli Bello, and Romuald Hazoumé — explore issues of slavery, traditional religious practices, Amazon motifs and more, with the theme “All that is precious is fragile.”
Photo by ThomasRosenthal.de/ullstein bild via Getty Images.
Romuald Hazoumé in front of the Museum Fridericianum during the documenta 12 art exhibition.
Ivory Coast
Edited by Iila Ginette Donwahi and Simon Njami, the Ivory Coast stand will be packed with incredible talent working under the ‘Blue Note’ theme. They include a respected sculptor and performer James Coco Bphotographers François Xavier Gbré and Franck Abd-Bakar Fanny (who passed 2021), painter Sadikou Oukpedjoand multimedia artist Marie Claire Messouma Manlanbien.
Photo by Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images.
Sadikou Oukpedjo answers questions from reporters while painting in his studio in Bingerville, outside Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on September 11, 2017.
Uganda
Returning for its second consecutive Biennale, following its debut in 2022, the Uganda Pavilion is themed:Van Assel“, Alur for “We are One”. The pavilion is curated by Acaye Kerunen, who was one of the two exhibiting artists during the debut Uganda Biennale, and will feature works by Sanaa Gateja, Taga Nuwagaba, Xenson Ssenkaabaecological designer Jose Hedo, Odour Ronald and the little known Artisan Weavers’ Collective.
Photo by Arun Nevader/WireImage.
Jose Hendo walks the runway at Vancouver Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2017 at Greater Vancouver Chinese Cultural Center on March 25, 2017 in Vancouver, Canada.
Congo
Congo’s national pavilion, ‘RUMB’ART’, is co-curated by Michele Gervasuti and James Putnam. It will feature an extensive exhibition by eight artists whose works reflect the country’s natural lithium deposits and people’s relationship with these natural resources, among other themes. Works by André Lufwa Mauridi and Alfred Liyolo will be exhibited posthumously, while Guma Babila Dobasi, Freddy Chiba and Franck Dikisongele is among seven other artists exhibiting.
Photo by Eeric Fefeeberg/AFP via Getty Images.
This image shows the legs of a giant sculpture made with cartridges by Congolese artist Freddy Tsimba, unveiled at Palais Chaillot, Paris, on December 6, 2018 as part of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Ethiopia
Photo from Addis Fine Art Agency website.
Ethiopia’s debut at the Venice Biennale focuses on the work of rising star, Tesfaye Urgessa.
For its debut at the Biennale, Ethiopia’s pavilion will focus on the work of Tesfaye Urgessa. Edited by British Ethiopian writer and poet Lemn Sisay (OBE), the theme is ‘Prejudice and Belonging’, which will be presented with immersive paintings. A rising star in the contemporary art world, Urgessa is known for her expressive canvases that dig into African identity and the politics of the continent, depicting Africa in both its complexity and splendor.
Photo from Addis Fine Art Agency website.
Ethiopia’s debut at the Venice Biennale focuses on the work of rising star, Tesfaye Urgessa.
Seychelles
Seychelles returns to the Biennale after its last appearance in 2019. With a burgeoning art scene, bolstered by its own local biennale, exhibiting artists have made their way into national visibility and will present their work without a specific theme. The line-up includes the grand prize of the Seychelles Biennale 2022, Ryan ChettyRepresentative of the Venice Biennale 2019 Juliet Zelimeand artists from Seychelles, Australia Jude Alley and Danielle Freakley.
Zimbabwe
Commissioned by Raphael Chikukwa of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and curated by Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa, the South African country’s participation aims to highlight the exciting creativity of its artist. Entitled ‘Undone’, the diverse line-up of exhibiting artists work in different forms, including sculptor Moffat Takadiwa, visual artist and photographer Sekai Machache and Troy Makaza, who makes his works with painted silicone ropes and more.
Tanzania
The third African country to make its debut at the Venice Biennale, Tanzania’s pavilion is curated Enrico Bitotto and titled “Other”. Veteran visual artist Lutengano Mwakisopile and three other artists will exhibit and their works will explore the relationship between man and nature. Taking an analytical approach, the country’s debut is set to be a provocative exhibition of creativity.
Cameroon
At its debut in 2022, Cameroon was the first country to introduce an official NFT report. In this year’s booth curators Paul Emmanuel Loga Mahop and Sandro Orlandi Stagl this is a Carbon Net Zero report. Emissions will be reduced, materials will be reused and trees will be planted in Cameroon to offset CO2 emissions during the exhibition. Thirteen artists feature in the exhibition bill, five of whom are local artists, including emerging collective, Kendji & Ollo Artsorganic sculptor Jean-Michel Dissacquetartist inclined to the baroque Patrick-Joël Tatcheda Yonkeuand Hako Hankson. Others include Guy Wouete, Angelo Accardi, Julia Bornefeld, Cesare Catania, Adélaïde Laurent-Bellue, Franco Mazzucchelli, Rex and Edna Volcan, Giorgio Tentolini and Liu Youju.
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