Brazil is at the centre of attention at the Venice Biennale, the most important art event in the world, under the unprecedented coordination of a Brazilian and Latin American: Adriano Pedrosa, who is chief curator of MASP. The exhibition runs until November 2024, presenting pavilions from 90 countries and 331 artists chosen by Pedrosa, who guided his choice by geographical and gender diversity.
The strong presence of works by dead artists caught the attention of the art world – around 55% of the participants. The Brazilians include Tarsila do Amaral, Di Cavalcanti and Cândido Portinari, which for Pedrosa is a political and contemporary act, inasmuch as the choice presents them to new generations and to countries where they are not known (read more in Forbes).
The title of the Biennale also carries a high dose of politics: with Foreigners Everywhere, Pedrosa alludes to the migration crisis in Europe. To the press, he has said that the concept of foreigners also encompasses queer people, outsiders and Indigenous people.
So much so that the Brazilian Pavilion was made up exclusively of works by Indigenous artists, also selected by Indigenous curators: Denilson Baniwa, Arissana Pataxó and Gustavo Caboco Wapichana. The exhibition called Ka’a Pûera: Nós somos pássaros que andam highlights artists coming from coastal Indigenous peoples and works with their perspective on Hãhãwpuá – as the Pataxó people call the Brazilian territory. O Nexo published an article highlighting the pavilion.
The website Arte que Acontece , for its part, highlighted the participation of the artists queer, such as the Brazilian Manauara Clandestina. On the website, it is possible to see a collection of the participating works with this theme.
In the report by Jornal Nacional, it is possible to get a taste of this Biennale.
