The Venice Biennale list is finally here.
This year’s central exhibition, “May You Live in Interesting Times,” which is being curated by Ralph Rugoff, the director of the Hayward Gallery in London, includes 83 artists, with some working in pairs and collectives. The youngest of them is Lithuanian artist Augustus Serapinas, born in 1990, while the oldest is Berlin-based, US artist Jimmie Durham, born in 1940.
Rugoff, the first UK-based curator ever to helm the biennale, has selected 16 Americans for the show (the most widely represented nationality), with six artists from China, and three apiece from India, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and the UK.
The show’s title is drawn from a speech given in the late 1930s by British MP Austen Chamberlain, who spoke of an ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” With the tensions that eventually led to the Second World War looming in the background, “there is no doubt that the curse has fallen on us,” Chamberlain said. “We move from one crisis to another. We suffer one disturbance and shock after another.”
“This summary sounds uncannily familiar today as the news cycle spins from crisis to crisis,” Rugoff said in his curatorial statement. And yet, fittingly, considering the current age of so-called fake news, “it turns out that there never was any such ‘ancient Chinese curse,’ despite the fact that Western politicians have made reference to it in speeches for over a hundred years.”
The exhibition will not be organized in response to any overarching theme. Instead, Rugoff hopes that “art can be a kind of guide for how to live and think in ‘interesting times.’”
See the full list of artists below.
1. Lawrence Abu Hamdan
b. 1985 Jordan, lives and works in Beirut
2. Njideka Akunyili Crosby
b. 1983 Nigeria, lives and works in Los Angeles
3. Halil Altındere
b. 1971 Turkey, lives and works in Istanbul
4. Michael Armitage
b. 1984 Kenya, lives and works in London and Nairobi
5. Korakrit Arunanondchai
b. 1986 Thailand, lives and works in New York and Bangkok
in collaboration with
Alex Gvojic
b. 1984 USA, lives and works in New York
6. Ed Atkins
b. 1982 United Kingdom, lives and works in Berlin and Copenhagen
7. Tarek Atoui
b. 1980 Lebanon, lives and works in Paris
8. Darren Bader
b. 1978 USA, lives and works in New York City and elsewhere
9. Nairy Baghramian
b.1971 Iran, lives and works in Berlin
10. Neïl Beloufa
b. 1985 France, lives and works in Paris
11. Alexandra Bircken
b. Germany, lives and works in Berlin
12. Carol Bove
b. 1971 Switzerland, lives and works in New York
13. Christoph Büchel
b. 1966 Switzerland, lives and works in Reykjavik and Basel
14. Ludovica Carbotta
b. 1982 Italy, lives and works in Barcelona
15. Antoine Catala
b. 1975 France, lives and works in New York
16. Ian Cheng
b. 1984 USA, lives and works in New York
17. George Condo
b. 1957 USA, lives and works in New York
18. Alex Da Corte
b. 1980 USA, lives and works in Philadelphia
19. Jesse Darling
b. United Kingdom, lives and works in London and Berlin
20. Stan Douglas
b. 1960 Canada, lives and works in Vancouver
21. Jimmie Durham
b. 1940 USA, lives and works in Berlin
22. Nicole Eisenman
b. 1965 France, lives and works in New York
23. Haris Epaminonda
b. 1980 Republic of Cyprus, lives and works in Berlin
24. Lara Favaretto
b. 1973 Italy, lives and works in Turin
25. Cyprien Gaillard
b. 1980 France, lives and works in Berlin
26. Gauri Gill
b. 1970 India, lives and works in New Delhi
27. Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster
b. 1965 France, lives and works in Paris
28. Shilpa Gupta
b. 1976 India, lives and works in Mumbai
29. Soham Gupta
b. 1988 India, lives and works in Kolkata
30. Martine Gutierrez
b. 1989 USA, lives and works in New York
31. Rula Halawani
b. 1964 Palestine, lives and works in Jerusalem
32. Anthea Hamilton
b. 1978 United Kingdom, lives and works in London
33. Jeppe Hein
b. 1974 Denmark, lives and works in Berlin
34. Anthony Hernandez
b. 1947 USA, lives and works in Los Angeles and Idaho
35. Ryoji Ikeda
b. 1966 Japan, lives and works in Paris and Kyoto
36. Arthur Jafa
b. 1960 USA, lives and works in Los Angeles
37. Cameron Jamie
b. 1969 USA, lives in Paris, works in Paris and Cologne
38. Kahlil Joseph
b. 1981 USA, lives and works in Los Angeles
39. Zhanna Kadyrova
b. 1981 Ukraine, lives and works in Kyiv
40. Suki Seokyeong Kang
b. 1977 Republic of Korea, lives and works in Seoul
41. Mari Katayama
b. 1987 Japan, lives and works in Gunma
42. Lee Bul
b. 1964 Republic of Korea, lives and works in Seoul
43. Liu Wei
b. 1972 People’s Republic of China, lives and works in Beijing
44. Maria Loboda
b. 1979 Poland, lives and works in Berlin
45. Andreas Lolis
b. 1970 Albania, lives and works in Athens
46. Christian Marclay
b. 1955 USA, lives and works in London
47. Teresa Margolles
b. 1963 Mexico, lives and works in Mexico City and Madrid
48. Julie Mehretu
b. 1970 Ethiopia, lives and works in New York
49. Ad Minoliti
b. 1980 Argentina, lives and works in Buenos Aires
50. Jean-Luc Moulène
b. 1955 France, lives and works in Paris
51. Zanele Muholi
b. 1972 Republic of South Africa, lives and works in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town
52. Jill Mulleady
b. 1980 Uruguay, lives and works in Los Angeles
53. Ulrike Müller
b. 1971 Austria, lives and works in New York
54. Nabuqi
b. 1984 People’s Republic of China, lives and works in Beijing
55. Otobong Nkanga
b. 1974 Nigeria, lives and works in Antwerp
56. Khyentse Norbu
b. 1961 Bhutan, has residences in India and Bhutan
57. Frida Orupabo
b. 1986 Norway, lives and works in Oslo
58. Jon Rafman
b. 1981 Canada, lives and works in Montreal
59. Gabriel Rico
b. 1980 Mexico, lives and works in Guadalajara
60. Handiwirman Saputra
b. 1975 Indonesia, lives and works in Yogyakarta
61. Tomás Saraceno
b. 1973 Argentina, lives and works in Berlin
62. Augustas Serapinas
b. 1990 Lithuania, lives and works in Vilnius
63. Avery Singer
b. 1987 USA, lives and works in New York
64. Slavs and Tatars
founded 2006, based in Berlin
65. Michael E. Smith
b. 1977 USA, lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island
66. Hito Steyerl
b. 1966 Germany, lives and works in Berlin
67. Tavares Strachan
b. 1979 The Bahamas, lives and works in New York
68. Sun Yuan (b. 1972 People’s Republic of China) and Peng Yu (b. 1974 People’s Republic of China), both live and work in Beijing
69. Henry Taylor
b. 1958 USA, lives and works in Los Angeles
70. Rosemarie Trockel
b. 1952 Germany, lives and works in Cologne
71. Kaari Upson
b. 1972 USA, lives and works in Los Angeles
72. Andra Ursuţa
b. 1979 Romania, lives and works in New York
73. Danh Vo
b. 1975 Vietnam, lives and works in Mexico DF
74. Kemang Wa Lehulere
b. 1984 Republic of South Africa, lives and works in Cape Town
75. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
b. 1970 Thailand, lives and works in Chiang Mai
in collaboration with
Tsuyoshi Hisakado
b. 1981 Japan, lives and works in Kyoto
76. Margaret Wertheim and Christine Wertheim
b. 1958 Australia, both live and work in Los Angeles
77. Anicka Yi
b. 1971 Republic of Korea, lives and works in New York
78. Yin Xiuzhen
b. 1963 People’s Republic of China, lives and works in Beijing
79. Yu Ji
b. 1985 People’s Republic of China, lives and works in Shanghai and Vienna
The Venice Biennale “May You Live in Interesting Times” is on view in Venice, May 11–November 24, 2019.