When touring the world it’s only natural to stop in at a cultural event when your schedule allows, especially if said cultural event features a giant cut-out of your semi-naked body. International superstar Rihanna played at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin as part of her current Anti Tour on Tuesday and dropped in to the 9th Berlin Biennale while she was in town.
The Bajan megastar popped into the Kunst-Werke Institute of Contemporary Art and struck a pose in front of a work by Juan Sebastián Peláez titled Ewaipanoma (Rihanna) that features her headless, bikini-clad body with her face emblazoned across her chest, which is a common motif in his work.
Colombian artist Peláez creates oversized cut-outs of the the bodies of female stars and idols from South America and the Caribbean, often depicting them in glitzy gowns or swimsuits, always with their faces transposed onto their chests.
This motif was inspired by drawings by 16th century explorers that showed headless natives or “Blemmyae,”—their faces on their upper, naked bodies—whom they thought they had encountered during their time in the so-called “new world.”
Rihanna herself seemed thrilled with the work on seeing it, exclaiming “that’s so sweet” at the gargantuan reproduction of her body, sitting posed as though she is about to put on sunglasses.
While checking out the exhibition, Rihanna also mingled with the biennale’s curators, hanging out with members of DIS, Lauren Boyle and her partner Marco Roso, and even played with their toddler while Snapchatting the results to her “Badgal” handle.
The 9th Berlin Biennale has been one of the hippest things to happen to the international art world in a long time, with Douglas Coupland calling it “…the most generationally forceful art demarcation point since Freeze” in a recent interview with artnet News.
Not a week goes by without a review being published arguing for or against the biennial show, with critics musing either enthusiastically or disparagingly about the exhibition’s focus on post-internet art. Riri seemed to like it.