Art World

See Almost All of the 2024 Venice Biennale in More Than 100 Photos

How is Adriano Pedrosa's 'Foreigners Everywhere?' Judge for yourself.

Victor Fotso Nyie, *Malinconia* (2020). Photo by Ben Davis.

by Ben Davis April 25, 2024 ShareShare This Article

It’s amazing how fast it all happens. After months and months of preparation and build up, thousands of art professionals converge for the Venice Biennale over the course of a frenzied VIP week. They swarm the Biennale’s main sites, form an impression (usually in between a swirl of other social events, competing attractions, and side missions)—and then, like a flash mob dispersing, they sweep away just as quickly.

It’s a form of viewing encouraged by the biennial format—with their huge casts of artists, these vast international festivals encourage mania. But it is also a form of viewing that is notably out of sync with how any art show, let alone one filled with big and challenging ideas, might be best appreciated.

Helmed by Brazilian curator Adriano Pedrosa under the title “Foreigners Everywhere,” the 60th edition of the closely watched survey has, as ever, a lot to untangle. It’s worth carefully thinking over what it all means. Below, I’ve put together some photos to give a sense of what it all feels like (also, honestly, to help organize my own thinking as I finish a bigger review).

A sculpture in a garden resembling a cluster of ships' masts

Mariana Telleria, God Is an Immigrant (2017/2023). Photo by Ben Davis.

For most visitors, the show starts in the Giardini: the Central Pavilion.

Arriving, Pedrosa has struck an inviting note with his decision to put a soaring work by Argentinian artist Mariana Telleria out front, recreating a pro-immigrant monument from the Museo de la Inmigración in Buenos Aires. Even more spectacularly, he has given the facade over to a collective of Brazilian Indigenous artists known as MAHKU (Movimento dos Artistas Huni Kuin), who adorn the building with gorgeous, florescent tropical camouflage.

Within, the show overwhelmingly favors traditional two-dimensional media, principally painting and drawing, with most galleries pairing work by historic (meaning, dead) artists and contemporary fare. Usually, there’s an implicit theme to be decoded, like gay cruising, African diasporic artists in Italy, or female mysticism. There is also a run of galleries that center more confrontational work that flirts with documentary and lecture forms. An installation of Nil Yalter, Exile Is a Hard Job (1977-2024), sets this tone right as you enter, featuring video testimony from exiles that plays quietly.

The front of a building viewed from below that says 'a Biennale,' covered with brightly colored patterns

Facade of the Central Pavilion for the 60th Venice Biennale, restyled by MAHKU (Movimento dos Artistas Huni Kuin). Photo by Ben Davis.

A man checks his phone beneath a green neon sign that says FOREIGNERS EVERYWHERE

Neon work by Claire Fontaine. Photo by Ben Davis.

A yurt structure at the center of a room with photo wallpaper and text that reads EXILE IS A HARD JOB

Works by Nil Yalter. Photo by Ben Davis.

A small portrait hung in a gallery near a sign that says ANONYMOUS HOMOSEXUAL

Louis Fratino, Alessandro in a Seersucker Shirt (2024) and Dean Sameshima, Anonymous Homosexual (2020). Photo by Ben Davis.

A row of black and white photos of movie theaters on the wall

Dean Sameshima, being alone (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.

Two people observe a wall of four black and white photos in a gallery

Miguel Ángel Rojas, El Negro (1979). Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman enters a passage next to a large painting of a faceless figure

Bertina Lopes, Rais Antica 2 – Una historia verdadera (1972). Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman looks at a variety of colorful abstract paintings

Paintings by Rubem Valentim. Photo by Ben Davis.

A geometric painting dominated by colors of brown blue and yellow

Rubem Valentim, Composição Bahia n. 1 (1966). Photo by Ben Davis.

A sculpture of a shining gold head set on its side on a pedestal

Victor Fotso Nyie, Veglia (2023). Photo by Ben Davis.

A bronze cast of a trans woman on a base that reads WOMAN

Puppies Puppies, A Sculpture for Trans Women… (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.

A screen plays a large image of a portrait beside the caption PORTRAIT OF ALESSANDRO DE MEDICI

Fred Kuwornu, We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

An image bearing the imprint of a human body hung on the wall in front of a blanket recreated in mosaic tiles

On the wall: Teresa Margolles, Tela venezuelana (2019), with Omar Mismar, Spring Cleaning (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.

A film plays showing a picture of two hands manipulating a photo as an audience looks on

Alessandra Ferrini, Gaddafi in Rome: Anatomy of a Friendship (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

Superflex, Foreigners Please Don’t Leave Us Alone With the Danes! (2002). Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman looks at a wall of historic black-and-white photos in an art gallery

Pablo Delano, The Museum of the Old Colony. Photo by Ben Davis.

A man looks at art in a gallery where there are clay objects suspended in three wood boxes and an abstract painting that also features an image of tulips in the corner

Various works by Nedda Guidi and Evelyn Taocheng Wang, Tulip in Whiskey and Imitation of Agnes Martin (2023). Photo by Ben Davis.

A series of ceramic objects on the ground, with black paintings leaned against the wall behind

On the ground, various sculptures by Nedda Guidi, with paintings by Maria Taniguchi in the background. Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman looks at a wall label next to a densely gridded black abstract painting leaned against the wall

Maria Taniguchi, Untitled (2023). Photo by Ben Davis.

A gallery with two wall filling tapestries featuring mountains and rainbow imagery

Two textile works by Liz Collins. Photo by Ben Davis.

A long watercolor pencil drawing featuring images of women in a tabletop case in an art gallery

Aloïse, Theater Partition (1941–51). Photo by Ben Davis.

Various objects laid out in a display on the ground, with canvasses on the wall behind featuring abstract pages that resemble book pages

Kang Seung Lee, Untitled (Constellation), 2023, on the ground, with works by Romany Eveleigh on the wall behind. Photo by Ben Davis.

A gallerygoer looks at a row of small paintings

Various paintings by Rosa Elena Curruchich. Photo by Ben Davis.

A small painting showing three men preparing to travel

Rosa Elena Curruchich, They Are Going to Walk to the Other Side of the Village, The Gentlemen Are Going to Travel (1980). Photo by Ben Davis.

Andrés Curruchich, Procesión: Patron de San Juan esta en su trono (1966). Photo by Ben Davis.

A suite of colored pencil and watercolor paintings depicting male models and flowers

Various works by Filippo de Pisis. Photo by Ben Davis.

An orange toned painting of a man sleeping outside of a window next to a painting of three fishermen

Louis Fratino, An Argument (2021) and Bhupen Khakhar, Fishermen in Goa (1985). Photo by Ben Davis.

Louis Fratino, My Meal (2019). Photo by Ben Davis.

Four screens on stilts, the left two with images of a hand drawing and the right two featuring uneven shapes

Joyce Joumaa, Memory Contours (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

A screen plays an image of a face in a darkened room

Manauara Clandestina, Building (2021–24). Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman looks at two grayscale figurative paintings of women

Two paintings by Giulia Andreani. Photo by Ben Davis.

A long, densely patterned drawing featuring many faces of woman on the wall of an art gallery

Madge Gill, Crucifixion of the Soul (1934). Photo by Ben Davis.

A dense pattern including swarms of identical female faces

Detail of Madge Gill, Crucifixion of the Soul (1934). Photo by Ben Davis.

A man walks into a gallery full of images of flora

Works by Abel Rodríguez. Photo by Ben Davis.

An art gallery with acrylic on paper images

Various works by Aycoobo. Photo by Ben Davis.

An acrylic and ink painting of a river scene

Abel Rodriguez and Aycoobo, Chorro de araracuara (2017). Photo by Ben Davis.

A visitor looks at abstract stone sculptures in a gallery that features paintings of desert landscapes

Sculptures by Kim Yun Shin and paintings by Aref el Rayess. Photo by Ben Davis.

Visitors view paintings of mysterious desert scenes

Paintings by Aref el Rayess. Photo by Ben Davis.

Two paintings of landscapes with patterns overlaid on them in a white gallery

Paintings by Kay WalkingStick. Photo by Ben Davis.

A row of small, mysterious landscapes displayed on a wall in a gallery

Various works by Leopold Strobl. Photo by Ben Davis.

Four screens play in a darkened room with one person on each

Gabrielle Goliath, Personal Accounts (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

Among the most memorable sections of the Central Pavilion are what Pedrosa calls the “Nucleo Storico.”

These are densely hung galleries dedicated to examples of non-Western abstract painting and non-Western portraiture. Here, Pedrosa is packing a lot of history in—paying a debt, as he calls it—delivering a vast mass of work by global artists who were major influences in their home countries but who never got attention at past Venice Biennales.

I tend to think that these crowded rooms function better as a curatorial provocation than as a true introduction to complex global art histories—but they absolutely are a treat. Something like half of the 300-plus artists in “Foreigners Everywhere” are concentrated in these setpiece rooms. You could spend days in them.

A series of colorfully painted bamboo sculptures

The “Nucleo Storico: Abstraction” gallery, with Ione Saldanha’s “Bambus” (1960–70) in the foreground. Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman takes a photo and a woman pushes a stroller in front of a wall of colorful abstract paintings

Installation view of “Nucleao Storico: Abstraction” room in “Foreigners Everywhere.” Photo by Ben Davis.

Four abstract paintings hung in a gallery

Various paintings in the “Nucleo Storico: Abstraction” section of “Foreigners Everywhere.” Photo by Ben Davis.

A black stone sculpture of a figure entwined with a serpent

Josiah Manzi, Mfiti Woman and Snake (1990) in the “Nucleo Storico: Portraits” galleries. Photo by Ben Davis.

A figure looks at a wall full of portraits

The “Nucleo Storico: Portraits” gallery. Photo by Ben Davis.

Lucas Sithole, The Guitarist (1988) in the “Nucleo Storico: Portraits” gallery. Photo by Ben Davis.

A granite sculpture of a woman wearing a crown of shells whose lower half is made of snakes

Rómulo Rozo, Bachué, diosa generatriz de los chibchas (1925). Photo by Ben Davis.

The other main venue for the Biennale is the Arsenale—a vast former shipbuilding space, turned into a seemingly endless, linear series of galleries.

For a show with a relatively unspectacular temperament, this is where the spectacle is, and the concerns of “Foreigners Everywhere” feel marginally more contemporary here. Textile works dominate in diverse forms, from skilled batik works, to multi-panel conceptual-art projects, to scenes stitched on burlap sacks by anonymous Chilean artists, lent from the Museo del Barrio collection. A large gallery dedicated to Bouchra Khalili’s The Mapping Journey Project (2008–11), featuring hanging screens playing the testimony of immigrants describing their journeys from Africa and the Middle East, echoes both the theme and key placement of Nil Yalter’s Exile Is a Hard Job in the Central Pavilion.

There’s also another “Nucleo Storico,” this one called “Italians Everywhere,” dedicated to a mixed bag of Italian artists who forged art careers beyond the borders of Italy. It delightfully imports architect Lina Bo Bardi’s scheme for displaying art from the São Paulo Museum of Art (where Pedrosa works). Paintings are shown on freestanding “glass easels,” labels on the reverse. It’s breathtakingly cool, though the “Italians Everywhere” room more reads as an excuse to honor Bo Bardi than anything else—and indeed, Bo Bardi was herself an Italian who forged her career abroad (she won a posthumous lifetime achievement award at the Venice Architecture Biennale just last year).

The Arsenale section kicks off with famed British artist Yinka Shonibare’s sculpture of an astronaut, reclaiming the space traveler as a metaphor for immigration. And yet, throughout “Foreigners Everywhere,” technology is mainly absent as a theme—until the very end when you hit a ghostly work by the artist WangShui, a mass of pulsing lights evoking a mysterious digital consciousness. It almost feels as if you are returning from a trip into the past via the show’s many, many reconsiderations of craft, history, and tradition into an unsettled technological present.

A fiberglass astronaut covered in Dutch wax cotton textile

Yinka Shonibare, Refugee Astronaut VIII (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

People walk beneath a giant canopy made of woven silver straps

Mataaho Collective, Takapau (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.

A long textile painting displayed in an art gallery

Bordadoras de Isla Negra, Untitled (1972). Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman contemplates a multipanel black and white series of paintings

Naminapu Maymuru-White, Stars Reflected in the River (2023). Photo by Ben Davis.

A man walks past a painting of a patchwork cityscape

Pacita Abad, Filipinas in Hong Kong (1995). Photo by Ben Davis.

An immense detailed contemporary art altarpiece

Frieda Toranzo Jaeger, Rage Is a Machine in Times of Senselessness (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman looks at several ceramic objects on a low plinth

Various sculptures by Juana Marta Rodas. Photo by Ben Davis.

Two pieces of broken rock covered in writing and regular tiny gold leaf details

Two works by Greta Schödl. Photo by Ben Davis.

A figure observes two orange and yellow toned abstract paintings

Two paintings by Emmi Whitehorse. Photo by Ben Davis.

An all-black sculpture of a large card covered in eels

Brett Graham, Wastelands (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

An abstract wood sculptural relief hanging on the wall, and a suite of photographs in the distance

Works by Fred Graham, left, and River Claure. Photo by Ben Davis.

A suite of photos on one wall of a gallery, and a series of paintings of landscapes

Works by River Claure and Marlene Gilson. Photo by Ben Davis.

A curving black wall, studded with tiny videos

The section of the Biennale dedicated to “The Disobedience Archive,” a collection of videos about art and activism. Photo by Ben Davis.

Four small video play mounted on a curving wall in a darkened gallery

A view of various videos playing in the “Disobedience Archive” section of the Arsenale. Photo by Ben Davis.

An iron sculpture made of the bars of a window cage

Kiluaji Kia Henda, The Spiral of Fear (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman looks at two artworks, made from mosaic tiles, one depicting two men kissing and another depicting two men in front of a museum

Two works by Omar Mismar. Photo by Ben Davis.

An artwork made of hanging yellow and orange fabric panels

Dana Awartani, Come, Let Me Heal Your Wounds. Let Me Mend Your Broken Bones (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman walks back an artwork made of large hanging textile panels

Agnes Waruguru, Incomprehensible Weather in the Head (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

A painting of a ship on the ocean and small figures on the shore facing it

Aydeé Rodríguez López, Cazadores de hombres (2013). Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman looks at two textile works hung on the wall of an art gallery

Works by Nour Jaouda. Photo by Ben Davis.

A sculpture made from two conjoined doors

Lydia Ourahmane, 21 Boulevard mustapha Benboulaid (entrance), 1901–2021, in the foreground, with Daniel Otero Torres, Aguacero (2024) in the background. Photo by Ben Davis.

A man contemplates two paintings in an art gallery

Two paintings by Dalton Paula. Photo by Ben Davis.

An image of a sculpture tied down on the back of a truck

Iván Argote, Paseo (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.

A man looks at an artwork consisting of multiple hanging screens showing hands writing on maps of North Africa and Europe

Bouchra Khalili, The Mapping Journey Project (2008–11). Photo by Ben Davis.

A man on a cell phone watches a large screen where a hand writes on a map of North Africa

Bouchra Khalili, The Mapping Journey Project (2008–11). Photo by Ben Davis.

Three paintings are displayed in a gallery attached to glass panes on a base made of concrete

The “Nucleo Storico: Italians Everywhere” section of the Biennale, inspired by Lina Bo Bardi. Photo by Ben Davis.

Various paintings are displayed in an art gallery mounted on glass panels connected to concrete blocks for a base

The “Nucleo Storico: Italians Everywhere” section of the Biennale, inspired by Lina Bo Bardi. Photo by Ben Davis.

A textile work featuring a row of people in a plaza with a flying watermelon above them

Güneş Terkol, A song to the world -2 (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

A wall hung with various hand-spun fiber panel works

Various works by Claudia Alarcón. Photo by Ben Davis.

Two abstract textile works hang on a gallery wall

Two works by Shalom Kufakwatenzi. Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman takes a photo of various artworks made from colorful stretched burlap sacks displayed in an art gallery

Various ‘arpilleras,’ anonymous embroidered textiles on burlap created during the Pinochet regime in Chile. Photo by Ben Davis.

A woven work of art depicting a village mountainscape

Unidentified Chilean artists, Arpillera (1980s). Photo by Ben Davis.

Various works of invented botanical images on the wall in an art gallery

Works by Anna Zemánková. Photo by Ben Davis.

Anna Zemánková, Untitled. Photo by Ben Davis.

Several abstract wooden sculptures on a low plinth

Various sculptures by Chaouki Choukini. Photo by Ben Davis.

A structure made from panels of blue and white fabric draped over a metal scaffolding

Antonio Jose Guzman and Iva Jankovic, Orbitan Mechanics (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

A video featuring a figure dressed as a Sudanese bride dancing

Ahmed Umar, Talitin (The Third) (2023-24). Photo by Ben Davis.

People in a darkened gallery watch a film where a ritual involving a cloud of smoke is happening

Elyla, Torita-encuentada (2023). Photo by Ben Davis.

Sangodare Gbadegesin Ajala, unknown title (n.d.) Photo by Ben Davis.

A sculpture of an orange vertical box topped by the shapes of the sun and the moon

Evan Ifekoya, The Central Sun (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.

Works by Susanne Wenger. Photo by Ben Davis.

A man looks at a screen showing three people piled on top of one another

Isaac Chong Wai, Falling Reversely (2021–24). Photo by Ben Davis.

Photo by Sabelo Mlangeni. Photo by Ben Davis.

Three sculptures of male figures in military uniforms speared on a large metal spike

Bárbara Sánchez-Kane, Prêt-à-Patria (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.

A person looks at carious large papercut works in an art gallery

Various works by Xiyadie. Photo by Ben Davis.

La Chola Poblete, Il Martirio de Chola (2014). Photo by Ben Davis.

A man walks in front of three paintings and a flag hanging from the wall

Various works by La Chola Poblete. Photo by Ben Davis.

A screen depicting two men in brightly colored outfits slapping one another in a bright pink gallery

Ana Segovia, Pos′ se acabó este cantar (2021). Photo by Ben Davis.

A painting of two men in cowboy hats with abstracted faces

Ana Segovia, Vámonos con Pancho Villa! (2020). Photo by Ben Davis.

A man looks at a green-toned figurative painting of a grove

Salman Toor, Night Grove (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

Two large, densely details paintings on a wall

Various works by Violeta Quispe. Photo by Ben Davis.

A wall filled with a suite of figurative paintings of faceless figures

Paintings by Erica Rutherford. Photo by Ben Davis.

A bunched mass of rawhide suspended in the air

Rindon Johnson, For Example, Collect the Water Just to See It Pool There Above Your Head. Don’t be a Fucking Hero! (2021-ongoing). Photo by Ben Davis.

A mannequin wearing an electric dress with glowing pink lights and a belt that is flashing the word PULSE

Puppies Puppies, Electric Dress (Atsuko Tanaka), 2022. Photo by Ben Davis.

A brightly colored mural of various femme figures

Aravani Art Project, Diaspore (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

A man looks at a screen in a deep purple gallery, featuring a screen of a figure dancing covered in oil

Joshua Serafin, VOID (2022). Photo by Ben Davis.

A woman passes a dark toned painting of swirling vegetal abstractions

A painting by Rember Yahuarcani. Photo by Ben Davis.

Santiago Yahuarcani, Shiminbro, el Hacedor del sonido (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

Charmaine Poh, what’s softest in the world rushes and runs over what’s hardest in the world (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

A screen shows a man in a motorcycle helmet and sunglasses

Karimah Ashadu, Machine Boys (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

A sculpture made of a pile of glowing lights

WangShui, Lipid Muse (2024). Photo by Ben Davis.

Oh yes, and just when you think you are done and can start to process it all, someone will say to you, “Did you see the works out back?”

As is usual, multiple works are sited in the gardens and Arsenale warehouses. While the Arsenale show feels like it tells a story, these spaces always feel like an awkward coda. This time around, these spaces include multiple lengthy film works, as well an installation by Anna Maria Maiolino that features several tons of soft clay objects. Make no mistake, Maiolino is not peripheral to this show: She won the 60th Biennale’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement alongside Nil Yalter—so it’s actually fitting she closes the show, where Yalter opened it.