The 57th Venice Biennale released the list of participating artists for its main exhibition today, revealing the 120 artists—compared to last year’s 136—whose work will comprise “Viva Arte Viva,” curated by Christine Macel.
Macel’s vision for “Viva Arte Viva” is that it be made with, by, and for artists, emphasizing the artist’s role in mediating contemporary society.
“In a world full of conflicts and jolts, in which humanism is being seriously jeopardized, art is the most precious part of the human being,” she said in a September statement.
A number of artists are featured who have received major institutional exhibitions or prizes recently, like Kader Attia, winner of the 2016 Prix Marcel Duchamp; Philippe Parreno, who currently has a large-scale commission on view at the Tate Modern; or Anri Sala, who had a major survey at the New Museum in 2016. Also included is artist and politician Edi Rama, who’s been the prime minister of Albania since 2013.
Young artists (born after 1985) get their due in the form of Rachel Rose, who broke into the big leagues in 2015 with her video “Everything and More” at the Whitney in New York, or video artist Agnieszka Polska, who has shown at European institutions and different biennales, but nothing on the scale of Venice.
Julian Charrière, whose collaboration with Julius von Bismarck was featured in the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale; Petrit Halilaj, who represented Kosovo at the 2013 Venice Biennale; and Achraf Touloub, whose work is in the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou and the Deutsche Bank Collection, also fit the “young” description. But one ambitious duo is surprisingly younger than the rest: Issay Rodriguez and Katherine Nuñez, born in 1991 and 1992, are featured on the list.
Of course, established name like Olafur Eliasson, Frances Stark, and Alicja Kwade are expected. However, the most surprising name on the list is American cult filmmaker John Waters, who rose to fame in the 1970s for his intentionally-offensive films, but has since revealed himself as a multi-capable creative, a gatekeeper of the border between “good” and “bad” taste.
See the full list below:
ADER, Bas Jan
AL SAADI, Abdullah
ALADAG, Nevin
ANTUNES, Leonor
ARAEEN, Rasheed
ARANCIO, Salvatore
ATIKU, Jelili
ATLAS, Charles
ATTIA, Kader
ÁVILA FORERO, Marcos
BANERJEE, Rina
BEUTLER, Michael
BINION, McArthur
BLACK, Karla
BLANK, Irma
BLAZY, Michel
BRUSCKY, Paulo
BUCHER, Heidi
CALAND, Huguette
CHARRIÈRE, Julian
CIACCIOFERA, Michele
CORDIANO, Martín
CSÖRGO, Attila
CURNIER JARDIN, Pauline
DANZ, Mariechen
DEKYNDT, Edith
DÍAZ MORALES, Sebastián
DOWNEY, Juan
ELIASSON, Olafur
ENGSTED, Søren
FIŠKIN, Vadim
GARCÍA URIBURU, Nicolás
GENG, Jianyi
GILLIAM, Sam
GRIFFA, Giorgio
GUAN, Xiao
GUARNERI, Riccardo
GUTIÉRREZ, Cynthia
HAINS, Raymond
HAJAS, Tibor
HALILAJ, Petrit
HALPRIN, Anna
HAO, Liang
HERÁCLITO, Ayrson
HICKS, Sheila
HOPE, Andy
KASPER, Dawn
KHAN, Hassan
KIM, Sung Hwan
KONATÉ, Abdoulaye
KORINA, Irina
KWADE, Alicja
LAI, Firenze
LAI, Maria
LANCETA, Teresa
LATHAM, John
LEE, Mingwei
LEIBOVICI, Franck
LEWITT, Sam
LIU, Jianhua
LIU, Ye
MAKHACHEVA, Taus
MALLUH, Maha
MARWAN
MATSUTANI, Takesada
MEDALLA, David
MILLER, Dan
MILLER, Peter
MIRALDA Antoni, RABASCALL Joan, SELZ Dorothée, XIFRA Jaume
MONDRIAN FAN CLUB (David Medalla & Adam Nankervis)
MURESAN, Ciprian
NENGUDI, Senga
NETO, Ernesto
NUÑEZ Katherine & RODRIGUEZ, Issay
OHO
OROZCO, Gabriel
PARRENO, Philippe
PICH, Sopheap
PLNÝ, Luboš
POGACNIK, Marko
POLSKA, Agnieszka
POOTOOGOOK, Kananginak
PORTER, Liliana
QUINLAN, Eileen
RAHMOUN, Younès
RAMA, Edi
RAMÍREZ, Enrique
RAMÍREZ-FIGUEROA, Naufus
ROSE, Rachel
SALA, Anri
SÁNCHEZ, Zilia
SAPOUNTZIS, Yorgos
SCOTT, Judith
SHARIF, Hassan
SHAVER, Nancy
SHAW, Jeremy
SHERK, Bonnie Ora
SHIMABUKU
SMITH, Kiki
STARK, Frances
STILINOVIC, Mladen
STOLTE, Fiete
STUART, Michelle
SUGA, Kishio
TANAKA, Koki
TENGER, Hale
THE PLAY
TOULOUB, Achraf
TRAN, Thu Van
UPRITCHARD, Francis
VERZUTTI, Erika
VOIGNIER, Marie
VOROBYEVA Yelena & VOROBYEV Viktor
WAHEED, Hajra
WALTHER, Franz Erhard
WATERS, John
WEST, Franz
WYN EVANS, Cerith
YEESOOKYUNG
ZHOU, Tao
The 57th Venice Biennale will take place from May 13 – November 26, 2017