WELCOME TO VENICE: THE SHOWS YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS AT THE 60TH BIENNALE

 As the art fair throws open its doors to the world with an emphatic message of diversity and inclusion, Jessica Lack presents the highlights of what’s on show, from must-see national pavilions to compelling collateral exhibitions

The title of the 60th Venice Biennale is Foreigners Everywhere, which strongly suggests a broad remit of inclusivity and diversity. These days, the seven-month festival of art is so vast that almost anything can be said of it, but the main message of this year’s international exhibition is that cultural creativity has been enriched by migrants — those pioneering spirits who upped and left.

 

With strong representation from Africa, Asia and Latin America, a new light is cast on the politics of migration. In the Moroccan-French artist Bouchra Khalili’s film installation The Mapping Journey Project, for instance, refugees from the global south map their odysseys north and recount the Kafkaesque hoops they have had to jump through to reach their destinations.

Painting and collective action dominate Foreigners Everywhere, which is spread across the Central Pavilion (in the Giardini) and the Arsenale. Curator Adriano Pedrosa has brought many indigenous and self-taught artists into the field of vision, with works including the hard-edged abstractions of Brazilian artist Rubem Valentim and the textiles of the Argentine weavers’ collective Silät. Installations by the direct-action feminist group Claire Fontaine and others reveal how indigenous, migrant and queer voices have fought for recognition over the years.

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