We Made It in Venice! But Then …? Reversing Notions of Center and Periphery

At each Venice Biennale, the visitors get to experience the encounter of independently curated national pavilions and the artistic director's thematic exhibition. The latter is always presented in the same two venues: the Arsenale, a tunnel-like space where in old times ropes for the marine were twisted, and in the central pavilion of the so-called Giardini. This park hosts the national pavilions of the European nations, who are part of the inaugural core group of 1895, whereas the other countries rent sections of the Arsenale and other venues in the city, palazzos or transformed factories for example (see Köhler 2020: 84 for the history of the biennale and distribution of pavilions).Cecilia Alemani was chosen artistic director of this 59th Biennale, which was scheduled to take place in 2021. However, due to the pandemic, the Biennale opened one year later, in 2022. According to Roberto Cicutto, the president of the Venice Biennale, Alemani's choice to focus on the relationship of human bodies to their environment, their fragility, could have to do with this biennial being entirely planned from video conferences and no physical studio visits (Margutti et al. 2022: 39). Alemani wanted to give space to processes of transformation, dissolve rigid distinctions of gender, and break up categories confining notions of human-animal-machine, as she wrote in the introduction of the catalogue (Margutti et al. 2022: 44–45). Of the more than 200 artists she invited, 180 “have never had their work in the International Art Exhibition until now”(Margutti et al. 2022: 44–45) and 80% were women. As a matter of fact, many artworks alluded to human anatomies, be it replicas, or imagined organs, some in action, palpitating with liquids moving around, others in between actions, as the video of a woman cleaning the organs of a rubber sex puppet between clients’ visits demonstrated.1 Five “historical capsules” interspersed in both venues, showed pioneer work of artists2 exploring different forms of “trans” and “post” that, according to Alemani, offered a “web of references” (Margutti et al. 2022: 46) that encouraged the present generation to continue exploring new territories and cross borders.3 The title Milk of Dreams was borrowed from a book by the surrealist artist-writer Leonora Carrington, who stood up for a world of magic and transformation and was sanctioned and marginalized (Margutti et al. 2022: 43).Paintings by Kudzanai-Violet Hwami (Biennale College Scholarship recipient) installed on black and white floor-to-ceiling wallpaper prints welcomed visitors in the first side room of the Giardini venue (Fig. 1). They are based, according to the Short Guide (Mugatti at al. 2022), on photos and sound recordings of funerals and weddings she took on a recent trip to Zimbabwe but also on images taken from the internet.4At the very far end of the Arsenale tunnels, Sandra Mujinga had suspended fragments of coarsely woven costumes at different heights with thin wires, a quartet of sculptures called Mókó, Libwé, Zómi, and Nkáma (Fig. 2). They seemed to dissolve, ripple apart, as loose ends indicated. The even, low-level, green light enhanced the sensation of “things falling apart” (to evoke Achebe 1958). Mujinga's sculptures reminded me of Egungun costumes, which I have seen in Benin during consultation rituals.Even further down, almost at the rear exit of the extended Arsenale grounds, the U.S.born artist and transgender activist Tourmaline showed a multiple-screen video installation called Mary of Ill Fame (2020–2021) a portrait of a Black woman in Seneca Village (now Central Park in New York City) around 1830, who was forced to be a sex worker, accused to have stolen a White man's wallet, unjustly incarcerated, yet succeeded in freeing herself and her companions by reconnecting to her African ancestors’ magical powers (Fig. 3). The continuity of prejudice and racial and (trans)gender discrimination over centuries came across through the intense contrasts of images and soundscapes Tourmaline had created between the ruling bourgeois lifestyle of the masters and the misery of the Black enslaved population.I had chance to participate in the opening ceremony of the Kenya Pavilion in a modified factory (Fig. 4). Speeches by Dr. Amina Mohamed, the minister of culture, the commissioner, were questioned in a spontaneous intervention by Simon Njami, who insisted that political support for art must be unconditional and full hearted. Almost forgotten, curator Jimmy Ogonga and the artists represented in the Pavilion were given space to speak at the end of the session. The very diverse paintings and sculptures by Dickens Otieno, Syowia Kyambi, Kaloki Nyamai, and Wanja Kimani harmonized and showed that they practiced the stipulation of their exhibition's title, Exercises in Conversation.South Africa and Ghana rented (as at the 2019 edition) sections of the Arsenale as the location for their national pavilions. Several countries signed twenty-year contracts with the Biennale for space in this former rope factory and marine depot, which cost, according to unofficial information from the team of the South African Pavilion, around €20 million for ten editions. While the South Africa exhibition was on the second floor of the renovated Sale d'Armi building that hosts about a dozen national presentations, Ghana's was situated on the ground floor at the far end of the rope-making halls (Fig. 5). Black Star—The Museum as Freedom was the title of Ghana's show, curated again by Nana Oforiatta Ayim, who invited three artists to explore processes of decolonization and pan-Africanism. Na Chainka Reindorf presented paintings of Black figures in abstract spaces framed by textile patterns, Afroscope an installation of 1,024 doodles of faces on 8 cm × 8 cm papers and NFTs,5 and Diego Arauja a sound installation. Instead of using elaborate architecture like David Adjaye did in 2019 with his mudwalls, Oseo Asare used the unlit space of the industrial building as black backdrop by placing the artworks on a modular grid of thin wooden bars.The debut Pavilion of Uganda6 and veteran Côte d'Ivoire had distinct curatorial strategies. Shaheen Merali, curator of Radiance—They Dream in Time, had chosen only two artists to represent Uganda in Palazzo Palumbo Fossati's historic space (Fig. 6). Acaye Kerunen's sculptural work derived from techniques of traditional basket-making by deconstructing utilitarian forms, and let them grow all over the Palazzo's walls, while Collin Sekajugo's paintings reinterpreted from an African perspective stock photos sold on the internet promoting consumer ideals and played with the momentum of large, colorful canvases. A limited selection of artists might have had a better chance to imprint afterimages on the visual memory of the visitors and the jury, as we will see further down. For Côte d'Ivoire (Fig. 7), the two Italian curators, Massimo Scaringella and Alessandro Romanini7 presented six artists under the title The Dreams of a Story in black-box architecture inserted into a section of the salt magazines on the waterfront called Zattere. A wall of evenly framed and spaced postcard-sized drawings by the late Frédéric Bruly Bouabré was contrasted with Aboudia's large paintings. His pseudochildish scribbling-style faces and stick figures were enriched with a three-dimensional twist by sewing worn-out textile toy animals to the canvas. The number of artists and works in an almost night-club setting exceeded the dose of what is necessary to present a country in Venice.Immediately after the 59th Venice Biennale jury's list of award winners8 was announced on April 23, cheers in the press and social media sprang up announcing that finally artists of African descent had received the recognition they deserved in one of the most agreed-upon “centers of the artworld”9 (despite the fact that Georges Adéagbo had received the jury's honorary mention in 1999 and El Anatsui the Golden Lion in 2015). The Golden Lion for best pavilion was awarded to Great Britain, represented by Sonia Boyce; best artist to Simone Leigh (United States); and the debut national pavilion of Uganda10 shared honorary mention with the French Pavilion11 hosting Zineb Sadira from Algeria.The question I would like to discuss is, how important is it really today to gain international recognition by being represented at the Venice Biennale? Has its standing as a forum for critical and “objective” evaluation of artists’ contributions diminished with the drastic increase of blue-chip galleries taking a major role in financing costly projects that the Biennale could never afford, possibly influencing the selection of artists? Even though the professional preview is no longer scheduled four days before the opening of Art Basel (previously, non-European professional collectors could do both in one trip) and the events are now almost two months apart,12 still, some critics say, the Biennial has become to some extent a warm-up and sales-catalyzer for the art fair with the highest turnover in the world. For example: In 2019 Ralph Rugoff presented Njideka Akunyili Crosby's five large canvases and a series of portraits with the support of the London-based Victoria Miro Gallery in his theme show (see Köhler 2020). Miro opened a gallery in the center of Venice and hosted a solo show with Crosby's smaller works that opened during the professional preview. In April 2022, the same gallery showcased works by Paula Rego, whose paintings and sculptures of fabric dolls were presented by Alemani in her main show in the Giardini, again with the support of the gallery.Gallery Hauser & Wirth “contributed” to Simone Leigh's Brick House (Fig. 8) being shipped to Venice and placed in the first room of Alemani's Arsenale Venue chapter (see Mugatti et al 2022: 192). The piece was commissioned in 2019 for the High Line in New York. Cecilia Alemani is one of the curators of the High Line.13 And precisely because of this work, the biennale jury awarded the Golden Lion for the Best Artist in the International Exhibition The Milk of Dreams to Simone Leigh:Alemani pursued the same dramaturgical strategy of “big splash at the beginning of the show” in her Giardini venue, where she placed Elephant by Katharina Fritsch (1978) (Fig. 9) in the first space. It is almost same size as Leigh's Brick House in the Arsenale. Each Biennale's artistic director has the privilege to suggest artists for the Golden Lion for Lifetime achievement. On Alemani's recommendation, Katharina Fritsch and Cecilia Vicuña were awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime achievement.It boils down to: Without money from big galleries or institutional supporters, no theatrical contributions can be realized that will entice an audience to the Venice Biennale as a super-event. Of course, transport, insurance, and accommodation have become more expensive. Yet the Venice Biennale has turned commercial. Two indicators: Until about five years ago, invitations for the three-day preview were granted to professionals and art critics only after accreditation; now anyone can buy the Biennale pass, silver to diamond, from €70 to €3000, which includes preview access.15 In 1999, when I applied for official collateral status with Georges Adéagbo's installation in public space, it was granted for free within a few days; now it costs minimum €20,000 and takes time.16I write this review from the perspective of a European living in Benin since 2000. While hosting workshops and exhibitions in Cotonou, I have observed the stagnation of the art scene in the Republic of Benin and limited access to a truly international audience and recognition due to the filters of “Francophony” (Köhler 2022). I have witnessed how almost neocolonial control by French cultural agencies caused the tragedy of the Biennale Regard Benin 2012,17 which did not continue after its second edition. Yet a couple of years ago, a fresh breeze came into the art scene: In March 2020, a presidential decree led to the opening of the planning office of the new Galerie Nationale,18 which started to acquire works by Benin artists and build up a database. After years of research and negotiations triggered in 2018 by Bénédicte Savoy and Felwine Sarr's report on looted artworks in European museums, President Emmanuel Macron agreed to the restitution of twenty-six Dahomey masterpieces exhibited in the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac.19 When they arrived in Cotonou in November 2021, after 129 years of forced exile, they were cheered by crowds along the roads where the trucks passed. But they did not go into storage waiting for the completion of a new museum to host them in Abomey. For the first time in its history, the presidential palace opened its doors to the public, after an express renovation, and hosted an exhibition of the returned Dahomey art works, together with a comprehensive presentation of thirty-four contemporary artists.20 The exhibition in the cleverly chosen location attracted 2,000 visitors a day, was extended by two months, and transformed the relationship of the population to their heritage and contemporary art, none of which were ever presented on that scale before.The African Art in Venice Forum opened the 59th Biennial with a panel entitled “From Restitution to Contemporary Creation,” discussing the impact of restitution on contemporary art in general and the dynamics and transformation triggered by the restitution of looted art works on new cultural politics in Benin in particular.21 Coline Toumson-Venite, Yassine Lassissi, Alicia Knock, and Georges Adéagbo, moderated by Silvia Forni22 exchanged their thoughts on how to make the enthusiasm for old and new art in Benin sustainable (Fig. 10). According to Toumson-Venite, head of the Mission of Culture and Arts of Benin's Republic President, four museums are under construction—in Cotonou, Ouidah, Abomey, and Porto Novo—to host contemporary art and restituted art works. Infrastructure is needed, as there are still 3,500 looted artifacts in French museums to be returned.The well-planned program of the third edition of the African Art in Venice Forum included discussions of how African nations and artists can not only insert themselves into the existing machinery of the Venice Biennale, but also help transcend its Eurocentric perspectives and contribute to transforming it. In addition, the Forum's main theme was art alliance building on the African continent, which connects to the new developments taking place in Benin. If an African nation—such as Benin—has the political will to give art and culture a major role in the development of their society and provide infrastructure to attract local and international audiences, is it still really a “must” to be present at what Zimbabwean curator Rafael Chikukwa (2020: 2) calls “an important global cultural arena where art was canonized and promoted” that his country can “neither afford nor accept to be outside [of]”? Are the Venice Biennale, the Kassel documenta, Art Basels in Miami, Hong Kong, and now Paris, still “obligatory passage points,” as Michel Callon (1986) phrased it, for an artist's and even a nation's international recognition and success? As a step towards decolonization, the notion that these events are exclusive gatekeepers to global success surely needs to be deconstructed. to question rigid notions of and The late his in by hosting important in New and with Yet even in a an artistic director from outside might not the and of the Biennale they are not to make sustainable to the of the and have to to the and of a The Biennale, by The 2018 edition was by by and others from and the edition by the artist This is to European curatorial Alemani, for is to artistic director of the Venice Biennale in was the first Biennale after the in of at Ralph 2019 Biennale, in and it to Alemani's focus on artists who cross between categories by bourgeois it is that Rugoff opened for Black artists to speak about their than did Rugoff artists like and others space to their about in a world. While the of Alemani's main show seemed to give the audience a break from political the jury's to pavilions to Africa and artists of African descent could be seen as an support of the Black show started with Simone Leigh's Brick House and with her of a African woman with and in a at the rear exit of the Arsenale (Fig. I truly question the and of at ten of and of her work in the Pavilion and Alemani's thematic show the to with on how and notions of White in with Black and Black The artist transformed the Pavilion into a like a for White them to In she placed a with a head and a like a or (Fig. abstract borrowed from the in and Côte of which the in New York has in their the first visitors a Black woman standing in a with on a (Fig. On the of Leigh of her work, a history of and through and and the of Black If the not make a of a Black woman a a or a of her to traditional other the artist presented sculptures in the of and costumes of as she in a at a in her she has never to led to the of Leigh at this Venice Biennial and of her work that the Black as a of (Margutti et al. 2022: of is and to to It is not in its this very when the of is to the of how artists with from the African on their and cultural Leigh's and could be seen as a of a and whereas other artists the and images Leigh to in her work and with Sandra as with and forms that invited the to what was with their The of of in about for and triggered in after I had her space, while I as into a Africa in the of and as an In addition, I and contributions to which all notion of an an to of works of these African on large with public and media Leigh them and their and for critical It would be to say, that Leigh their for other sculptures will her passage and be for other artists to with in their apart, Alemani one of the of do is there is no for an artist to accept an by a Biennale artistic director to their main show, an African can or as the Uganda (Fig. and (Fig. pavilions The cultural to the to and a at the Venice Biennale might not be better to make their country a cultural a that can attract and to a local and international

Art · Center (category theory) · Reversing · Chemistry · Engineering · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Mechanical Engineering

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