Foreigners Everywhere

Foreigners Everywhere, curated by Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa, is the main art exhibition of the 60th Venice Biennale, which takes place from April 20–November 24, 2024. Pedrosa’s stated intention for the exhibit was to investigate the idea of living on the margins, whether as an outsider, a new arrival, or an Indigenous person.

There were 331 artists who were selected to take part, about a third more than the 2022 edition. Pedrosa has noted that a great number of the exhibiting artists are Indigenous and from the Global South, and a significant number also identify as queer.

Among the most visible indigenous artists in the exhibit is the Brazilian Amazon group, MAHKU (Movimento dos Artistas Huni Kuin), which created a mural covering the main exhibit hall in the Giardini area of the Biennale. In addition, the first gallery at the Arsenale hosts an installation by the Mataaho Collective, a group of four Maori women known for making large-scale fiber sculptures. Pedrosa’s other curatorial selections included Native American artists Kay WalkingStick and Emmi Whitehorse and the Brazilian Yanomani artists Joseca Mokahesi and André Taniki.

Pedrosa, the artistic director of Museu de Arte de São Paulo, is the first curator of the Venice Biennale to be based in Latin America.

Reception
While the main exhibit was applauded for highlight contemporary artists, specifically Brazilian works, the older historical pieces assembled from Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America were described as a “pell mell array.” Jason Farago, critic for The New York Times, called the exhibit a “a closed, controlled, and at times belittling showcase, which smooths out all the distinctions and contradictions of a global commons.”