Highlights: 7 Collateral Exhibitions to see during the 60th Venice Biennale
So you’ve already done the main exhibitions and national pavilions at the Arsenale and Giardini – what’s next?
Grab some gelato and pull up a map, because it’s time to explore. Thirty collateral events are running this year in tandem with the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale, and they form an official extension to the national pavilions and main exhibitions you will already have seen. With the theme being ‘Foreigners Everywhere’, it’s especially fascinating to see what arts organizations from around the world have decided to put on public display in contemplation of what it means to be foreign, an outsider, and marginalized. Located across the more central areas of the city, these exhibitions are also exceptional opportunities to venture into former aristocratic spaces temporarily retrofitted with contrasting works of modern and contemporary art. And that’s not even including all the other independent exhibitions scattered around Venice to spice up a humble afternoon stroll.
South Korean art is especially well-represented by collateral exhibitions during this edition of the Biennale. Included in this list are solo shows featuring the work of artistic stalwarts Lee Bae and Yoo Youngkuk (details below), and also not to missed are a major retrospective of Seundja Rhee in ‘Seundja Rhee: Towards the Antipodes’, spotlighting a key woman artist who spearheaded the country’s abstract art movement along with her more famous contemporaries Kim Whanki and Yoo Youngkuk, and ‘Madang: Where We Becomes Us’ – a 30th anniversary exhibition of the Gwangju Biennale surveying the past edition of Asia’s leading contemporary art biennale and its possible futures.
On a logistical note, you’ll want to keep in mind that like the Arsenale and Giardini, many of these collateral exhibitions are closed on Mondays. Remember to check for opening hours and dates before you set out on your way.
All of the exhibitions in this list are free to enter, and run until 24 November 2024 unless otherwise stated.
Exhibitions in this list:
Trevor Yeung: “Courtyard of Attachments, Hong Kong in Venice”
Where: Campo de la Tana, across entrance to the Arsenale (map)
Hours: Weds-Sun, 10 am–6 pm
Trevor Yeung’s solo exhibition presented by M+ Museum explores sentimentality, desire, and relationships of power through the concept of attachment, which manifests as feelings of connection with objects as well as a longing for someone special. The exhibition articulates the artist’s intimate experiences and keen observations of the relationships between humans and aquatic systems, drawing from references that include his father’s seafood restaurant, pet shops, feng shui arrangements, and the fish he kept as a child.
Curated by Olivia Chow and organized by M+ Museum and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.
Shahzia Sikander: “Collective Behaviour”
Where: Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel (map)
Hours: 11am–7pm, closed Mondays
Shahzia Sikander: Collective Behavior brings together an exemplary selection of artwork from across the artist’s career, illustrating her distinctive iconography and continuous reinvention through the adoption of new mediums. The exhibition begins with her breakthrough work The Scroll (1989-90), created for her graduate thesis project at Lahore’s National College of Arts, which established her position at the vanguard of the neo-miniature movement. Encompassing the spectrum of her creative output from that career-launching work to the present-day, Collective Behavior also debuts new works by Sikander that respond to the architecture and history of the Palazzo Soranzo van Axel, the city of Venice, and global histories of trade and artistic exchange.
Curated by Ainsley M. Cameron and Emily Liebert and co-organized by the Cincinnati Art Museum and The Cleveland Museum of Art.
The Spirits of Maritime Crossing
Where: Palazzo Smith Mangilli Valmarana (map)
Hours: Weds-Sun, 10 am–6 pm
The Spirits of Maritime Crossing explores cultural flows and moving water as metaphors of unexplored ocean and territories. Southeast Asian artists from the Global South share many commonalities but also differences in ethnicities, religions, languages that make them foreign among neighbours. The legacy of these nations constituted cultural hybrids among foreigners, refugees, immigrants and stateless people. The Spirits of Maritime Crossing is a journey from Southeast Asia to Venice with glimpses of allurement and diasporic experiences—and foreigners dispersed from their homeland physically and spiritually. Examining themes of diasporic wandering, colonial violence, hegemony, and ecological transformations, artists include Marina Abramović, Chitti Kasemkitvatana, Nakrob Moonmanas, Jompet Kuswidananto, Natee Utarit, Khvay Samnang, Truong Cong Tung, and more.
Curated by Apinan Poshyananda and organized by the Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation.
Yuan Goang-Ming: “Everyday War”
Where: Palazzo delle Prigioni, next to the Doge’s Palace (map)
Hours: 10am–6pm
Sirens, explosive blast, sudden pounding, and a slow-tempo anthem, are the sound from different artworks about an air raid drill, a civil disobedience movement, and different settings inside of an imagined home. Is this a site of allegory reflecting the past and present? Or a prophecy of the human future told through an exhibition? It’s probably both to Yuan Goang-Ming, an artist born, raised, and living with his family in Taiwan. This solo presentation encompasses the artist’s work from 2014 to now and conveys both personal and collective’s ever longing inquiry of home in an era when conflict and fragility are the norm: What’s survival? What’s living? What’s peace? What’s safety? What’s freedom? What’s poetic?
Curated by Abby Chen and organized by the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
“Cosmic Garden: An artistic collaboration between Madhvi Parekh, Manu Parekh, Karishma Swali & Chanakya School of Craft”
Where: Salone Verde Art & Social Club (map)
Hours: 10am to 7pm, closed Sundays
Cosmic Garden honours the pluralistic beauty of India’s cultural heritage, featuring paintings and sculptures by Madhvi Parekh and Manu Parekh, and the evolution of their practice into a third interdisciplinary medium — hand embroidery — presented through crafted works and sculptures created by the Chanakya School of Craft and its Creative Director Karishma Swali.This carefully curated series of works embraces a multidisciplinary approach, dismantling hierarchies between the arts, roles, and genres. The project seeks to re-evaluate the mutual relationship between women and embroidery, transcending the confines of domesticity by bringing hand-embroidery into the public sphere.
Curated by Paola Ugolini and Maria Alicata and organized by the Chanakya Foundation.
Where: Wilmotte Foundation, Fondamenta dell'Abbazia (map)
Hours: 10am to 6pm, closed for lunch break from 1.30-2.00pm and on Mondays
La Maison de La Lune Brûlée explores Lee Bae's deep connection with ‘Daljip Teugi’, a century-old ritual synchronized with cyclical cosmology, intertwining folklore with contemporary art. It delves into humanity's intrinsic connection with nature, advocating for a return to renewal and circularity. Visitors can expect to immerse themselves in the essence of Daljip Teugi and its primary material, charcoal, Lee Bae's signature medium. Video, audio, sculpture, site-specific installations, and contemplative structures morph the foundation's space further into an experiential moment, where visitors can "sense" not only the moonhouse burning but also delve into Korean philosophy and its derivative aesthetic.
Curated by Valentina Buzzi and organised by the Fondation d’Entreprise Wilmotte and the Hansol Foundation/Museum SAN in collaboration with Johyun Gallery, supported by Esther Schipper and Perrotin.
Yoo Youngkuk: “A Journey to the Infinite”
Where: Fondazione Querini Stampalia (map)
Hours: 10am to 6pm, closed Mondays
Yoo Youngkuk was a pioneer of geometric abstract painting who left an indelible mark on the history of art in Korea. The selection of paintings in the exhibition, including works never before seen outside of Korea, embody Yoo’s passionate engagement with the distillation of painterly forms as a means of investigating his deeply personal relationship to nature. A Journey to the Infinite: Yoo Youngkuk will primarily feature works from the 1960s and 1970s: a pivotal moment in Yoo’s life at which he fully dedicated himself to painting. Working alone in his studio with minimal social interactions, he produced numerous outstanding works.
Curated by Kim Inhye and organized by the Yoo Youngkuk Art Foundation.
Last updated: 11 June 2024