The 60th Biennale Arte will open to the public on April 20. But on the 17th, 18th and 19th there will be the various events and collateral events that always enliven suddenly Venetian artistic life. The awards ceremony will take place the day of opening to the public.

The title of the 60th edition of the Art Biennale is Foreigners Everywhere - Foreigners Everywhere.

The exhibition will be divided into between the Central Pavilion in the Giardini and the Arsenale, including 213 artists from 88 nations. There are 26 Italian artists, 180 first participations in the International Exhibition, 1433 works and objects on display, 80 new productions.

Go to the page of the 60th Venice Art Biennale

Azerbaijani Pavilion, Azerbaijan at 60th Biennale Arte of Venice

The title of the exhibition at the Azerbaijani Pavilion is From Caspian To Pink Planet: I Am Here.

Artists: Vusala Agharaziyeva, Rashad Alakbarov e Irina Eldarova.
Executor: Heydar Aliyev Foundation in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Italy and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Curators: Luca Beatrice e Amina Melikova.
Commissioner: Ambassador Rashad Aslanov.
Seat: Azerbaijani Pavilion, Arsenale, Campo della Tana, Castello 2126A - Venice

Press Release of Azerbaijani Pavilion

On the occasion of its participation in the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, this year Azerbaijan Pavilion presents From Caspian To Pink Planet: I Am Here, realized by Heydar Aliyev Foundation and open to the public from 20 April to 24 November 2024.

The exhibition, curated by Luca Beatrice and Amina Melikova, draws inspiration from the theme proposed by Adriano Pedrosa, curator of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, to explore the various meanings of the theme “Stranieri Ovunque/Foreigners anywhere”, as interpreted by three artists Vusala Agharaziyeva, Rashad Alakbarov and Irina Eldarova.

The exhibition From Caspian to Pink Planet: I Am Here presents a unique response to Stranieri Ovunque/Foreigners Everywhere. Its optimism lies in its thesis that a person can be present everywhere - physically and/or mentally. Even as a stranger, the power of imagination and empathy enables one to master (or settle in) an unfamiliar environment and take root there.

The artworks showcased here explore metaphorically the profound and resilient bonds between individuals and their environments. Each work, along with the variety of media employed to convey its artistic concepts, engages directly with the Biennale’s overarching theme, and each one is simultaneously a vivid illustration of Azerbaijan’s unique societal traits.

Luca Beatrice, co-curator of the Pavilion, explains: “You just need to make a quick visit to Baku to understand the cultural and artistic effervescence of this ancient country, where contemporary architecture is in a dialogue with history, where technology and industry move forward with speed and art becomes the most faithful mirror of this attitude projected towards the future”. The exhibition has an intriguing title: From Caspian To Pink Planet: I Am Here – a compendium of the titles of the works presented by the three artists. Here is the local sea sourcing oil, a philosophical view of the planet, even Hollywood, as East meets West, but on reflection, and in response to Foreigners Everywhere, the definitive statement I Am Here.

Amina Melikova, co-curator of the Pavilion, explains: “The three artists represented in the Azerbaijan Pavilion this year are from different generations and use different means of expression and technique. However, their works selected for display at the Biennale touch, in one way or another, upon situations intertwining reality and fantasy in which an individual must overcome alienation and achieve a sense of belonging within the observed/imagined space”

In response to the approach outlined by the curators, the artists have conceived and submitted a selection of works designed to encourage viewers to immerse themselves in one of the most urgent cultural and social issues of our time.

Vusala Agharaziyeva’s project, Pink Planet, , imagines a science fiction scenario, referencing illustrations that appeared in works of futuristic literature in the 1950s and 1960s. Interpreted through a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, and digital installations, the journeys that have shaped her background are a constant in the artist’s narration, echoing the sensation of feeling like an outsider within one’s existence, glimpsed here in the act of disembarking in surreal extraterrestrial landscapes steeped in vivid shades of pink.

Rashad Alakbarov exhibits one, large-scale work in the pavilion - the installation I Am Here. Within the faceless white walls of a modern labyrinthine city, the artist recreates the oppressive atmosphere of the cramped and predetermined trajectories of our movement in living space, movement set by the rhythm of the structures into which we are forced to fit. Nevertheless, there is a way out - the point is to find the angle from which the imperative is visible in the mirror (in the direct, figurative meaning of the word) - I Am Here.

Irina Eldarova asserts that women are initially foreigners. Getting married, moving from their parents’ home, sometimes even from their country.
This series tells of a non-realist, fictitious meeting and love between two heroes mythologized in the mass media. East and West, of the 1960s and 1970s – a typical male worker from the offshore oil fields in the Caspian Sea and the Hollywood idol Marilyn Monroe. The appearance of a foreigner in the scenography of an already romanticized, industrial everyday life creates a special semantic intrigue.

In this story, the most unlikely scenario of a pop symbol meeting an ordinary Baku oilman is possible. The ephemeral feminine and brutal hard labor. Two foreigners from two worlds far apart... Enchanting colors. So much humor. So many associations. A combination of two myths, daring in concept and implementation – the bright ideals of communism and the American dream – the air of unreality, as experienced by those who find themselves in an unknown environment. Here only kindness and attention give one the strength to become oneself in a new place that one day becomes home

Useful information for the visit

Hours: Gardens from 10.00 to 19.00. Arsenale from 10.00 to 19.00 (from 10.00 to 20.00 on Friday and Saturday until September 30th). Closed on Mondays (except April 22, June 17, July 22, September 2, September 30, October 31, November 18).
Tickets: please visit the official website.
Phone: +39.041.5218711; fax +39.041.2728329
E-mail: aav@labiennale.org
Web: Biennale of Venice