Benin Pavilion, Benin at Venice Biennale of Art - Serbian Pavilion, - City of Venice
(Photo: Installation view. Credits Aleksandar Denić, courtesy of the artist)
Exhibition in progress from April 20th to November 26th 2024
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
Benin Pavilion, Benin at 60th Biennale Arte of Venice
The title of the exhibition at the Serbian Pavilion is Everything Precious Is Fragile.
Artists: Chloé Quenum, Moufouli Bello, Ishola Akpo e Romuald Hazoumè.
Curator: Azu Nwagbogu.
Commissioner: José Pliya.
Seat: Benin Pavilion, Arsenale - Venice
Press Release of Benin Pavilion
The Republic of Benin is pleased to announce the title and concept of its national pavilion in view of its first participation in the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, scheduled from Saturday 20 April to Sunday 24 November 2024.
Entitled Everything Precious Is Fragile, the exhibition will trace the rich history of Benin by delving into issues such as the slave trade, the figure of the Amazon, spirituality and the Voodoo religion. It will also delve into contemporary reality by describing Gèlèdé's thought, centered on the concept of rematriation: a feminist interpretation of the idea of "restitution", not only linked to objects, but also referring to the return to the philosophy and ideals of this land prior to colonial era.
Curator Azu Nwagbogu and his team – curator Yassine Lassissi and set designer Franck Houndégla – have selected four great artists who will represent Benin at the 2024 Art Biennale: Chloé Quenum, Moufouli Bello, Ishola Akpo and Romuald Hazoumè.
Under the guidance of Azu Nwagbogu, the artists will talk about African feminism, placing emphasis on its declination in Benin. As José Pliya, commissioner of the pavilion, states, "Benin will thus participate in the great 'appointment of giving and receiving', to quote Léopold Sédar Senghor".
With its presence at the event, Benin demonstrates its commitment to actively promoting its artistic and cultural scene. Furthermore, the choice to take part in the 2024 Art Biennale is somehow connected to the recent restitution, which took place in 2021, of 26 treasures stolen from the royal family at the time of the French colonization of the kingdom of Danxomè. In the wake of this event, the exhibition Art du Bénin d'hier et d'aujourd'hui, de la restitution à la révélation (Art of Benin yesterday and today, from restitution to revelation), set up in Cotonou and currently shown in several countries, prepared the ground for Benin's participation in the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.
The Benin Pavilion at the 2024 Art Biennale is managed by the Agence de développement des arts et de la culture (ADAC, the Beninese agency for the development of art and culture) on behalf of the Beninese Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Arts.
Curatorial concept:
The curator Azu Nwagbogu and his team, made up of Yassine Lassissi and Franck Houndégla, have identified four themes linked to the history and culture of Benin: slavery, the figure of the Amazon, Gèlèdé philosophy and the Voodoo religion. What unites these themes is the common thread of African feminism and, specifically, Beninese feminism.
Gèlèdé spirituality, represented through the use of masks, symbolizes the spiritual power of mothers in Beninese society, while the iconic subject of the Amazon brings to mind the political and military power enjoyed by women at the time of the kingdom of Danxomè.
Analyzing the history of the slave trade, the fundamental role of women in the fight against slavery emerges: in fact, they courageously opposed it, defending their own freedom. Finally, the study of the Voodoo religion highlights the decisive contribution of women both as priestesses and as believers.
Selected artists
Moufouli Nice. A lawyer converted to art, Moufouli Bello has chosen artistic language as a means of exploring identities and social constructs. A young exponent of visual and digital arts, she trained at Le Fresnoy - Studio National des arts contemporains and is currently undertaking a PhD in the field of visual arts. She is best known for her figurative paintings: large-scale portraits depicting brightly colored female figures against bright blue backgrounds.
Chloé Quenum (born in Paris in 1983)
After graduating from the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris in 2011, Chloé Quenum studied Anthropology of Writing at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS). His work subtly and poetically addresses political, social and ecological issues.
Ishola Akpo (born 1983, currently lives in Cotonou, Benin)
Ishola Akpo is a visual artist who experiments with different mediums combining tradition and modernity, to bring a variety of metaphors to life. The boundary between reality and fiction, between fixed and multiple identities, remains the focal point of his work.
Romuald Hazoumè (born 1962, currently lives in Cotonou, Benin)
Appreciated throughout the world for his masks, made from used plastic petrol cans, Romuald Hazoumè is a socially committed artist; his works are firmly rooted in the socio-political and cultural context of Benin and the globalized world. Hazoumè's masks convey a strong message, which represents the jerry cans as true iconic objects of Porto Novo, while his installations are always full of meaning and reveal profound intuitions about the world.
The pavilion team: José Pliya (Commissioner): A man of letters, playwright and theater director, José Pliya is responsible for tourism, art and culture on behalf of the President of the Republic of Benin. Azu Nwabogu (Curator): Founder and director of the African Artists' Foundation (Lagos, Nigeria) and founder of the LagosPhoto Festival. Yassine Lassissi (Cutorial Team): Director of the Visual Arts department at the Agence de développement des arts et de la culture (ADAC) and art historian.
Franck Houndégla (Curatorial team): Set designer and designer with a doctorate in architecture, he specializes in the creation of exhibitions and the design of museums, performance venues and living spaces.
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 |
