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# Skeleton Deities and Political Mind Games at the Venice Biennale
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/skeleton-deities-and-political-mind-games-at-the-venice-biennale/
- Published: 2024-07-25T20:48:23.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:04:23.000Z
- Description: Hrag Vartanian and AX Mina discuss what worked, what didn’t, and what drew political protests at the “Olympics of the art world.”
- Author: Hyperallergic
- Tags: Podcast, Featured, Italy, Venice, Venice Biennale, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-large, #Import 2025-11-24 09:36 (2023, 2024, part 2)

The sports world may be on the edge of its seats as we draw close to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. But the “Olympics of the art world” is already well underway in Italy: Hundreds of thousands of art lovers are flocking to the Venice Biennale, which runs through November 24\. This massive exhibition has been held every two years with very few exceptions since 1895, when it was inaugurated as the world’s first art biennial. Visitors who devote a whole week of their time will still only be able to take in a sliver of the art on display, whether it’s at the [central exhibition](https://hyperallergic.com/standouts-from-the-2024-venice-biennale-foreigners-everywhere/), the [collateral events](https://artistsandallies.art/projects/south-west-bank/?ref=hyperallergic.com), or the dozens of storied [national pavilions](https://hyperallergic.com/hyperallergic-quick-guide-to-the-2024-venice-biennale-pavilions/) in the Giardini and around the city. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2024/07/jeffrey-gibson6845.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2024/05/mongolia.jpg)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2024/07/hrag-main-exibition-photo7300.jpg)

Left: Work by Jeffrey Gibson at the US Pavilion (photo Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic); center: work by Ochirbold Ayurzana at the Mongolia Pavilion (photo AX Mina/Hyperallergic); right: Joshua Serafin, “VOID” (2022–ongoing) at the main exhibition in the Arsenale (photo Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic)

But that’s not all the exhibition has in store. The politics of the art world are also on full display, whether in the form of protests or the curators’ decisions about how their countries — with all their past and present controversies — will be represented. This year's included Russia offering its pavilion up to Indigenous artists from Bolivia, Brazil [renaming](https://hyperallergic.com/unearthing-the-lands-buried-stories-at-the-venice-biennale-2024/) its pavilion “Hãhãwpuá” after the Indigenous Patxohã term for the land, Poland welcoming an art collective from Ukraine, the United States featuring [Jeffrey Gibson](https://hyperallergic.com/sneak-peek-of-jeffrey-gibson-us-pavilion-at-the-venice-biennale/) as the first Native American artist to have a solo exhibition at the pavilion, and Israel canceling its exhibition … which perhaps wasn't really[ canceled](https://hyperallergic.com/israeli-artist-pausing-venice-biennale-show-doesnt-go-far-enough-critics-say/) after all.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2024/07/ax-anga-actions200779.jpg)

Protest street art by Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) (photo AX Mina/*Hyperallergic*)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2024/07/photo-2024-04-17-06-00-35-2-1.jpg)

A group of art workers, artists, and activists protested in the open area outside the Israeli and US pavilions at the Venice Biennale on April 17, 2024 (photo Avedis Hadjian/*Hyperallergic*)

*Hyperallergic* Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian and longtime contributor AX Mina sat down to reflect on the aesthetic successes, political failures, and long-awaited representation they saw displayed at the world’s biggest contemporary art show. 

Subscribe to *Hyperallergic* on [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hyperallergic/id1112233641?mt=2&ref=hyperallergic.com) and [anywhere else](https://podcast.hyperallergic.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) you listen to podcasts. Watch the complete video of the conversation with images of the artworks on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lURUrXEEz0&ref=hyperallergic.com).