Ruya Foundation, the Baghdad-based nonprofit foundation that organized the country’s pavilion, announced a strike last week.
2019 Venice Biennale
Posted inIn Brief
Extreme Flooding in Venice Kills Two People; Biennale Shutters As Safety Precaution
Local authorities called for a state of emergency in the worst floods to hit the lagoon city in more than 50 years.
Posted inFilm
Negotiating and Understanding the Threats to Inuit Life in Canada
The video art of Isuma, the first international media organization created by and for Indigenous peoples, highlights the contemporary and historical impasses they are forced to navigate.
Posted inArt
Navigating the Overload at the Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale’s official exhibition, May You Live In Interesting Times, presents art that speaks to the present, not in the direct fashion of journalism, but in ways that can challenge existing habits of thought.
Posted inArt
Shirley Tse Explores Societal Differences in a Time of Uncertainty for Hong Kong
As protests over an extradition bill rage in Hong Kong, Tse’s Stakeholders exhibition at the Venice Biennale negotiates the spaces between gender categories like female or male, or race categories like Asian or White.
Posted inArt
Rising Tides and Climate Change Color the Venice Biennale This Year
Artistic allusions to rising waters can be found across the Venice Biennale this year, and they strike home with a particular power given the ongoing destruction of the natural world.
Posted inIn Brief
Hong Kong’s Pavilion at the Venice Biennale Closes for Day, Joining Strike Against Proposed Extradition Bill
About 100 Hong Kong arts organizations, including commercial galleries, announced a strike against a bill that would allow extraditing fugitives to mainland China.
Posted inArt
An Inside-Out Airplane Visualizes Poland’s Political Divisions
At the Venice Biennale’s Polish Pavilion, a monumental sculpture responds to conspiracy theories and nationalist rhetoric surrounding the 2010 plane crash that killed Poland’s then-president.
Posted inArt
Gandhi Is the Central Protagonist at the Indian National Pavilion in Venice
Our Time for a Future Caring primarily brings together the work of eight artists, from different generations, who have reflected on the Gandhian legacy of decolonization.
Posted inArt
At the Venice Biennale, Shu Lea Cheang Surveils the Surveillance System
In the first solo exhibition by a woman artist representing Taiwan at the Venice Biennale, Cheang questions the legal and visual regimes that have shaped sexual and gender norms over time.
Posted inArt
Four Spots in the Venice Biennale to Stop You in Your Tracks
The Biennale’s system of national pavilions may be an outdated relic, but it does succeed in putting a spotlight on countries that typically receive scant art world attention.
Posted inIn Brief
Banksy Sets Up an Unauthorized Art Stall in Venice
The anonymous artist set up a stall to showcase paintings of a cruise ship parked in the canal surrounding the city.