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With its storied history dating back to 1895 and a scenic setting for the thought-provoking art it showcases (although La Serenissima has been overrun by selfie-seekers lately), the Venice Biennale is a gift that keeps giving. This year’s landmark 60th edition, titled “Stranieri Ovunque Foreigners Everywhere” (April 20-November 24, 2024), curated by Adriano Pedrosa, sets out to disrupt the Eurocentric gaze. It compels us to see the world through the eyes of the previously marginalised.

True to its powerful theme, it throws the spotlight on contributions from indigenous groups, queer and LGBTQIA+ achievers, historical outcasts, and self-taught artists, not only turning the overlooked fringe into the mainstream but also underscoring the surprisingly different and often contradictory meanings that the term “foreigner” holds within itself. In our increasingly globalised world, that word carries a political and social sting, but as the well-meaning Pedrosa implies, it also strangely defines us all. Pedrosa, currently the artistic director of the São Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil, is the first South American and the first openly queer curator in the history of the “Biennale Arte”, as the Italians like to refer to the art convention that draws a horde of art lovers, artists, gallerists, and global cultural enthusiasts every other year to the historic but increasingly fragile lagoon city of Venice.



The biennale’s main exhibition is clustered between the Giardini—a.

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