Art Biennale
Artist Mounira Al Solh Explores Feminine Endurance at Venice Biennale
Showing at the Venice Biennale for the second consecutive time, the Lebanese Pavilion and its curator Nada Ghandour presented over 40 artworks by artist Mounira Al Solh. The exhibition, ‘A Dance With Her Myth’, focuses on the legend of the Phoenician Princess Europa. Art curator and CairoScene contributor Sophie Kazan visited the pavilion, where she had the opportunity to speak with the artist about the intersection between mythical narratives and the events that shaped Lebanon.
“It all started after various events in Lebanon,” Al Solh tells me. “First, we had the economic crisis and the revolution in October 2019, then the 4th August port explosion and COVID-19 in 2020. Even though I live between the Netherlands and Lebanon, I was there on both occasions and like many others at the time, these events really marked me!”
Lubaina Himid, an artist who quickly became one of the most celebrated British artists working today following her Turner Prize win in 2017, will represent the United Kingdom at the 2026 Venice Biennale.
Himid is best known for installations that allude to forms of Black liberation, sometimes with a focus specifically on women. Within England, she is also known for curating exhibitions of Black art, with an Institute of Contemporary Arts London survey this summer set to reflect on the legacy of shows such as 1985’s “The Thin Black Line,” which spotlighted Black women artists.
Read More: https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/lubaina-himid-2026-vencie-biennale-uk-pavilion-1234733348/
A women’s prison is the site of an immersive art show from the Vatican at the 60th Venice Biennale, an unlikely venue that its curator says is a “message in itself”.
Away from the spotlight and the crowds of the prestigious international art fair, the former convent on the island of Giudecca in the Venetian lagoon now houses women serving long sentences.
Benin will participate in the 60th Venice International Art Exhibition from 20 April to 24 November 2024, the country’s first participation in this international event. Their exhibition, titled “Everything Precious Is Fragile,” explores Benin’s history via the slave trade, the figure of the Amazon, and Vodun spirituality.
José Pliya, the commissioner of the Benin Pavilion, states, “Benin will then be, in the words of Léopold Sédar Senghor, at the great ‘rendezvous of giving and receiving.”
Read more: https://parametric-architecture.com/benin-participates-venice-art-biennale-for-the-first-time/
