Must-see pavilions at the Venice Biennale 2024

For an event whose central theme this year is foreigners and strangers, there is a surprising homogeny to the national pavilions at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale. It feels as though Adriano Pedrosa’s theme has been taken up in similar ways by both artists and curators. After all, as one artist said to me, there is something rather outmoded about the concept of national pavilions. ‘Foreigners Everywhere’ seems to be an invitation to question the very idea of them.

In this light it is unsurprising that many curators have responded by exhibiting a group of artists rather than an individual. It’s not just curators thinking in this way: at the Croatian pavilion, the artist Vlatka Horvat has invited every artist whose email address she possessed to contribute a work to her show. The national pavilion has thus become both an international showcase and an example of artistic reciprocity rather than grandstanding.