The curator of the 60th Venice Biennale, Adriano Pedrosa, has revealed his plans for the world’s most prestigious exhibition which launches in April. There are 331 artists in total in the main international exhibition, entitled Foreigners Everywhere, which takes place in a “world rife with crises concerning movement of people across borders”, Pedrosa said in a press briefing held this morning.
“Wherever you go, you will always encounter foreigners… no matter where you find yourself, you are always deep down inside a foreigner,” said Pedrosa. The thesis expresses “differences and disparities conditioned by [issues such as] race, sexuality and wealth etc.”, he added.
Pedrosa says that he feels his own experiences are reflected in the theme. “I have lived abroad and been fortunate to travel extensively,” he said, stressing that he has often been treated as a “third-world foreigner” even though he holds “one of the highest-ranking passports of the Global South. [Pedrosa is Brazilian]” Crucially, he said: “I also identify as queer, the first openly queer curator [of the Biennale].”
The theme especially takes on extra resonance in Venice, he added. “At one point, Venice was the most important centre for trade in Mediterranean. The population [today] consists of 50,000; this may reach 165,000 during peak seasons due to enormous numbers of tourists… foreigners of a privileged kind.”
