Often dubbed ‘the Art Olympics’, the Venice Biennale is all about representation. While the Russian pavilion is closed this year, near the centre of the biennale a large wooden temporary pavilion has been erected. It stands smouldering, scorched by fire, expressing the situation in Ukraine.
Delayed for the first time since World War II, there are many other firsts for the 2022 biennale. In a radical reversal from the past, nine out of ten artists in the main exhibition are women, and at the New Zealand pavilion Yuki Kihara is the first Pasifika, Asian and Fa’afafine artist to represent us.
Pauline Autet is the director of Contemporary Hum, an online platform covering NZ artists presenting overseas.