ArtReview sent a questionnaire to artists and curators exhibiting in and curating the various national pavilions of the 2024 Venice Biennale, the responses to which will be published daily in the leadup to and during the Venice Biennale, which runs from 20 April – 24 November.
Guerreiro do Divino Amor is representing Switzerland; the pavilion is in the Giardini.
ArtReview What do you think of when you think of Venice?
Guerreiro do Divino Amor A hypnotizing maximalist architecture of middle age invaded by hordes of visitors, selfie-sticks and extravagant super rich from all over the world that turns the whole into a science fiction film.
AR What can you tell us about your exhibition plans for Venice?
GDDA For the Swiss Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2024, I am working on the sixth and seventh chapters of my Superfictional World Atlas, a research project, a saga, which I’ve been busy with for almost two decades now. This long-term project is cartographic and allegorical in nature and could be infinite, covering all the world’s nations. ‘The Miracle of Helvetia’ and ‘Roma Talismano’ – these are the titles given to the two new episodes – are dedicated to Switzerland and ancient Rome respectively and will be part of the ambitious installation commissioned to represent Switzerland at the Biennale. The Pavilion will be transformed into a total work of art where columns, fountain, and faux marble surfaces as well as other architectural elements are used to suggest the superiority of the West, as artificial symbols of an assumed racial superiority. As part of this challenging project, a brand new film dedicated to Rome, shot during my residency at the Istituto Svizzero, is shown. It features, among others, Ventura Profana, an artist with whom I have collaborated a lot in recent years, in the guise of the Lupa Capitolina… but you will find out more in Venice soon!
AR Why is the Venice Biennale still important, if at all? And what is the importance of showing there? Is it about visibility, inclusion, acknowledgement?
GDDA Celebratory self-representation through culture was at the very origin of the National Pavilions when the Biennale first opened over a century ago – that alone leads to the Venice Biennale being of interest to me. Presenting my work, which looks at those clichés with which we represent the world and ourselves, in this very place is an intriguing challenge.
AR When you make artworks do you have a specific audience in mind?
GDDA I want my work to be accessible to everyone who is interested. I therefore give access to all my videos on Vimeo, pass on my images for publications, thesis, magazines, to the educational departments of schools in Brazil. Art shouldn’t be for one specific audience only, but for as many people as are curious about it.
AR Do you think there is such a thing as national art? Or is all art universal? Is there something that defines your nation’s artistic traditions? And what is misunderstood or forgotten about your nation’s art history?
GDDA Fortunately, the era of Western dominance in the arts is over. Brazil has a beautiful, diverse, and very lively art scene, across the entire country, and I hope this means that we’re steering towards a truly international art scene where art from all parts of the world has the same chance to be seen and discussed internationally.
AR If someone were to visit your nation, what three things would you recommend they see or read in order to understand it better?
GDDA I would always recommend people to come for the Carnival!
AR Which other artists have influenced or inspired you?
GDDA Collaboration with others is crucial to my work – there is a long list of collaborators for each of my projects and they have all influenced the final work. Artists like Ventura Profana, Davi de Jesus do Nascimento, Sallisa Rosa, Diego Paulino, have been inspiring me.
AR What, other than your own work, are you looking forward to seeing while you are in Venice?
GDDA I’m very much looking forward to seeing the work of Celia Tupinambá, Julien Creuzet and John Akomfrah, that I love, and to discover all the works in the main exhibition and pavilions, especially the artists from Asia, Africa and Middle East whose work we don’t have much chance to see in Brazil.
The 60th Venice Biennale runs 20 April – 24 November
