Highlights of the MBA in Arts & Cultural Management Study Trip to the Prestigious Venice Biennale 2024!

Under the direction of Brazilian curator Adriano Pedrosa, this year’s theme, Foreigners Everywhere, is taken from a series of works begun in 2004 by the Claire Fontaine collective, born in Paris and based in Palermo. The works consist of neon sculptures in different colors that reproduce the words "Foreigners Everywhere" in several languages. The phrase comes from the name of a Turin collective that fought racism and xenophobia in Italy in the early 2000s.

Stranieri Ovunque – explains Adriano Pedrosa – has several meanings. First, wherever you go and wherever you are, you will always meet foreigners: they/we are everywhere. Second, no matter where you find yourself, you are always truly and deep down a foreigner."

As a guiding principle, the Biennale Arte 2024 favored artists who have never taken part in the international Biennale, even though a number of them may have been shown in a National Pavilion, a satellite event, or a previous edition of the International Exhibition. Particular attention is paid to outdoor projects, both at the Arsenale and the Giardini, where a program of performances and events takes place during the pre-opening and closing weekends of the 60th exhibition.

Visitors seated in a purple immersive room, one in a wheelchair, facing a projection

Indigenous artists have an emblematic presence and their works greet the public at the Central Pavilion, where the Mahku collective from Brazil created a monumental mural on the building’s facade, as well as at the Corderie, where the Maataho collective from Aotearoa/New Zealand will present a large-scale installation in the first room.

Queer artists appear throughout the exhibition and are also the subject of a large section in the Corderie, as well as a section devoted to queer abstraction in the Central Pavilion.

During their visit, our MBA in Arts & Cultural Management students had the privilege of exploring the Giardini pavilions and the Arsenale site.

They went on the must-see visits such as the United States Pavilion, the French Pavilion, the William Kentridge Pavilion, and the LAS Pavilion, guided by professors Carolina Ariza and Fabienne Bidaud. The students took part in dynamic and stimulating discussions with leaders in the field.

For budding young professionals in the arts and culture sector, this experience is simply enriching and inspiring.