Meaning “with you”, “alongside you”, or more broadly “oneness” in isiZulu, Kanye Nawe reflects a philosophy of shared presence that underpins Muholi’s longstanding commitment to documenting, preserving, and celebrating Black LGBTQIA+ lives while challenging historical erasure. Opening shortly after Faces and Phases 20, an off-site presentation of the project held during the 61st Venice Biennale, the exhibition coincides with various personal and historical anniversaries that have shaped the trajectory of Muholi’s practice. Among them are 20 years since the inception of Faces and Phases (2006–ongoing), 20 years since South Africa’s Civil Union Act legalised same-sex marriage, and the 30th anniversary of South Africa’s Constitution.

Central to the exhibition is Faces and Phases, widely regarded as one of the most significant visual records of Black LGBTQIA+ lives globally. Initiated in South Africa in 2006 in response to the violence and hate crimes faced by Black Queer communities, the series sought to challenge their absence and misrepresentation within public and historical records. Since then, it has expanded into a transnational project encompassing participants photographed across multiple continents. Kanye Nawe brings together early portraits made in South Africa alongside recent additions produced in London, Porto, Panama City, Los Angeles, Salvador, São Paulo, Venice, and Rio de Janeiro.Another section of the exhibition presents works from Only Half the Picture, Being, Mo(u)rning, LiZa, and ZaVa, series that explore intimacy, desire, and the complexities of Queer relationships. Together, these photographs bear witness to tenderness, vulnerability, loss, and connection, foregrounding relationships as sites of care, solidarity, and mutual recognition.

In Somnyama Ngonyama, the artist uses their own body as a site through which histories of race, labour, gender, sexuality, and representation are examined and reclaimed. Created while travelling for exhibitions, residencies, and research, the portraits function as a form of visual journaling, responding to the places Muholi inhabits and the objects and encounters that surround them. As Faces and Phases builds a living archive of community, Somnyama Ngonyama traces a parallel record of self-reflection. The works presented in Kanye Nawe include recent self-portraits made in Cape Town, Paternoster, London, Los Angeles, Panama City, Rio de Janeiro, and Venice.

Drawing on personal memory, spirituality, and the body as a vessel of both vulnerability and resilience, three large-scale bronze sculptures explore themes of protection, mourning, ancestry, and survival. Across disciplines, Muholi’s practice remains rooted in the act of bearing witness, affirming dignity, self-determination, and the enduring presence of Black Queer lives.

Source: Southern Guild

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The Ghanaian artist and preacher Kwame Akoto stands out due to his unique journey. In 1972, he opened his studio in Kumasi, where he began painting signs, but quickly moved away from commercial orders, freeing himself to develop a personal universe, combining faith, social criticism and humour. Rooted in local life, his work is also marked by an outspoken view of the world.

Under the name of Almighty God, he is a preacher and a respected character in his neighbourhood. In his studio, Almighty God Art Works, he designs powerful images where the text plays a key role. His works blend moralising slogans, spiritual messages and everyday scenes in a direct, explicit style. The painter also frequently depicts himself in self-portraits challenging the status of creator.

The exhibition is a tribute to this major figure of the contemporary West African artistic world. It explores his themes of preference and showcases the influences, meetings — especially with the artist Hervé Di Rosa — and beliefs that have shaped his unique artistic approach.

This exhibition is held with the support of the Embassy of France and the Institut Français in Ghana, under the ‘Création Africa’ initiative.

Source: Musée du quai Branly

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For someone rooted in ancestral rites and divinatory ceremonies specific to the Bamiléké region where he was born, the world is governed by a constant dialogue between opposing yet complementary principles. On one side, totemic figures of patriarchal power stand as organizers of a social and political life governed by immutable laws; on the other, maternal figures embodying matriarchal strength shape an intimate and familial sphere defined by care and protection. This distribution of roles, which some might view as conservative, should instead be understood as a form of harmony that does not exclude forms of emancipation. Portraiture thus affirms, in an almost anthropological sense, the structuring of a world whose principles and forms of wisdom seem timeless.

Hako Hankson celebrates a world of heroes and heroines whose roles span centuries. Alongside tribal chiefs— intercessors between the world of the living and that of the ancestors, recognizable by their masks sometimes adorned with feathers—appear female figures, at times cradling a child, acting as intercessors between generations, identifiable by their rich adornments and finely detailed headdresses, crafted by the artist using Posca markers. These figures are inseparable from birds which, for the painter and the community to which he belongs, symbolize intermediaries between the world of the living and the beyond, much like ritual statuettes and masks. For this series, Hankson also draws on the iconography of masks from Papua New Guinea, which recall those of his native Cameroon, as rituals and symbols share deep anthropological constants. Are human beings not shaped by the same desires and imaginaries, despite their differences?

Yet it would be reductive to assign this work a purely ethnographic dimension. On the contrary, it is constantly nourished by a dialogue with an art history that is, by nature, universal, and with its Moroccan context of production, which one might describe as fraternal. A kinship of spirit connects these portraits to Picasso’s Cubist painting, itself informed by the fascinated discovery of what was once termed “primitivist” art. Totemic masks and sacred statuary here recover their full visual force. But it is above all with urban art—particularly graffiti, with its immediacy of execution—that Hankson’s work resonates. While the often monochrome backgrounds are carefully worked, drawing remains the catalysing force of the canvas. First sketched in broad strokes, with a controlled inclination toward caricature or satire, drawing forms the structural backbone of each portrait.

It also appears within the canvas through a series of small marker-drawn vignettes depicting scenes of everyday life. Musicians, gatherings of elders, passersby at leisure: a shared frontality shapes these images, often accompanied by phrases reminiscent of graffiti or by letterforms borrowing from hieroglyphs or calligraphy. A desire to narrate life in all its inexhaustible diversity becomes apparent. A discerning eye will notice here a motorcycle taxi—whose drivers are known as “bendskins” in Cameroon—elsewhere a cart that seems almost fused with the donkey pulling it, bearing the letters “MARR”, evoking the city of Marrakech. Finally, an intergenerational dialogue emerges with a recognized figure of contemporary art, whose name is inscribed across several canvases: Abdelkrim Ouazzani. Hankson discreetly echoes his hybrid, anthropomorphic creatures—his skeletal fish or wheel-birds—as a gesture of affinity toward an art that is spontaneous, free, and playful; much like Picasso, who said he spent a lifetime learning to draw like a child.

Source: L’Atelier21

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Highlights include recent photographic works by South African artist Zana Masombuka, which focus on the important meditative process of Ndebele beading. Combining the mediums of photography and sculpture, she creates fascinating photographs surrounded by an intricate beaded frame. In this series, Akhulumile Amabhudango: Scenes from Dreams – ‘Journeys with Kosabo’ Masombuka pays homage to her late grandfather as she journeys with him in her dreams, exploring themes of kingship, ascension and ancestral guidance. The beaded form and pattern of each work draw from culturally significant objects within her community, such as ‘iiRholwane zabo Baba’ (neck rings worn by Ndebele patriarchs) and ‘is‘Khumba seNgwe’ (Leopard skin). Masombuka’s intriguing body of work will be subject of a second solo exhibition at October Gallery opening on 4th September, 2026.

LR Vandy is represented by striking sculptural works, including Decoder, 2023, a major artwork from her signature Hull series. Vandy has an aptitude for elegantly revealing hidden histories; her works continually reference the multi-layered history and heritage of the African diaspora. Her practice is based on the transformation of found objects, metal components and rope into a variety of artworks in which she explores the complex entanglements of trade, power and gender. LR Vandy’s first solo museum exhibition, Rise, introduces a significant new body of work and is currently open to the public at the Weston Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, UK, until 13th September 2026. Her work The Swim, has been commissioned by V&A East Museum, London for their inaugural exhibition The Music is Black: A British Story, which opens 18th April, 2026.

Internationally renowned artist Sokari Douglas Camp primarily works in galvanised sheet steel. Her work often explores themes of trade, power and colonialism within an African and Caribbean context. The presentation includes Bird of Paradise, 2025, a vibrant female figure modelling yellow and red garments with a bright display of flowers. Her sculptures frequently evoke the substantial frames of formidable African matriarchs. Despite Douglas Camp’s weighty subject matter, her works retain a playfulness and agility that reflects her impressive skills as a sculptor. Douglas Camp comments upon how people of diverse ethnicities, social positions and occupations effected the emergence of distinctive sartorial cultures across the Atlantic world by imbuing material fabrics and modes of dress with new meanings. Her solo exhibition, Fashion and Fortune opens at October Gallery on 21st May and continues to 27th June, 2026. Douglas Camp’s work is also exhibited in The Music is Black: A British Story, the first exhibition to be held at the V&A East Museum, London.

Other sculptural works include remarkable large-scale ‘portraits‘ of the African diaspora by Alexis Peskine, which are rendered, in precise detail, by hammering nails of different gauges, with pinpoint accuracy into wood. On show is an impressive work titled Ikechukwu, created in 2021 during his residency in Florence. The ground for this striking work, a copper leaf nail ‘portrait’, comprises locally sourced earth pigment from the river Arno. Peskine often reflects on his own multicultural heritage by making his pieces in a variety of places. The rich profusion of overlain colours and materials builds to create a complex visual narrative charged with the echoes of centuries of exploitation.

Recent paintings byacclaimed artist Eddy Kamuanga Ilunga are also presented. Displacing the Living, 2025, is a striking work that portrays two female figures dressed in ‘African’ cloths imported from abroad, with one figure holding flowers that intertwine past and present realities of those living in the DRC today. Depicted with painterly prowess, the microchipped skin of Kamuanga’s figures suggest his ongoing concern about the continuing exploitation of both ‘men and minerals’ in his native Democratic Republic of Congo. Kamuanga pays tribute to the strength of local communities, endowing his larger-than-life figures with a poignant, contemplative stillness, while situating heritage as a terrain of resilience and survival.

Other highlights on show are striking ceramic vessels by Xanthe Somers whose work is informed by post-colonial contexts, with reference to Zimbabwe, her country of birth. Somers’ intricate artworks are hand-coiled in traditional fashion before being disturbed by having their surfaces punctured, woven or enhanced with meticulously painted details. By knowingly combining excessive ornamentation with veiled political commentary, Somers draws attention to women’s work, exploitation of cheap labour and the impact of eco-racist practices throughout the Global South. Xanthe Somers will exhibit new works at October Gallery this July along with paintings by Yacout Hamdouch and photographs by James Barnor.

Djibril Dramé exhibits bold photographic works from his series Ndewendeul, which he commenced in 2010, as an exploration of the spiritual values of the Baye Fall Sufi brotherhood—an unorthodox yet powerful community within the larger Islamic world. While the project is rooted in his close relationship with his Sufi “brothers” and “sisters,” it also extends beyond them, inviting the presence of the “other” and opening a broader dialogue about community, identity, and belonging. In 2014, Dramé developed the first major iteration of the series by setting up a portable studio in Dakar, Senegal. This allowed him to capture intimate moments of sharing and joyful celebration during traditional Eid festivities. Dramé’s arresting images reverberate with the dramatic styles of individuals dressed in the vibrantly coloured patchwork fabrics characteristic of the Baye Fall brotherhood, whom he often portrays against patterned, industrial PVC canvases.

Source: October Gallery

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Born in Columbus, Georgia, Sherald has deep ties to Atlanta and to the High. She trained as a painter in the city and graduated from Clark Atlanta University. In 2018, the High awarded her its annual David C. Driskell Prize in African American Art and Art History, the first national award to recognize the importance of African American art. The museum presented The Obama Portraits Tour, featuring her renowned portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama, in 2022.

The High is the fourth and final venue for this exhibition, which is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), where it debuted in 2024, and which previously traveled to the Whitney Museum of American Art. The exhibition will be on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art (November 2, 2025–April 5, 2026) before it comes to Atlanta.

Source: The High Museum of Art

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By fashioning in clay, a tool—the shield—meant to provide protection on the metaphorical battlefield, Onuzulike exploits what he calls the material’s “fragile strength,” to gesture towards the precarious realities of the postcolonial condition. Onuzulike’s Shield Series, like his earlier ceramic garments, refers to the colonial trade in palm oil to comment upon its ramifications on the environment in Nigeria today. The differently glazed beads and buttons provide the artist with a varied visual vocabulary with which to experiment with patterns that evoke textiles, chainmail, lace, and other dress traditions that resonate with complex histories of trade, protection, prestige, and communal and familial continuity in Nigeria. Throughout his practice, the artist deftly explores the connection between the colonial history of extraction in Nigeria and contemporary political corruption. Onuzulike reminds us that colonial histories remain unfinished.

Ozioma Onuzulike is a professor of ceramics and of art and design history and, until recently, director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he received in 1996 the first degree in ceramics awarded by the institution. At Nsukka, his practice was influenced by the legacy of the professors and artists Uche Okeke (1933–2016) and El Anatsui (born 1944) and their engagement with indigenous aesthetic traditions in their work. Onuzulike is deeply invested in exploring the aesthetic and symbolic nature of clay. His labor-intensive process takes the manipulation of clay, through pounding, crushing, hammering, wedging, grinding, and cutting, as a metaphor for the violence associated with resource exploration, exploitation, and control in colonial and postcolonial Africa.

Source: AFIKARIS

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Auteure: Anaïs Fa

 

À la 61e Biennale de Venise, placée sous le commissariat posthume de Koyo Kouoh, les pavillons africains s’imposent comme l’un des faits saillants de l’édition. Entre premières participations et retours institutionnels, cette présence élargie – 13 pavillons – dessine une constellation de récits. De Conakry à Kampala, de Rabat à Harare, l’Afrique s’impose sur la scène du plus important évènement d’art contemporain mondial.

L’édition 2026 de la Biennale de Venise, intitulée In Minor Keys, a ouvert ses portes aux professionnels du monde de l’art le 6 mai. Dès le 9 mai et jusqu’au 22 novembre 2026, le grand public pourra y découvrir une centaine de pavillons, et une programmation parallèle foisonnante. Commissariée par Koyo Kouoh, curatrice camerouno-suisse et première femme africaine nommée à la direction artistique de la manifestation, décédée prématurément en 2025, la 61e mouture de la manifestation internationale accueille en son sein une douzaine de pavillons du continent africain. La présence – en nombre – des pays du continent est un signal fort, qui vient ancrer la présence africaine dans les circuits institutionnels de l’art contemporain. Qu’ils soient insérés au cœur de l’Arsenale, dans des palazzo vénitiens, des fondations ou des espaces périphériques ; ces projets nationaux, aux formats hybrides et propositions parfois inégales, renforcent le rayonnement de l’art africain au niveau international. Tour d’horizon.

Égypte — Silence Pavilion: Between the Tangible and the Intangible

Dans son pavillon historique des Giardini, l’Égypte présente le travail d’Armen Agop, à la fois artiste et curateur du projet. Intitulée Silence Pavilion: Between the Tangible and the Intangible, l’exposition se construit à rebours du spectaculaire : elle propose une expérience de ralentissement, de concentration et d’écoute. Le visiteur est ainsi invité à pénétrer un espace totalement plongé dans la pénombre, où parler est interdit car le silence y règne en maître. Le travail d’Agop, nourri par la sculpture, la forme minimale et une attention à la permanence des matériaux, fait du silence une matière active plutôt qu’un vide. Né au Caire en 1969 dans une famille arménienne, l’artiste inscrit cette proposition dans une mémoire à la fois égyptienne, méditerranéenne et diasporique. Ses œuvres – dont plusieurs sculptures de granit que le visiteur est invité à toucher, voire à caresser – joue entre volumes réduits, lignes, points et formes contenues, invitant le spectateur à percevoir ce qui se joue entre présence physique et dimension intérieure.

Pavillon de l’Égypte, Giardini della Biennale, Venise

République démocratique du Congo — Simba Moto! Seize the Fire! Saisis le feu !

Pour sa toute première participation nationale à la Biennale, la République démocratique du Congo a choisit le feu comme thématique curatoriale. Baptisée “Simba Moto! Seize the Fire! Saisis le feu !”, le projet, commissarié par la philosophe et spécialiste des études post-coloniales Nadia Yala Kisukidi, réunit neuf artistes congolais et issus de la diaspora : Sammy Baloji, Arlette Bashizi, Patrick Bongoy, Damso, Gosette Lubondo, Nelson Makengo, Aimé Mpané, Léonard Pongo et Géraldine Tobé. Situé dans l’ancien réfectoire de la Scuola Grande di San Rocco, lieu emblématique de la Renaissance italienne, le pavillon aux allures un brin futuriste, se pense comme une forge lumineuse, où le feu n’est pas seulement une force de destruction, mais une puissance de transformation, de création et de récit. Le projet – financé en partie par la Fondation Damso, du rappeur congolais basé en Belgique – articule imaginaires radicaux congolais, mémoires anciennes, bibliothèques noires de la liberté et récits capables de déplacer les discours du manque, de la douleur ou de la mort.

Antico Refettorio – Scuola Grande di San Marco, Castello 6777, Venise

Cameroun — NZƎNDA – The Path Home

Le pavillon du Cameroun se présente comme un parcours de retour, de réparation et de réactivation spirituelle. Conçu par l’artiste Beya Gille Gacha, également curatrice du projet, NZƎNDA – The Path Home transforme le Palazzo Canova en architecture immersive, pensée comme un seuil entre le visible et l’invisible. L’exposition se déploie en différents espaces reliés, où le corps, la terre, la mémoire et l’esprit sont envisagés comme les éléments d’un même organisme. Aux côtés de Beya Gille Gacha, le pavillon réunit Jail Time Records, Sylvie Njobati, Bienvenue Fotso, Zora Snake et Neals Niat. Chacun active une dimension spécifique du projet : paysages sonores, divinité féminine Ngon’so, pharmacopée camerounaise, médecine baka, seuils temporels ou gestes rituels.

Gervasuti FOUNDATION PALAZZO CANOVA CANNAREGIO
Calle Lunga Santa Caterina 4998

Guinée équatoriale — The Forest The Undergrowth

La Guinée équatoriale fait son entrée à la Biennale avec The Forest The Undergrowth, projet curatoriel confié à Joan Abelló. Le pavillon part de la forêt comme archétype : espace mystérieux, inexploré, spirituel, mais aussi lieu de l’inconscient. La forêt y devient une zone de passage entre le visible et l’invisible, entre nature et culture, entre ce que l’homme croit maîtriser et ce qui lui échappe. Fernando Nguema Madja et Modest Gené Roig sont les deux figures centrales du projet, accompagnés d’un vaste ensemble d’artistes invités, parmi lesquels Rani Bruchstein, Barbara Cammarata, Florin Codre, Jianqi Du, Fulvio Merolli, Alfred Mirashi Milot, Mfochive Oumarou, Hannou Palosuo, Andrea Roggi, Sonia Ros ou encore Liu Youju. Les œuvres construisent une expérience sensorielle et mystique, invitant le visiteur à habiter la forêt plutôt qu’à simplement la contempler.

Palazzo Donà dalle Rose, Cannaregio 5038 / 5101

Éthiopie — Shapes of Silence

Avec Shapes of Silence, l’Éthiopie propose un solo show de Tegene Kunbi, commissarié par Abebaw Ayalew. Le projet part d’une interrogation très juste : comment les œuvres sont-elles parfois rendues muettes par les textes, cartels et discours qui prétendent parler à leur place ? Le pavillon aborde ainsi le silence non comme une absence, mais comme une condition politique. Les hiérarchies entre texte et image, langage écrit et formes visuelles, se prolongent dans d’autres rapports de domination : masculin/féminin, élite/peuple, colonisateur/colonisé. Les peintures monumentales de Tegene Kunbi sont alors envisagées comme des archives stratifiées de travail, de mémoire et d’histoire. Elles refusent l’idée d’une peinture purement passive ou décorative, pour faire du silence une matière tendue, chargée d’affects, de pouvoir et de récits empêchés.

Palazzo Bollani, Castello 3647

Guinée — Le Son de l’Art : l’Écho de la Matière

La Guinée participe pour la première fois à la Biennale avec Le Son de l’Art : l’Écho de la Matière, commissarié par Carlo Stragapede. Le projet investit l’île de San Servolo comme un espace de résonance, où le silence devient support d’écoute et de mémoire. Le pavillon entend inscrire la Guinée dans un dialogue interculturel mondial, en articulant modernité, spiritualité ancestrale et héritage postcolonial. L’exposition rassemble un très large groupe d’artistes, dont Bella Bah, Bachir Diallo, King Emmanuel, Sékou Oumar Thiam, mais aussi de nombreux artistes italiens et internationaux. Les œuvres annoncées mêlent tapisseries évocatrices et sculptures, dans une scénographie pensée comme un journal visuel immersif. À travers la matière, le pavillon cherche à faire entendre une mémoire nationale qui ne se réduit ni à l’histoire politique ni aux récits de crise, mais se projette vers une renaissance culturelle.

Isola di San Servolo, Venise

Maroc — Asǝṭṭa

Pour sa première participation à la Biennale, le Maroc présente Asǝṭṭa, un projet d’Amina Agueznay commissarié par Meriem Berrada, dans les Sale dell’Artiglieria de l’Arsenale. Le titre renvoie à la notion tissage rituel en langue amazigh : un geste technique, mais aussi mémoriel, féminin et spirituel. L’installation prolonge plus de vingt ans de travail de l’artiste avec les savoirs vernaculaires marocains, les artisanes et les communautés locales. Ici, le textile n’est pas traité comme un motif identitaire figé, mais comme une architecture suspendue, une membrane vivante qui traverse l’espace. Les œuvres – 150 bandes tissées et rehaussées de motifs et de couleurs – font dialoguer matériaux, gestes, transmission et site d’origine. Le projet interroge aussi la notion de seuil, en écho au concept marocain de âatba : une zone ni totalement dedans ni totalement dehors, où se rencontrent mémoire intime, espace public, visible et invisible.

Arsenale, Sale dell’Artiglieria, Venise

Sénégal — « WURUS »*

Le pavillon sénégalais, commissarié par Massamba Mbaye, présente un solo show de Caroline Gueye autour de l’or, “wurus” en wolof. Le projet prend cette matière comme point de départ cosmique, historique, politique et technologique. L’or vient de la terre, mais aussi des étoiles ; il traverse les civilisations, les économies, les imaginaires de richesse et de pouvoir. Le pavillon rappelle l’âge d’or de l’empire du Mali au XIVe siècle et la figure de Kankou Moussa, dont la mémoire reste associée à une prospérité fondée sur l’or, mais aussi au développement de bibliothèques, d’universités et de savoirs. Les œuvres interrogent l’ambivalence de ce métal : symbole de puissance, matériau high-tech, mais aussi cause d’extraction, d’impérialisme, de dégâts environnementaux et de violations des droits humains.

Palazzo Navagero, Riva degli Schiavoni 4145, Venise

Sierra Leone — Worlds of Today

La Sierra Leone entre pour la première fois à la Biennale avec Worlds of Today, un pavillon porté par Fatima Maada Bio et commissarié par Sandro Orlandi Stagl et Willy Montini. Le projet insiste sur l’ouverture culturelle du pays, sa vitalité créative et ses liens d’échange avec l’Italie et l’Afrique de l’Ouest. Soutenu par la CEDEAO, le pavillon se veut un espace de présence active, où l’art contemporain devient un langage partagé. L’exposition rassemble des artistes de Sierra Leone, d’États membres de la CEDEAO et d’Italie, parmi lesquels Hawa-Jane Bangura, Ayesha Feisal, Hickmatu Bintu Leigh, Abu Bakarr Mansaray, Seyni Awa Camara, Abdoul Ganiou Dermani, Eloi Lokossou, Móyòsóré Martins, Eros Bonamini ou encore Piergiorgio Colombara. Les œuvres sont pensées dans un espace fluide et non hiérarchique, fondé sur l’écoute, l’interaction et le dialogue.

Liceo Guggenheim, Dorsoduro 2613, Venise

Somalie — Saddexleey

La Somalie participe pour la première fois à la Biennale avec Saddexleey, commissarié par Mohamed Mire et Fabio Scrivanti. Le titre vient d’une forme poétique somalienne structurée par le chiffre trois : répétition, variation, équilibre. Le pavillon fait de la poésie non un simple contenu littéraire, mais une architecture sociale et spatiale. Dans un pays souvent qualifié de “nation de poètes”, la parole, le chant et le poème constituent des formes de transmission du savoir et de la mémoire collective. L’exposition se déploie sur les trois étages du Palazzo Caboto, suivant cette logique ternaire. Le parcours commence avec la présence poétique de Warsan Shire, se poursuit avec les films et installations d’Asmaa Jama, puis culmine dans les œuvres textiles d’Ayan Farah, teintes par la terre et le temps. Langage, son, odeur, image et textile composent une expérience multisensorielle.

Palazzo Caboto, Via Garibaldi, Castello 1645, Venise

Tanzanie — Minor Frequencies: The Inner Life Of A Nation

La Tanzanie présente Minor Frequencies: The Inner Life Of A Nation, commissarié par Lorna Benedict Mashiba et Martina Cavallarin. Le projet répond directement au titre général de la Biennale, In Minor Keys, en invitant à écouter les fréquences faibles, les bruits de fond, les formes moins spectaculaires de la vie nationale. L’exposition articule quatre lignes de recherche : le corps, le geste, l’archive et l’esprit. Des artistes tanzaniens comme Amani Abeid, Valerie Asiimwe Amani, Turakella Editha Gyindo ou Lazaro Samuel dialoguent avec un large groupe d’artistes internationaux. Les œuvres habitent une structure scénographique ponctuée de tissus vibrants et d’installations pluridisciplinaires. Le pavillon se pense moins comme un récit national unifié que comme une topographie relationnelle, où l’on accepte de se perdre, d’écouter et de reformuler les questions.

Fondamenta de la Sensa 3218, Venise

Zimbabwe — Second Nature | Manyonga

Le Zimbabwe présente Second Nature | Manyonga, commissarié par Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa, sous l’égide de Raphael Chikukwa, directeur exécutif de la National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Le pavillon réunit Gideon Gomo, Eva Raath, Felix Shumba, Franklyn Dzingai et Pardon Mapondera. Le projet interroge la neuroplasticité comme métaphore et méthode : comment les cerveaux, les identités, les récits et les sociétés se réorganisent-ils face à la technologie, aux crises et aux imaginaires contemporains ? Les œuvres se situent au bord de la transformation, entre résilience, perception, environnement, réalité post-pandémique et révolutions numériques. L’exposition pose une question très actuelle : que reste-t-il de l’humain lorsque la machine devient une seconde nature ? Les pratiques présentées envisagent les médias non seulement comme supports, mais comme matériaux conceptuels, capables d’ouvrir de nouvelles philosophies de l’art numérique et de la perception.

Santa Maria della Pietà, Castello 3701 / 3702, Venise

Seychelles — Existence on an island

Ajoutées à la liste officielle après l’annonce initiale des participations nationales, les Seychelles présentent Existence on an island, un projet confié à l’artiste Egbert Marday, sous le commissariat de Nina Comini. Le pavillon prend place au Palazzo Mora, dans le cadre du European Cultural Centre, et peut être lu comme une méditation sur la condition insulaire : habiter une île, c’est vivre dans un rapport constant à la mer, à l’isolement, aux circulations, à l’écologie et aux récits d’appartenance. Peintre et sculpteur majeur de la scène seychelloise, Marday travaille depuis plusieurs décennies à partir de son environnement, de l’histoire sociale de l’archipel et de ses formes naturelles. Sa pratique, marquée par la peinture, la sculpture et les commandes publiques, permet d’aborder l’île non comme un motif exotique, mais comme un espace de mémoire, de transformation et de résistance quotidienne.

European Cultural Centre, Palazzo Mora, Cannaregio 3659, Venise

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