The South African Pavilion announced its participation in the 60^th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia (20 April- 24 November 2024). Managed by the Institute of Creative Repair, the exhibition, titled Quiet Ground, is curated by Portia Malatjie and will feature a newly commissioned sound installation, Dinokana (2024) by the art collective, MADEYOULOOK made up of Molemo Moiloa and Nare Mokgotho.

Set against the backdrop of histories of forced migration and land dispossession in South Africa the exhibition, Quiet Ground, is focused on the possibilities of personal and communal repair in a context of being ‘foreign at home’. In this way, these themes link the pavilion and exhibition to the occasion of 30 Years of Democracy in South Africa; marking the nation’s continued journey towards correcting the historic disruptions of indigenous people’s connection to the land.

The 2024 pavilion’s programming will accordingly unfold through 3 pillars: Art in South Africa; The Land as Classroom, and notions of Repair through Art. The exhibition, and its parallel public programs, will focus on the many ways that the dispossessed reconnect with the land through processes of rehoming and land rehabilitation, rooted in indigenous knowledge. Unfolding under the theme, “…because the land is ours” to assert ideas, practices of building belonging by listening to the land as a portal to reroute and re-root ourselves against violence and displacement.

The South African Pavilion’s exhibition theme and campaign message are a compelling complement to the International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia’s main exhibition theme by curator Adriano Pedrosa:  Foreigners Everywhere (Stranieri Ovunque).

2024 marks the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, and the 7th year of the South African pavilion. Established in 1895, La Biennale di Venezia is one of the oldest art events in the world, with over 80 countries and artists represented at various individual pavilions.

The South African Pavilion exhibition will be supported by public programs including digital content, events in Italy and South Africa and a school’s competition for young artists in South African secondary schools.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Dr. Portia Malatjie is a curator and senior lecturer in Art History and Discourse of Art at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, South Africa. She is adjunct curator of Africa and African Diaspora at the Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational at Tate Modern, London, UK.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

MADEYOULOOK is a Johannesburg based interdisciplinary artist collaborative between Molemo Moiloa and Nare Mokgotho. The works of MADEYOULOOK take as their point of departure everyday black practices that have either been historically overlooked or deemed inconsequential. These works encourage a re-observation of and de-familiarisation with the everyday of urban South African life.

ABOUT THE INSTITUTE FOR CREATIVE REPAIR

The Institute for Creative Repair has been appointed to develop and manage the South African Pavilion for the 2024 Venice Biennale. The institute is a newly formed ‘think and do tank’, based in Johannesburg, South Africa with a mission to repair people, communities, institutions and places through arts, heritage, and culture. Through experimental projects, conversation and research, it seeks to develop and revive models and practices for more regenerative cultural ecosystems in Africa and the global south.

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