In a first, Benin pavilion to take part in Venice Biennale in 2024

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 Mar 2023 23:59

The country's pavilion will be organized by curator Azu Nwagbogu, director of the Lagos-based non-profit African Artists' Foundation (AAF).

A mask from the Kingdom of Benin acquired in 2011 for the Museum Rietberg Zuric (Museum Rietberg Zurich)

For the first time, the Republic of Benin is to be represented in a national pavilion at the upcoming 2024 Venice Biennale, said the country in a statement. This comes as part of an initiative for African countries to join the contemporary art exhibition.

The country's pavilion will be organized by curator Azu Nwagbogu, director of the Lagos-based non-profit African Artists' Foundation (AAF), as announced on Monday by members of the Benin government overseeing culture.

Patrice Talon, Benin's President, and Jean Michel Abimbola, the country's tourism manager, were part of the selection committee that tapped Nawagbou to curate the debut pavilion. The curator focuses on African art and photography.

Nwagbogu helped launch Lagos’ Photo photography festival back in 2010. In addition, he was previously the director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, where he helped in organizing exhibitions based on Zimbabwean contemporary painters.

Talon described the curator as the "perfect candidate" in a statement, as he promotes the country's “cultural heritage and contemporary art to the world,” on an international level.

Ever since Talon was elected in 2016, his administration focused on advocating repatriation efforts around looted artifacts from Benin.

The Benin government then forged a deal with France to receive 26 objects illegally taken by the French military over a hundred years ago.

Nwagbogu’s role in curating the pavilion will be “to contribute to the construction of the intellectual architecture that will allow Benin to sustain and deploy the great artistic potential that springs from its land and has traversed its various diasporas.”

Nwagbogu has not yet explained detailed plans for the pavilion.

The Lagos-born curator has been active in promoting the increase in African countries' presence at the Venice Biennale. In 2019, Ghana and Madagascar made their debuts, while other countries such as Cameroon and Uganda brought their inaugural pavilions in 2022.