Journal of Curatorial Studies 9(1): Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale is fundamentally bound up with the physical and conceptual architecture of the national pavilion, itself inextricably rooted in a Eurocentric worldview and political order. By the 1990s, this structure had become strikingly outmoded and restrictive; when the Biennale extended from the Giardini to incorporate the Arsenale, many countries lacking a base in the Giardini began to occupy these new galleries. Others carved out space in the Biennale’s complex ecosystem by inhabiting an array of palazzos and churches, or by participating in the extensive collateral programming that has evolved through the event’s expansion. Yet while the pavilion structure at Venice has become more flexible and capacious, the Giardini’s national pavilions remain. This special issue focuses attention on the exhibitory variety encompassed by the national pavilions at Venice, as well as their fraught histories, and the different ways in which curators have navigated the form’s unique demands. Together, the four thematic articles grapple with the anachronistic dynamics that permeate constructions of national display at Venice, as well as the curatorial possibilities offered by the politically loaded but malleable pavilion form.

GUEST EDITORIAL: CHALLENGING NATIONALISMS AT THE VENICE BIENNALE
Karen Brown and Catherine Spencer

THEME ARTICLES

FROM OBSOLETE TO CONTEMPORARY: NATIONAL PAVILIONS AND THE VENICE BIENNALE
Clarissa Ricci

A MOMENT TO CELEBRATE? ART OF THE CARIBBEAN AT THE VENICE BIENNALE
Wendy Asquith and Leon Wainwright

INDIA AT THE VENICE BIENNALE: COLLATERAL EVENTS FROM AND BEYOND THE NATION
Nuria Querol

POSSESSING NATURE: THE MEXICAN PAVILION AS A SITE OF CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Ana Sol González Rueda

GENERAL ARTICLE

TORCHLIGHT, WINCKELMANN AND EARLY AUSTRALIAN COLLECTIONS
Monique Webber

BOOK REVIEW

Winner Of The 2020 Journal Of Curatorial Studies Emerging Writer Award:

TEAR GAS EPIPHANIES: PROTEST, CULTURE, MUSEUMS, KIRSTY ROBERTSON
Camille-Mary Sharp

EXHIBITION REVIEWS

CHEN DONGFAN, SANCTUARY
Peiyue Wu

LAST SUPPER IN POMPEII
Jennifer Durrant

I, I, I, I, I, I, I, KATHY ACKER
Lauren Fournier

The Journal of Curatorial Studies is an international, peer-reviewed publication that explores the increasing relevance of curating and exhibitions and their impact on institutions, audiences, aesthetics and display culture. Inviting perspectives from multiple academic fields, the journal welcomes a diversity of disciplinary approaches on curating and exhibitions broadly defined. By catalyzing debate and serving as a venue for the emerging discipline of curatorial studies, this journal encourages the development of the theory, practice and history of curating, as well as the analysis of exhibitions and display culture in general.

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