There has been speculation that the Nordic Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 would go back to rotating between the organising countries Sweden, Norway and Finland. The last time this happened was in 2015, when Camille Norment represented Norway with a solo show in Sverre Fehn’s brutalist building from 1962. But now it has been announced that the host of the next edition, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, will stick to the concept of the last three biennials, when the exhibition included artists from all three Nordic countries.
However, according to the press release, instead of a group show in the traditional sense, it will be a “Gesamtkunstwerk” inspired by Cantonese opera. The concept is designed by Swedish artist Lap-See Lam, who in the last few years has risen to prominence with VR and multimedia works dealing with various forms of cultural exchange between China and the West. The concept will be implemented in collaboration with artist Kholod Hawash, working from Espoo in Finland, and composer Tze Yeung Ho, who commutes between Oslo and Helsinki.
The as yet untitled pavilion is described as an “experimental musical installation and performance inspired by an art form with a two-thousand-year history” which is characterised by “visually spectacular performances” and “distinctive music.”Something similar might be expected when Moderna Museet and co-organisers Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA) and Kiasma in Finland are each contributing one million kronor (EUR 85,000) to the production, according to unconfirmed reports. According to Asrin Haidari, curator of Swedish and Nordic contemporary art at Moderna Museet, this Nordic Cantonese opera will take “us on a journey into the world of fairy tales, where supernatural beings turn the logic of the real world on its head.”
The last time Moderna Museet was in charge of the Nordic Pavilion, in 2017, the group exhibition Mirrored featured six Nordic artists from different generations. In 2019, Kiasma hosted the group exhibition Weather Report: Forecasting Future, and in 2022, OCA transformed the Nordic Pavilion into the Sámi Pavilion. Picking up OCA’s torch, the 2024 edition will challenge the cultural policies underpinning the national pavilions in the Giardini through minority politics and by addressing “conflicting feelings of national identity,” as stated in the press release. Furthermore, a key symbol will be the sea, which is described as an “element in which the past, the present, and what lies ahead can flow together,” and where “notions of translocation and transmission of language and cultural heritage” can travel.
The arrangement also represents a generational shift: Lam, Ho, and Haidari were all born in the late 80s or early 90s, and have, like all so-called millennials, grown up in a society where the internet, smart phones, multilingualism, and multiculturalism have been ubiquitous, supposedly influencing their view of art. Hawash, born in Iraq in the late 70s, stands out as being a slightly older artist who creates colourful visual stories using Arabic quilting (jodaleia).
The Nordic Pavilion is a joint project shared by Sweden, Norway and Finland. The countries take turns hosting, and in 2024 Sweden and Moderna Museet will be responsible for the pavilion which will be ready when the 60th Venice Biennale opens on 20 April 2024.
