Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere is the title and theme of the International Exhibition curated by Adriano Pedrosa for the sixtieth Venice Biennale. As a necessary condition of such projects, the theme works as a signal, provocation and rationale for the amassing of globally disparate works of art and sets the tone of this highly politicised event. Foreigners Everywhere is a particularly intriguing premise for drawing the work of eight Māori artists into the urgent political concerns currently playing out at the Biennale. While much is being made of this unprecedented situation – and rightly so – the celebrations at home have yet to turn to a critical examination of how the work of these artists operates in that context.

Continued