Every two years the global art world falls into the clutches of the Venice Biennale industrial-complex, an ever-expanding network of national pavilions and off-site exhibitions that keep the sinking city’s industries above water. There may be drama in store for 2024, as Italy’s rabidly anti-immigrant government appointed the right-wing cultural provocateur Pietrangelo Buttafuoco as the Biennale organization’s next president. His post commences in March, less than two months before the Biennale’s first Latin American curator, Adriano Pedrosa, opens his edition titled “Foreigners Everywhere.” On April 20, the Biennale will honor Italian-born Brazilian artist Anna Maria Maiolino and the Paris-based Turkish artist Nıl Yalter for works opposing military governments and spotlighting migrant communities, respectively. The event seems unlikely to conform to the political agenda of the far-right.

Barring a major cancellation, among Asian nations in Venice’s historical park, the Giardini, Japan will present kinetic sculptures by Yuko Mohri. For the Korea Pavilion, Koo Jeong A is planning an “odorama” based on individuals’ “smell stories” of their hometowns. Australia presents Archie Moore, who also works with family history and scent. Inside the Arsenale, the works of Robert Zhao Renhui, for Singapore, and Abdullah Al Saadi, in the UAE pavilion, draw on local landscapes. Manal AlDowayan of the Saudi Pavilion reveals women’s life experiences, as does Gülsün Karamustafa, representing Türkiye, while Lebanon’s Mounira Al Solh makes textile-based works from immigrants’ tales.