An Ode To The Woven Arts At 2024 Venice Biennale Golden Lion Awards

The 60th iteration of the Venice Biennale kicked off this past Saturday, and with that, 331 participating artists unveiled their interpretations of this years’ theme, Foreigners Everywhere. The national pavilions, in combination with the central exhibition and additional collateral events, brought in a total of 800,000 visitors to the Italian city last year, so a steady stream of tourists is expected until the fair’s close in late November. 

One of the seismic installation’s many draws is the lauding of the Lion Awards. Previous winners have been Robert Rauschenberg— the first American to receive the prize— Adrian Piper, Jasper Johns, and Jenny Holzer. This year, the best pavilion award went to indigenous artist Archie Moore, representing Australia. Moore’s hand-drawn piece was researched for over four years and exhibits 65,000 years worth of First Nations history. Organized like a family tree, the pavilion’s documentary-poetics included piles of state records at the center of the piece. As reported by Artnet, Moore stated during his acceptance, “aboriginal kinship systems include all living things from the environment in a larger network of relatedness—the land itself can be a mentor or a parent to a child. We are all one and share a responsibility of care to all living things now and into the future.”