2024 art and Africa at the Venice Biennale

The British “The Guardian” recommends the most interesting artistic and architectural events of 2024. These include London exhibitions of Zineba Sedira, Barbara Kruger, Frank Auerbach and a retrospective of Yoko Ono’s art at Tate Modern. At the National Gallery, one can see Caravaggio’s last work, “The Martyrdom of St. Ursula”, and an exhibition of Van Gogh’s works entitled “Poets and Lovers”. The Royal Academy in London will recreate the historic meetings between Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael in Florence at the beginning of the 16th century. The opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza is also announced in late spring this year.

The 2024 Venice Biennale will feature pavilions from Nigeria, Benin and Morocco. It means an extensive African representation, a milestone for the continent, further proof of African artists, designers and filmmakers breaking through on the world stage, a confirmation of the Nollywood film boom and the global popularity of Afrobeat. The central theme of the Nigerian pavilion is Nigeria Imaginary because, as art curator Aindrea Emelife says, “imagination is the most fertile and powerful tool of liberation at our disposal.”

According to New York Times art critic Jason Farago, using artificial intelligence in art risks devaluing and trivialising culture into another type of data. The threat also lies in the adaptation of recipients – people – to the limited capabilities of machines and in polishing human thoughts and lives to adapt them to increasingly unified data sets.