Benin to Debut National Pavilion at 2024 Venice Biennale

The Republic of Benin will participate for the first time in the Venice Biennale Arte in 2024 with its own national pavilion. The presentation is curated by Azu Nwagbogu, former director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, the largest contemporary art museum ever built in Africa. Benin joins a growing list of African nations making their Biennale debuts: Ghana and Madagascar in 2019, and Cameroon and Namibia in 2022. Nwagbogu, originally from Lagos, Nigeria, founded the African Artists' Foundation (AAF) in 2007, a nonprofit supporting emerging contemporary African artists, and launched the LagosPhoto festival in 2010. He served as director of the Zeitz MOCAA from 2018 to 2019. Benin's President Patrice Talon stated: "We are delighted to have Azu Nwagbogu as curator of the Bénin national pavilion. His unique background, vision, and experience in art curation make him the perfect candidate to showcase Benin's cultural heritage and contemporary art to the world."