Four National Pavilions at the 2022 Venice Biennale

The 2022 Venice Biennale features standout pavilions from Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, and Greece at the Giardini. The Swiss Pavilion, curated by Alexandre Babel and Francesco Stocchi, presents Latifa Echakhch's 'The Concert,' a ritualistic installation using burnt straw heads and hands made from recycled Biennale materials, exploring destruction and rebirth through fire. The Belgian Pavilion showcases Francis Alÿs's 'The Nature of the Game,' a joyful cacophony of videos depicting children's games worldwide, from mosquito hunting in the Democratic Republic of Congo to snail races in Belgium and kite flying in Afghanistan, curated by Hilde Teerlinck. Austria's pavilion features Jakob Lena Knebl and Ashley Hans Scheirl's 'Soft Machine,' a dual exhibition divided by a colonnade into two sections exploring cybernetic identity, gender, and inclusion through paintings, sculptures, textiles, fashion, and a magazine, curated by Karola Kraus. The Greek Pavilion presents Loukia Alavanou's VR film 'Oedipus at Colonus,' a 15-minute virtual reality adaptation of Sophocles' tragedy performed by Romani amateur actors in a Roma camp west of Athens, using Oculus headsets. The pavilions collectively address themes of ritual, play, identity, and technology.