Jacopo Crivelli Visconti to Curate Brazil Pavilion at 2022 Venice Biennale

The Brazil Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale (April 23–November 27, 2022) will be curated by Italian art critic Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, who is based in Brazil and recently concluded the São Paulo Biennial. He previously curated the Cyprus Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale. The selected artist is Jonathas de Andrade (b. 1982), a leading Brazilian contemporary artist known for his video installation "O Peixe [The Fish]" at the 32nd São Paulo Biennial, later shown at the New Museum in New York. For Venice, Andrade will create a new installation responding to the Biennale's theme "The Milk of Dreams" curated by Cecilia Alemani. Andrade stated the invitation is "a surprise and an honor" but acknowledged the challenge of representing Brazil amid the country's complexities. Crivelli Visconti described Andrade's work as exploring authentic popular culture through the male body, addressing labor, worker identity, and contemporary individuality with metaphors of nostalgia, eroticism, and historical critique. The appointment continues the tradition of naming the São Paulo Biennial curator for the Brazil Pavilion; Fundação Bienal de São Paulo president José Olympio da Veiga Pereira cited Crivelli Visconti's deep knowledge of Brazilian contemporary art, prior Venice experience, integration with the foundation's team, and thematic affinity between the 34th São Paulo Biennial and the 59th Venice Biennale.