Joyce Joumaa's Memory Contours at Venice Biennale Examines Ellis Island Immigration Tests
At the 60th Venice Biennale, Lebanese artist Joyce Joumaa showcases her video and sound installation, Memory Contours (2024), curated by Adriano Pedrosa under the theme Foreigners Everywhere. This piece delves into early 20th-century immigration to the United States, particularly examining intelligence assessments from the 1914 report 'Mentality of the Arriving Immigrant' by the US Public Health Service. Joumaa's four-channel installation displays screens with geometric figures from historical tests alongside images of roughly sketched shapes. Over 12 million individuals were processed at Ellis Island, where failing these tests had serious repercussions. The soundscape of the installation captures the atmosphere of the processing environment and runs until 24 November, linking past immigration controls to modern policies, influenced by her father's migration during the Lebanese Civil War.
Key facts
- Memory Contours (2024) by Joyce Joumaa is featured in the Foreigners Everywhere exhibition at the 60th Venice Biennale.
- The work examines early 20th-century US immigration intelligence tests at Ellis Island, based on the 1914 US Public Health Service report 'Mentality of the Arriving Immigrant'.
- Joumaa is a Lebanese artist raised in Tripoli and based in Montreal, focusing on postcolonial understandings of Lebanon and migration.
- The installation includes four metal pillars with back-to-back screens showing reverse videos of hands drawing and still images of archival geometric shapes.
- Over 12 million people were processed at Ellis Island, with consequences for test failure including barred entry or forced sterilization.
- The soundscape incorporates waves, seagulls, voices, and pencil sounds, while wallpaper mimics Ellis Island's yellow dormitory paint.
- Joumaa connects historical immigration control to contemporary policies, referencing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's recent migration deals.
- The exhibition runs through 24 November at the Venice Biennale's International Pavilion.
Entities
Artists
- Joyce Joumaa
- Adriano Pedrosa
- Georges Perec
- Robert Bober
- Bouchra Khalili
Institutions
- Venice Biennale
- International Pavilion
- US Public Health Service
- Eugenics Record Office
- Ellis Island
Locations
- Venice
- Italy
- Tripoli
- Lebanon
- Montreal
- Canada
- New York
- United States
- Tunisia
- Albania
- Rome
- Balkan