Switzerland in superfiction at the Venice Biennale

Swiss-Brazilian artist Guerreiro do Divino Amor represents Switzerland at the 60th edition of the Venice Art Biennale, which opened on April 20. Before the inauguration, we had access to his installation, with the artist himself as a guide.

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May 10, 2024 – 07:35

Eduardo Simantob

Born in São Paulo, Brazil, works in the Portuguese editorial team of swissinfo.ch where he is responsible for culture. With degrees in cinema, management and economics, he was a journalist at Folha, a major daily newspaper in São Paulo, before moving to Switzerland as a correspondent for various Brazilian press outlets. Based in Zurich, Eduardo Simantob has worked in print and digital media. He has also participated in international co-productions of documentary films, in events in the field of visual arts (3rd Bahia Biennale; Johann Jacobs Museum in Zurich) and was a guest speaker on the theme of transmedia narration at the Haute école de Lucerne.

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Writing in Portuguese

Carlo Pisani

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A director of Italian origin who grew up in Africa, Carlo now considers himself at home in Switzerland. He studied directing in Italy at the National Film School and worked as an editor, director and producer of documentary films in Berlin and Vienna. It develops engaging multimedia stories.

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The Venice Biennale, which runs until November 24, is reminiscent of the universal exhibitions of the 19th century. Its format allows countries to project the image they have of themselves. Today, thirty national pavilions present the works of their artists in the Giardini (Gardens of Venice). They take place alongside the major exhibition on display at the Arsenale, an iconic Venetian landmark and ancient complex of shipyards and armories, which made the Republic of Venice a naval power for centuries.

This is the second time in a row that Switzerland has chosen artists with immigrant backgrounds. In 2022, it was the Swiss-Moroccan Latifa Echakhch who represented the country. This year, Antoine Guerreiro Golay, aka Guerreiro do Divino Amor, or warrior of divine love, will be the face of Switzerland.

Born in Geneva, Guerreiro do Divino Amor has lived in Rio de Janeiro for more than ten years. “That’s where I felt the most comfortable creating, and also the most accepted,” he says.

Guerreiro do Divino Amor poses in front of the “Helvétia Fountain”, which is part of the Swiss Pavilion installation in Venice.

KEYSTONE/KEYSTONE/GAETAN BALLY

“Foreigners everywhere”

The 2024 edition of the Biennale is curated by the Brazilian Adriano Pedrosa. He is the first artistic director from the South. Entitled “Foreigners Everywhere” (strangers everywhere), it is marked by several exhibitions highlighting the issues of decolonization, migration and war.

The Biennale started making waves even before its opening. Ruth Patir, the artist representing Israel, refused to open the Israeli pavilion until a ceasefire was reached in Gaza. A large pro-Palestinian demonstration also took place in front of the Israeli pavilion.

In this context of tensions, the work of Guerreiro do Divino Amor brings an original perspective, without being in contradiction with the general trends of the Biennale. He presents the 7th and 8th chapters of the work he has been developing since his architectural studies, “The Superfictional Atlas of the World” (the superfictional atlas of the world). This time he focused on Switzerland itself with “The Miracle of Helvetia” (the Swiss miracle) and on Rome with “Rome Talisman” (the talisman of Rome).

These two works can be described as transmedia installations, that is to say different stories on varied media each composing a “narrative world”, where similar themes and concepts interact to create its “superfictions”.

The term “superfiction” was coined by Scottish artist Peter Hill in 1989 and refers to a visual or conceptual work of art that uses fiction and appropriation to blur the lines between fact and reality about organizations. , commercial structures and/or the lives of invented individuals. This definition applies perfectly to the work of Guerreiro do Divino Amor.

The artist appropriates images of religious institutions, businesses, agro-industries and governments and transforms them into allegories, creating a sort of carnival parade. In his practice, Guerreiro do Divino Amor decontextualizes these images and icons and reframes them in his stories, in a mixture of fantasy and science fiction. “But they are all hyperrealistic at the same time,” he explains.

Andrea Bellini, director of the Geneva Contemporary Art Center and designated curator of the Swiss exhibition, places the work of Guerreiro do Divino Amor in the perspective of the Biennale as a whole. Paraphrasing the title of the Biennale, Foreigners Everywhere, he emphasizes that “with the Swiss pavilion, we invite our visitors to feel foreign in their own truths.”

Guerreiro do Divino Amor is our guest in this new episode of “On the Record”.