British Pavilion, 59th International Art Exhibition. La Biennale di Venezia
Sonia Boyce: Feeling Her Way by Emma Ridgway
Giardini della Biennale, Venezia
April 23 – November 27, 2022

The British Council has commissioned artist Sonia Boyce OBE RA to represent Great Britain at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, presenting a major solo exhibition of new work, from 23 April to 27 November 2022.

Boyce’s exhibition will be a new multi-media installation comprising video, sound, wallpaper and sculptural objects, throughout the galleries of the British Pavilion. The new work will show the vitality of collaborative play leading to artistic innovation, a central tenet of Boyce’s practice, as well as the importance of taking intuitive creative risks.

Boyce’s practice is improvisational and highly collaborative, inviting contributors or participants to come together and speak, sing or move in relation to the past and the present. At the heart of Boyce’s work is an empowering exploration of gestures and events, with an underlying focus on the personal and political subjectivities behind them.

Emma Ridgway, Shane Akeroyd Associate Curator of the British Pavilion at Biennale Arte 2022, said: “Sonia Boyce depicts intimate social encounters to explore dynamics between people, often with a focus on unexpected gestures. Working across drawing, photography, video and installation for the last 20 years, Boyce’s artistic inquiry centers on how identities are performed, particularly when individuals are aware of being seen. We are looking forward to sharing this new exhibition, born out of this outstanding artist’s creative collaborations, at the British Pavilion this year.”

Emma Dexter, British Council Director Visual Arts, Commissioner of the British Pavilion and Chair of the British Pavilion Selection Committee, said: “I am delighted that Sonia Boyce will place creative experiment, collaboration, improvisation, and dialogue at the core of her British Council Commission 2022, in an installation that will be quite unlike any other in the long history of the British Pavilion. Boyce is an artist whose work embodies inclusiveness, generosity, and the importance of working together, and I have no doubt that it will prove to be a truly inspirational addition to this year’s Biennale Arte. This is Boyce’s most ambitious exhibition to date, which raises important questions about the nature of creativity and its relationship to freedom and power.”

more. www.venicebiennale.britishcouncil.org