The 56th Venice Biennale: All the World’s Futures curated by Okwui Enwezor opened its doors to 5 new countries that are featured for the very first time: Grenada, The Republic of Mauritius, Mongolia, The Republic of Mozambique and The Republic of Seychelles.

In this context, Grenada’s National Pavilion at the 2015 edition of Venice Biennale was curated by Susan Mains, who chose the theme Present Nearness as her main inspiration theme. This debut at the International Art Exhibition also marks the country’s 41st anniversary of independence. For its part, the first National Pavilion of The Republic of Mauritius is based on a dialog between Mauritian and European artists. Due to a long period of colonization, Mauritius is a fusion of cultures, languages and ethnicities, with its population made of Indian, African, Chinese and European descendants — the co-presence of temples, churches and mosques in every town of this island nation actually reveals this diversity.

The first National Pavilion of Mongolia explores modern-day mobility and displacement, raising questions about what and where “home” is and about our relationship with nature. In this context, featured artists, such as Unen Enkh re-worked natural materials found in the steppes of Mongolia in a contemporary way, in order to pay tribute to the nation’s nomadic traditions. Curated by Sarah J. McDonald and Victor Schaub Wong, the National Pavilion of The Republic of Seychelles, focuses on the nation’s fragile relationship between economic and environmental policies, thus offering a real insight into history and the current socio-political situation. Among the new participants, The Republic of Mozambique is the only one showing at Arsenale, sharing a space with the Indonesian Pavilion.

More information on www.labiennale.org.

Cecilia Musmeci © Modemonline

Pictures courtesy of Mongolia Pavilion by Enkhjargal Ganbat - Artist T.Enkhbold.