Foreigners Everywhere, the 60^th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, underscores the fluidity of identity and the interconnectedness of global cultures in our liquid modern age – a concept the Korean artist Nam June Paik captured brilliantly half a century ago. Paik’s 1973 video masterpiece Global Groove encapsulates the convergence of tradition and modernity, East and West, through a dynamic montage of abstract and concrete elements. 

Fifty years later, the need for cultural dialogue, exchange and communication remains as critical as ever. Despite immense technological advancement, we continue to face political, social and cultural fragmentation. Foreigners Everywhere reflects the enduring relevance of these issues, highlighting how they are as vital today as they were in Paik’s time. His work offers a visionary look at how digital media can transcend artistic boundaries to address political and social themes, suggesting that art can play a pivotal role in shaping narratives and fostering dialogue. Far from being out of date, Paik’s prescience aligns seamlessly with our contemporary era. His perspective thus aligns seamlessly with the Biennale's exploration of contemporary global issues, emphasising that the fusion of art and technology can generate powerful reflections on our shared humanity.

On view at Venice’s Wilmotte Foundation for architecture (until November 24), Tod Machover's Sailing Through Fire (2024) transports visitors into an immersive, multisensory experience. Collaborating with the renowned Korean visual artist Lee Bae, the installation offers a profound commentary on the cyclical nature of existence and current global crises. A monumental 60-feet video showcases Lee’s transformation of wood into ash, using the charcoal to create art. Music by Machover—composed specifically for this installation—fills the space, blending lyrical cello, visceral brush-like strokes and recordings from the burning ritual. Intricate layers of electronic and sounds of nature envelop visitors, drawing them into the thematic core of the work. Inspired by an ancient Korean ritual, Sailing Through Fire reimagines the process of collecting New Year wishes on paper, building a towering structure from pine branches, and burning it in a ceremony that lasts all night. The remaining ashes and charcoal are used to craft artefacts symbolising hope and rebirth. Lee’s striking artworks—reflective carbon puzzle pieces, expansive charcoal traces, a bronze-cast tower, and a glowing yellow “moon room”—invite visitors to reflect on time, memory and recurrence. Machover’s music enhances the emotional impact of the work, creating a rich, immersive soundscape that highlights the significance of sound as an art form. This installation resonates with contemporary issues, considering nature’s resilience and humanity’s capacity for renewal amid destruction, offering a contemplative space where art, sound and ritual converge to inspire a new outlook.

Josèfa Ntjam's installation titled swell of spæc(i)es at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia (until November 24) unfolds like an alien landscape and is similarly captivating and surreal. Visitors are greeted by a vast curved LED wall displaying a cyclical film which seamlessly transitions between the deep ocean and outer space. The air is filled with an otherworldly soundscape meticulously composed by the artist, musician and composer Fatima Al Qadiri. Suspended jellyfish-like sculptures emit fragments of narrative, creating an immersive auditory experience. Nearby, a membrane-like form rises from the ground, diffusing electroacoustic frequencies and providing a contemplative resting space. Ntjam’s work is a journey through creation and destruction, merging multiple knowledge systems and perspectives. The film combines Dogon's cosmogony with contemporary scientific discoveries in a continuous narrative loop. Artificial intelligence (AI)-generated interspecies characters inspired by 3D models of marine life, scans of West African statues and photographs from colonial independence movements populate this imaginative world. Ntjam’s work reclaims histories that have been erased by dominant narratives, embedding them within marine and cosmic landscapes. Swell of spæc(i)es draws inspiration from the Detroit electro-techno group Drexciya’s mythology of underwater populations born from the Atlantic slave trade’s wreckage and American jazz composer Sun Ra’s vision of Saturn as a sanctuary for Afro-diasporic peoples. This environment invites visitors to explore these interwoven realms, encouraging reflection on the fluid boundaries between the natural world, technology and the stories we tell about our origins.

The Nebula exhibition at Venice’s Complesso dell'Ospedaletto is a labyrinth of sensory exploration. Inspired by the phenomenon of fog as being both material and metaphorical, Nebula immerses visitors in a world where traditional visual cues are diminished, compelling them to rely on other senses to navigate. The eight new site-specific video works on view, commissioned by Fondazione In Between Art Film and including the artists Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Saodat Ismailova, Cinthia Marcelle and Tiago Mata Machado, Diego Marcon, Basir Mahmood, Ari Benjamin Meyers, and Christian Nyampeta – delve into themes of psychological, sociopolitical, technological and historical fragmentation, reflecting on how these pervasive yet seemingly insurmountable elements shape our reality. The works explore landscapes as sites of loss or salvation, the architecture of memory, and the labyrinthine nature of consciousness. Music and voices emerge as powerful tools of reclamation in some works, while others probe the tension between presence and absence, community and alienation, and the reverberations of history in individual lives. Most memorably here, the interdisciplinary studio 2050+, founded by Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, has designed scenographic and architectural interventions in the exhibition that manipulate sound and light, creating a porous, tactile environment. This approach conflates the notion of an art installation and that of architectural space, allowing stories, images and voices to resonate beyond the confines of each room. Overall, Nebula challenges visitors to reconsider the unstable borderlines between seeing and understanding, perception and belief in an experience that is as intellectually provocative as it is sensorially stimulating.

Considered holistically, these exhibitions in Venice not only challenge perception in the immediate moment but also encourage a deeper appreciation of our shared humanity. In these spaces where art, sound and narrative converge, the lines between past, present and future become blurred, leaving visitors with a lingering question: how will we navigate the complexities of our global existence in the years to come? The fact that these exhibitions are not part of the main Biennale show but are adjacent to it seems to perfectly embody the idea of Foreigners Everywhere, with the distribution of noteworthy art happening beyond the official venues. Ultimately, this Biennale serves as a reminder that the journey towards understanding and connection is continuous and that the role of art in this journey is more vital than ever.

The mandate of the 60th Venice Biennale, which aims to highlight under-represented artists and art histories, aligns with the STIR philosophy of challenging the status quo and presenting powerful perspectives. Explore our series on the Biennale, STIRring 'Everywhere' in Venice, which brings you a curated selection of the burgeoning creative activity in the historic city of Venice, in a range of textual and audiovisual formats.