Installation view of the exhibition Kapwani Kiwanga: Trinket, 2024, Canada Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition ? La Biennale di Venezia. Commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. Photo by Valentina Mori
Artist Kapwani Kiwanga?s installation in the Canada Pavilion at this year?s Venice Art Biennale is a stunning delight. Commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada and curated by Gaëtane Verna, Kiwanga?s Trinket features millions of suspended Venetian conterie, or seed beads, whose presence transforms the pavilion?s surfaces with their delicate, shimmering appearance. Enfolded within the beads? elusive beauty is a provocative commentary upon the exploitative imbalances which fuelled colonial commerce, for which seed beads were often used as currency. Trinket thus reminds its viewers of Venice?s history as a centre for artisanal glasswork and expansionist mercantilism, thereby querying the sources of the wealth behind the city?s grandeur.  The care with which the beads have been installed offers a beautiful homage to the BBPR-designed 1957 Canada Pavilion, one of the great works of postwar Italian modernism. While the pavilion is sometimes critiqued as a difficult space in which to exhibit, Kiwanga?s installation is perfectly calibrated to its surroundings. The details of the suspended strings of beads are exquisite, and bear the close scrutiny of an in-person examination. Just as the pavilion itself was thoug...