The Republic of Benin will organize a national pavilion for the first time at the 60th Venice Biennale, which will be held from April 20 to November 24, 2024. The government of the West African country has revealed that the pavilion will be organized by Azu Nwagbogu, founder and director of the not-for-profit African Artists Foundation (AAF), based in Lagos, with the help of Yassine Lassissi, artistic director of La Galerie Nationale du Benin in Lagos, and architect Franck Houndégla. The playwright José Pliya, general manager of La Galerie Nationale, will commission the pavilion.
“We are delighted to have Azu Nwagbogu as curator of the National Pavilion of Benin,” said Patrice Talon, President of the Republic of Benin, in a statement. Talon led the pavilion’s joint selection committee, which included the country’s minister of tourism, culture and the arts, as well as members of the National Gallery of Benin. “His unique background, vision and expertise in the field of art conservation make him the ideal candidate to showcase Benin’s cultural heritage and contemporary art to the world.”
Born in Lagos, Nwagbogu established AAF in 2007 with the aim of uplifting contemporary artists and arts. From 2018 to 2019 he was director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town. Nwagbogu is known as a tireless advocate for restitution and repatriation; his goals on this front closely match those of Talon, who since his election in 2016 has prioritized repatriation. The country’s government reached an agreement in 2021 with France for the latter country to return twenty-six objects looted by its army more than a hundred years ago.
Benin is the last African nation to set up a pavilion at the Biennale. Although the continent has been vastly under-represented in previous editions of the event, the number of African pavilions has increased from seven in 2017 to twelve this year, with the addition of Benin.
