The 59th edition of the Venice Biennale this year will see a double debut: the debut of Cameroon and the first time of the NFT.
The Venice Biennale will be held from 23 April to 27 November 2022, and it will be the first time for Cameroon, a country in the midst of economic development in central Africa, to have its own national pavilion,
of which one part at the Liceo Artistico Guggenheim and another at Palazzo Ca' Bernardo Molon, entitled Il tempo delle Chimere (The Time of the Chimeras), and the debut of the NFT in the great Venetian exhibition, which will make an appearance in the pavilion of the African country.
The commissioner will be Armand Abanda Maye Director of Arts Promotion and Development of the Cameroon Ministry of Art and Culture and curators Paul Emmanuel Loga Mahop and Sandro Orlandi Stagl.
Among the many artists from all over the world exhibiting (twenty-seven in all), there will be several Italians:
- Umberto Mariani
- Matteo Mezzadri
- Marco Bertin
- Alessandro Zannier
Right at Palazzo Ca' Bernardo, within the framework of the Cameroon pavilion, there will be an NFT exhibition organised by the Global Crypto Art DAO collective, which will feature twenty artists from different countries (though not from Cameroon).
The DAO collective, formed in December 2021 with various actors from the art system including members of the NFT community, artists and professionals, will secure the resources for the pavilion that will come from private sponsors and buyers investing in NFT.
The time of chimeras, reads a note issued by DAO, "is an exhibition of digital, cryptographic and NFT art and creativity from the Metaverse". open to the entire world of cryptographic art, as well as professionals and art enthusiasts from the physical world. This exhibition was founded by Global Crypto Art (GCA) DAO and created by artists, collectors, curators, art professionals and experts and blockchain investors - NFT.
With the official approval of the Venice Biennale Committee and the Cameroon Pavilion, GCA will have a better presence and wider influence in the world than a pure decentralised method that will attract the attention of people in and out of the “cryptoart".
For the exhibition at the Cameroon Pavilion, Italian curator Sandro Orlandi Stagl, in order to remain in line with the general themes, wanted to emphasise one of the most significant aspects of artistic creation: imagination, which has always been the basis of myth. Thus the title Il tempo delle chimere (The Time of the Chimera) intends to bring back into vogue the mythological animal that symbolises illusions, risky fantasies, unrealisable dreams and dystopian visions. "Chasing a Chimera seems like madness", stresses Orlandi Stagl, "but it is the only way to realise your impossible dreams and artists have the power to challenge this madness and make us dream". In addition to the cryptoart exhibition at Palazzo Ca' Bernardo, there will also be an exhibition of digital works at the Liceo Guggenheim where eight artists, four of whom are Cameroonian, will alter themselves:
- Francis Nathan Abiamba
- Angéle Etoundi Essamba
- Justine Gaga
- Salifou Lindou
and four international
- Shay Frisch
- Umberto Mariani
- Matteo Mezzadri
- Jorge R. Pombo.
The pavilion is also open for donations: DAO has let it be known that a series of NFTs will be released for sale and the proceeds used to fund the project, remembering that among the benefits for purchasers will be tickets to the Biennale, dinners, participation in events and much more.
Artists participating in the exhibition were asked to donate at least one work to be sold in NFT format at the end of the exhibition. The proceeds will be used to support the collective organisation. It is sure to be a success as we are already seeing from the interest that is developing around this initiative.
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