sol calero builds gathering place inspired by latin american motifs for venice art biennale

the design expands on calero's decades of exploration into colorful and site-specific architectural installations -- each taking cue from latin american cultural codes.

lea zeitoun April 18, 2024 3 min

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sol calero presents pabellón criollo at venice art biennale

Venezuelan artist Sol Calero takes part in the 60th edition of the Venice Art Biennale, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, with a large-scale installation situated within the Giardini. On view from April 20 until November 24, 2024, the Pabellón Criollo (Creole Pavilion) stands out among the thirty permanent national pavilions and is conceived as a site-specific and deconstructed 3D painting. Functionally, it serves as a gathering place which draws from Calero’s previous, colorful, work rooted in Latin American cultural codes, social spaces, exoticism, diaspora, and tropical themes.

sol calero builds gathering place inspired by latin american motifs for venice art biennale - 1 — Sol Calero gathering place at the Giardini | image © designboom

latin america and the Caribbean paradise

From a hair salon to a salsa dance school and travel agency, Sol Calero’s installations have often taken the form of small businesses, questioning aesthetic hierarchies and problematizing the perception of the exotic while engaging with local contexts. Combining materials and mediums—including furniture, textiles, mosaic, video, mural painting, and functional found objects—her projects delve into the illusion of the Caribbean as a paradise, disarming the viewer with a convivial, playful atmosphere while utilizing a transversal visual language to unfold conversations around migration, displacement, and identity.

sol calero builds gathering place inspired by latin american motifs for venice art biennale - 2 — image © Andrea Rossetti, courtesy the artist and ChertLüdde Berlin, Crèvecœur Paris, Francesca Minini Milan

giving new life to discarded materials

The pavilion is named after a Venezuelan dish traditionally made from leftover ingredients including rice, beans, plantains and meat, and reflects the region’s mix of Indigenous, African and European cultures. Structurally, Sol Calero has built Pabellón Criollo with materials from previous International Exhibitions of the Venice Art Biennale to create her vibrant, and colorful installation, reflecting on themes of cultural cross-pollination and giving new life to the discarded or donated materials.

sol calero builds gathering place inspired by latin american motifs for venice art biennale - 3 — image © Andrea Rossetti, courtesy the artist and ChertLüdde Berlin, Crèvecœur Paris, Francesca Minini Milan

sol calero builds gathering place inspired by latin american motifs for venice art biennale - 4 — image © Andrea Rossetti, courtesy the artist and ChertLüdde Berlin, Crèvecœur Paris, Francesca Minini Milan

sol calero builds gathering place inspired by latin american motifs for venice art biennale - 5 — image © Andrea Rossetti, courtesy the artist and ChertLüdde Berlin, Crèvecœur Paris, Francesca Minini Milan

sol-calero-giardini-designboom-full-2 — image © designboom

sol calero builds gathering place inspired by latin american motifs for venice art biennale - 6 — image © Andrea Rossetti, courtesy the artist and ChertLüdde Berlin, Crèvecœur Paris, Francesca Minini Milan

sol calero builds gathering place inspired by latin american motifs for venice art biennale - 7 — image © Andrea Rossetti, courtesy the artist and ChertLüdde Berlin, Crèvecœur Paris, Francesca Minini Milan

sol calero builds gathering place inspired by latin american motifs for venice art biennale - 8 — image © Andrea Rossetti, courtesy the artist and ChertLüdde Berlin, Crèvecœur Paris, Francesca Minini Milan

sol-calero-giardini-designboom-full — image © designboom

project info:

name: Pabellón Criollo (Creole Pavilion)

artist: Sol Calero | @solcalero

location: Giardini della Biennale, Venice

program: 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia | @labiennale

curator: Adriano Pedrosa | @adrianopedrosa