Venice Biennale awards Golden Lion to Sharjah Biennial curator Okwui Enwezor

In an unusual move, the biennial grants its highest honour to four previous artistic directors who have passed away

Okwui Enwezor stands during a press conference for his exhibition Matthew Barney: Rivers of Fundament at the Haus der Kunst in Berlin, Germany. Getty Images 

In a historic move, the Venice Biennale will award its highest prize to four late artistic directors of previous exhibitions.

Among them winners is Nigeria-born curator Okwui Enwezor, who died in March last year. A renowned figure in contemporary art, he organised the Venice Biennale in 2015.

He is also credited as the posthumous curator for the 15th Sharjah Biennial, scheduled for March 2022. Enwezor conceived of the biennial’s theme, Thinking Historically in the Present, with Sharjah Art Foundation president Hoor Al Qasimi in 2018.

Another recipient is Germano Celant, an Italian curator who coined the term ‘Arte Povera’ or poor art, referring to an avant-garde movement that challenged commercialisation in art, in 1967. He served as the biennale’s artistic director in 1997 and died of Covid-19 in April.

Other awardees include architect Vittorio Gregotti, who designed the Barcelona Olympic stadium and was involved in the biennial in 1975 and 1976, and art historian Maurizio Calevsi, who was artistic director in 1984 and 1986. Both died this year, Gregotti from complications related to coronavirus.

Awarded at every edition, Golden Lions typically honour living artists who have shown works during the biennial. Posthumous awards are rare in the art event's 125-year history, and the last instance of this was in 2005 in honour of Swiss curator Harald Szeemann.

The decision to honour the four artistic directors posthumously came from a recommendation by the group exhibition’s curators.

The award will be presented on Tuesday, September 1, following the opening of a group exhibition on the biennial’s history titled The Disquieted Muses: When the Biennale Meets History, held at the Giardini della Biennale.

The 59th Venice Biennale, which was meant to take place in 2021, has been moved to 2022 due to the pandemic. Its architecture show, originally scheduled for May 2020, will open in 2021.