Please note: Some of the content on this page was published prior to the launch of Creative Australia and references the Australia Council. Read more.

Venice Biennale 2022: Curators’ tours

Image caption: The Australia Pavilion. Photograph: Courtesy of the Australia Council for the Arts and Alex Smiles.

Australia Council’s behind-the-scenes supporters’ tours have been giving unrivalled access to the Australia Pavilion and La Bienniale di Venezia for over a decade.

In 2022 our tours are smaller in scale and entirely focused on contemporary art. With global tourism only just restarting, the tours will run over a weekend in September 2022 for groups of 20. 

The tours will be led by two of Australia’s finest curatorial talents; Alexie Glass-Kantor and Hannah Presley. Alexie is the curator of Marco Fusinato’s DESASTRES in the Australia Pavilion for the Venice Biennale 2022 and the University of Melbourne’s Hannah Presley was the First Nations Assistant curator for Tracey Moffatt at the 57th Venice Biennale.

Joining a tour not only gives you exclusive access to the Venice Biennale but also enables you to join the ‘Australia at Venice’ campaign, where you directly support the realisation of Marco Fusinato’s exhibition in 2022.

For more information please contact: venice@creative.gov.au

Image caption: The Australia Pavilion. Photograph: Courtesy of the Australia Council for the Arts and Alex Smiles.

Curators’ tours

In 2022 the Australia Council has partnered with Academy Travel to deliver two Curator led tours:

On this three-day tour Alexie Glass Kantor leads you through La Biennale di Venezia’s 59th International Art Exhibition, ‘The Milk of Dreams/Il latte dei song’ curated by Cecilia Alemani as well as the national pavilions in the Giardini.

Share meals with Australia’s representative for 2022, Marco Fusinato and hear from Alexie Glass-Kantor’s extraordinary breadth of experience as one of Australia’s pre-eminent contemporary art curators.

Highlights include;

  • Breakfast with Marco Fusinato accompanied by an introduction to the Australia Pavilion’s exhibition DESASTRES
  • Tours of both the Giardini and Arsenale led by Alexie Glass-Kantor
  • A private cocktail reception at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum followed by a private tour
  • Breakfast at the Prada Foundation followed by a private tour.
  • Celebratory 7 course dinner at one of Venice’s fine dining restaurants

COST:  $5,000 (inclusive of a $1,500 voluntary tax deductible donation)

Learn more

In 2022 there are numerous exemplary artists from the global First Nation’s community presenting their work in Venice. On this three-day tour the University of Melbourne’s Hannah Presley leads you through La Biennale di Venezia’s 59th International Art Exhibition, ‘The Milk of Dreams/Il latte dei song’ curated by Cecilia Alemani as well as the national pavilions in the Giardini.

The 59th International Art Exhibition platforms critical exhibitions by global First Nations artists from Oceania and across Europe including Yuki Kihara for New Zealand and artists of the Sámi Pavilion; Pauliina Feodoroff, Máret Ánne Sara and Anders Sunna.

Highlights include;

  • Breakfast with the 2022 Artistic Team of the Australian Pavilion, Marco Fusinato and Alexie Glass Kantor, accompanied by an introduction to the Australia Pavilion’s exhibition DESASTRES
  • Tours of both the Giardini and Arsenale led by Hannah Presley
  • A private cocktail reception at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum followed by a private tour
  • Breakfast at the Prada Foundation followed by a private tour.
  • Celebratory 7 course dinner at one of Venice’s fine dining restaurants

COST:  $5,000 (inclusive of a $1,500 voluntary tax deductible donation)

Learn more

Additional information

If Government imposed COVID-19 restrictions mean that we cannot run the tour, or that you cannot travel to join a tour, then you will be given a 100% refund of all monies paid for your tour.

The Australia Council is unable to provide advice on travel requirements to international countries. We encourage all participants to be familiar with and regularly check the smart traveller website.

All participants are required to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 based on local requirements in Venice. We reserve the right to inspect your digital vaccination certificate.

Useful links

Contact

For all enquiries or to stay up to date on the project please contact:

venice@creative.gov.au

Media centre

Tour leader bios

Alexie Glass-Kantor

Alexie Glass-Kantor

Alexie Glass-Kantor is a curator, an advocate for the arts and the Executive Director of Artspace, Sydney. Since 2014 she has led the opportunity for co-curated and artist-led projects with peer institutions in 14 countries, including: Jonathan Jones: untitled (transcriptions of country), Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2021); 경로를 재탐색합니다 UN/LEARNING AUSTRALIA, Seoul Museum of Art (2021); Taloi Havini: Reclamation, Dhaka Art Summit (2020); Mel O’Callaghan: Centre of the Centre, UQ Art Museum, Brisbane (2020) and Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers (2019); Angelica Mesiti: Relay League, Art Sonje, Seoul (2019) and Kunsthalle Tbilisi, Georgia (2018); Helen Johnson, Institute for Contemporary Art, London (2017); and Nicholas Mangan: Ancient Lights, Chisenhale Gallery, London (2015).

In 2017 Glass-Kantor conceived 52 ARTISTS 52 ACTIONS, a project which utilised social media to examine socially engaged practice and art-as-action. Since 2015 she has been the curator of Encounters for Art Basel | Hong Kong, dedicated to large-scale installations. Glass-Kantor was co-curator with Natasha Bullock of Parallel Collisions, the 12th Adelaide Biennial of Contemporary Art (2012) and was in the curatorium for the 13th SITE Santa Fe Biennial, New Mexico. Glass-Kantor is Chair of the Contemporary Art Organisations of Australia and serves on a number of boards and juries including: Academic Board, National Art School, Sydney; Advisory Council, Sydney Contemporary; Advisory Board, Museum of Contemporary Art & Design – De La Salle College of Saint Benilde, Manila; Advance Global Awards jury; and Curatorial Advisory Board, Monash University Curatorial Practice PhD Program. She regularly sits on selection panels for art award and prizes, and participates in public programs, symposiums and lectures across Australia and internationally.

Hannah Presley

Hannah Presley

Hannah Presley is an Aboriginal curator based in Melbourne. She is a Director of Agency and Senior Curator at University of Melbourne. Presley was recently curator of Indigenous Art at National Gallery of Victoria and is the curator of Primavera 2021 at Museum of Contemporary Art and Observance at Buxton Contemporary (with Sam Comte), 2022. Her practice focuses on the development of creative projects with First Nations artists, working closely with artists, learning about the techniques, history and community that inform their making to help guide her curatorial process. Presley draws on inspiration from her early roles working at Warumpi Arts and other Central Australian Art Centres. As Exhibitions Officer at Araluen Galleries, in Alice Springs, Presley had the privilege of coordinating a number of shows including the annual Desert Mob exhibition. Presley was the inaugural Yalingwa curator at Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, where she curated A Lightness of Spirit is the Measure of Happiness in 2018 and was First Nations Assistant curator for Tracey Moffatt at the 57th Venice Biennale.