On June 1t, the jury for the 55th Venice Biennale, presided by Jsessica Morgan (Great Britain) and composed by Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy (Mexico), Francesco Manacorda (Italy), Bisi Silva (Nigeria), and Ali Subotnick (USA), gave out the Golden Lion awards in the following way:
Golden Lion to Angola for the best national selection, with the project Luanda, Encyclopedic City by Edson Chagas. The project was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and was curated by Beyond Entropy (Paula Nascimento, Stefano Rabolli Pansera) and Jorge Gumbe. It is on exhibit at the Palazzo Cini, located in Dorsoduro 864.
Golden Lion for Best Artist in the International Show at Palazzo Enciclopedico for Tino Senghal (Great Britain, 1976), whose work is on exhibit in the Central Pavilion garden. This award is given in recognition to the excellence and innovation contributed by the artist to a broad field of artistic disciplines.
Silver Lion for a young and promising artist, to Camille Henrot (France, 1978), for her contributions, in her recent work, to a dynamic and appealing portrayal of the current historical moment. Her work is on exhibit at the Corderie in the Arsenale, as part of the Palazzo Enciclopedico international show.
The jury also gave individual special mentions to Sharon Hayes (USA, 1970) and Roberto Cuoghi (Italy, 1963), whose work is also on exhibit as part of the international show at Palazzo Enciclopedico, and collective special mentions to the Chipre, Lithuania, and Japan national selections.
The jury paid special attention to countries that were able to show in a forceful and convincing way the development of the visual arts in the particular context of their region.
He awards ceremony for the 55th International Art Exhibition was held at the Biennale Garden on June 1st at 11 a. The Biennale's board, presided by Paolo Baratta also gave Lifetime Golden Lions to Austrian artist Maria Lassnig (1919) and Marisa Merz, from Italy (1926).