The 56th Venice Biennale closed its doors less than a month ago and three countries have already announced their participation to the 2017 editon.

The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa has announced in October Lisa Reihana as New Zealand’s artist.  Reihana’s panoramic video In Pursuit of Venus [infected] will travel to Venice. It will be presented at its immersive scale and rendered to its full resolution, with additional scenes included.  A new series of photographic works will also be commissioned. The Arts Council has also announced Rhana Devenport as the curator for New Zealand’s presentation and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki as a significant contributor to the project.

As the commissioner of the Canada Pavilion in Venice, the National Gallery of Canada announced that Geoffrey Farmer will represent Canada with Kitty Scott, as the curator of the Pavilion who will work alongside Josée Drouin-Brisebois, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery who will act as the project director. Farmer combines theatrical techniques such as staging and improvisation to create rich and layered works that are open to interpretation and propose multiple alternative narratives. Developed over extended periods of time, his sculptures and installations are in a constant state of transformation as the artist continues to revisit and alter them.

The Australia Council for the Arts announced that Tracey Moffatt has been selected to represent the country. Moffatt will be the sole artist exhibiting at the Australian Pavilion in the Giardini, with the exhibition to be curated by Natalie King.