Venice opens '1922 Revisited' May 5

Venice is about to get a side program that matters for a pretty simple reason — it is using performance to argue with the Biennale’s own history. “1922 Revisited,” organized by Third Space Art Foundation, opens on Monday, May 5, just before the 61st Venice Biennale’s official pre-opening begins on May 6. The main exhibition, curated by Koyo Kouoh under the title *In Minor Keys*, opens to the public on May 9 and runs through November 22. But this smaller live-arts program is arriving first, and it is clearly trying to set the tone. ### What is “1922 Revisited”? It is a five-day performance and dialogue series running May 5 through May 9 in Venice. The core idea is to revisit the 1922 Biennale archive and put that material into conversation with contemporary responses to what the Biennale was showing, recording, and leaving out more than a century ago. ### Why 1922? Because 1922 sits near the beginning of the modern Biennale story, and archives from that period carry the institution’s early assumptions about empire, visibility, and who counted as part of international culture, not just the backdrop. ### Who is in the lineup? The announced program includes Jelili Atiku’s *Eyes No Dey Forget Wetin Heart See*, Bernard Akoi-Jackson’s *Untitled: Flaggings IN MEMORIAM…*, and *Waves of Ash* by Tsedaye Makonnen and Jermay Michael Gabriel. Those names matter because the archive is being treated less like a vault and more like a live wire. ### How does it fit the Biennale calendar? Timing is the key detail. “1922 Revisited” starts on May 5, one day before the Biennale’s official pre-opening on May 6, 7, and 8. So it is not inside the main exhibition schedule, where visitors even enter the Giardini or the Arsenale. ### Why does the political backdrop matter so much? Because this Biennale is opening in unusual turmoil. On April 30, La Biennale said it had received the resignations of the entire international jury — Solange Farkas, Zoe B. The institution framed that as a response to both the resignations and the “exceptional” geopolitical situation. ### So where does Russia fit in? Russia’s presence has become the flashpoint around this edition. Reporting over the last few weeks has tied the jury crisis and wider protests to disputes over Russia’s participation, with pressure also coming from European political institutions. Even where details or questions about legitimacy are no longer sitting at the edges. They are central. ### Why does that make this small program feel bigger? Because “1922 Revisited” is landing at exactly the moment when the Biennale’s authority looks most exposed. A live program about archives, omission, and historical framing would already be interesting. In a week when it matters who gets to narrate art history in the first place. ### Bottom line? This is a fringe event only in the logistical sense. In every other sense, it is arriving at the center of the story.