The state of things

This curatorial project, Norway’s official representation at the 54th Venice Biennale, explored innovative forms of national representation within the context of the Biennale. Here the ‘curation’ departed from the conventions of exhibiting objects and took a discursive form, with an international orientation realised through collaborations with Venetian cultural institutions. The project, co-curated by Lafuente with Marta Kuzma and Peter Osborne, comprised two programmes that questioned the conventional Venice Biennale curatorial practices. One, ‘Beyond Death’, a pedagogical programme at postgraduate level at Università Iuav di Venezia conducted by artist Bjarne Melgaard and concluding in a collaborative exhibition between the artist and the students. Two, ‘The State of Things’, a series of ten lectures at different Venetian institutions by internationally leading philosophers, activists and art theorists