We are the 90%

The Milk of Dreams takes its name from a book by Leonora Carrington in which, as the curator Cecilia Alemani explains, "the Surrealist artist describes a magical world where life is constantly re-envisioned through the prism of the imagination." It is a world where everyone can change, be transformed, become something or someone else." This year's Venice Art Biennale focuses on three main thematic areas: the representation of human bodies and their transformation; the relationship between people and technology; and the links between humans and the Earth.

Most of the selected artists are putting their thumbs on the scale, hammering out ideology. Their metabolism is political. Crusaders and activists give voice to those who have little or none, portraying the new entitlement society, where ideology, reductionism, and the cross-pollination of art, politics, and justice take centre stage.

In this edition, I felt I was constantly being lectured to. If you are looking for something beyond race, ethnicity, and gender, you're in the wrong place. In fact, this edition reinforces supremacy by "allowing" or "permitting" the displaced to be placed. Of course, just for seven months, the duration of the biennial. Moreover, the discourse of Alemani is an exploitation of the twentieth iteration of the Sydney Biennial titled "The Future is Already Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed". In its original context, it alludes to the facts that the things that will constitute the normal or everyday life within the lives of those living in the future already exists for some today.

I was reminded of the concept of sovereignty, developed by Georges Bataille. For him, "to be sovereign in fact is to enjoy the present time without having anything else in view but this present time". The individual is always in the process of loving, acting, living - we relate first, and rationalise after the fact, in retrospect, always too late.

The awards went to those whose claims were tainted with political agendas. Great Britain with "Feeling Her Way," featuring a chorus of black female voices set against tessellating wallpaper and golden 3D geometric structures. Simone Leigh, who is representing the United States at the Giardini, won the Golden Lion for best participant in the The Milk of Dreams exhibition with her 16-foot-tall sculpture, The Brick House (2019), which shows an eyeless black woman standing at the entrance of the show. A special mention was given to the French pavilion, which was represented this year by Zineb Sedira, the first artist of Algerian descent to represent France. Shuvinai Ashoona, an Inuk artist (Untitled, 2021), and Lynn Hershman Leeson, from the US (Logic Paralyses the Heart, 2021), had works in The Milk of Dreams that were praised. A press release says, "Ashoona recognises the violence of the colonial enterprise and suggests ways to get out of the dead end by listening in... and listening forward to indigenous knowledge." Ali Cherri, who was born in Beirut, won the Silver Lion for Most Promising Young Participant. The Milk of Dreams shows three mud sculptures from his series Titans (2002).

The 59th International Art Exhibition runs from 23 April to 27 November 2022.