Chinese artists to represent Kenya at 2015 Venice Biennale

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 15 (UPI) -- Kenya is to participate in the Venice Biennale for the second time in its history, but six out of the eight artists selected for the country's pavilion are Chinese.

The artists, including Li Gang, Shi Jinsong and Qin Feng, have no ties to Kenya and do not reference the African country in their work, The Guardian reported Wednesday.

Kenyan artists and African critics have protested the decision, and Nigerian curator Olabisi Silva has called the choice of artists "shambolic" on Facebook.

Referring to a similar controversy at the 2013 Venice Biennale when only two out of 12 artists at the Kenya pavilion were Kenya-born, Silva recalled the pavilion was "full of Chinese and Italian artists with some [Kenyan artists] in a dark room," something, she said, "should not be allowed to happen again."

The entrants were selected by two Italian commissioners, including Paola Poponi, who defended the choices by claiming placing non-Kenyan artists in the Kenya pavilion was aligned with the theme of the 2015 Biennale: All the World's Futures.

Poponi told NPR that "talking about art from another part of the world" could be useful for Kenya in creating its own artistic identity.

The choices could allow Kenyan artists to analyze their own experiences "more deeply."

Kenyan artists like Michael Soi, however, disagree with the commissioners responsible for the selection.

Soi has created a painting titled The Shame in Venice 1, which depicts the ratio of Kenyan to Chinese artists in the exhibition.

"For those who don't know, Kenya has a lot of great contemporary artists who can represent Kenya," Soi said.

"The Kenyan pavilion is as phony as a 3 dollar bill."

The selection of Chinese artists, however, may be more economic than what official organizers are willing to admit.

Davide Quadrio, a Chinese contemporary art curator said many artists in Shanghai "buy their introduction to Venice."

Chinese artists use their exhibition credentials to sell their work for more money to Chinese collectors, Quadrio told NPR.

A petition condemning the selection, titled Renounce Kenya's fraudulent Representation at 56 Venice Biennale 2015, is circulating on Change.org.