1922 Revisited Returns to a Pivotal Moment in Venice Biennale History
Third Space Art Foundation live arts program engages the historical framing of African art through contemporary performance
NEW YORK, NY, April 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Third Space Art Foundation will present 1922 Revisited, a live arts program during the preview week of the Venice Biennale (May 5–9, 2026). Curated by Dr. Janine A. Sytsma, the program brings together artists from across Africa and its diasporas to engage a historical moment in the Biennale’s exhibition history.
The project takes as its point of reference the 1922 Venice Biennale, in which African objects were presented within a broader exhibition context. The surviving record of this exhibition is fragmentary, consisting of limited archival materials.
A century later, 1922 Revisited returns to this point through contemporary performance. The program unfolds across multiple sites in Venice and includes a series of live works that engage questions of memory, embodiment, and the relationship between archive and lived experience.
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“1922 Revisited offers a platform for contemporary performance artists to confront the imperial logic of the Biennale, amplify long-silenced voices, introduce epistemologies rooted in African thought, and envision possibilities for renewal.”
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The project draws on performance as a means of engaging archival material in ways that are both interpretive and experiential. In this context, artists work with the archive not as a fixed record, but as a point of departure, activating its fragments through movement, presence, and public interaction.
Participating artists include Jelili Atiku (Nigeria), Tsedaye Makonnen (United States/Ethiopia), Jermay Michael Gabriel (Ethiopia-Italy), Va-Bene Fiatsi (crazinisT artist) (Ghana), Zora Snake (Cameroon), Wura-Natasha Ogunji (United States/Nigeria), ruby onyinyechi amanze (Nigeria/United States), and Bernard Akoi-Jackson (Ghana), among others.
The program is presented in collaboration with the African Art in Venice Forum and the European Cultural Centre, with additional academic and institutional partners supporting research and documentation.
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1922 Revisited is developed in dialogue with the curatorial framework of the 2026 Biennale. Its theme, In Minor Keys, emphasizes attention to affective, sensory, and interpretive dimensions of artistic experience, creating space for reflection, listening, and encounter.
Within this context, the program positions performance as a means of engaging historical material in the present. The works do not reconstruct past exhibitions, but instead draw from archival fragments to create new forms of encounter, opening space for reflection on how such histories are approached and understood.
In parallel with the live program, Third Space Art Foundation is developing a companion publication, Harmonies of Repair, which will include artist contributions, curatorial essays, and archival research related to the project.
Through its combined focus on performance, research, and collaboration, 1922 Revisited contributes to ongoing conversations about how global exhibition platforms, including the Venice Biennale, are experienced, interpreted, and revisited over time.
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Key Facts
- 1922 Revisited will be presented May 5–9, 2026, during the Venice Biennale preview week
- Curated by Dr. Janine A. Sytsma
- Engages the 1922 Biennale as a historical reference point
- Draws on a fragmentary archival record
- Features artists from Africa and its diasporas
- Presented in collaboration with African Art in Venice Forum and European Cultural Centre
- Companion publication Harmonies of Repair in development
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About Third Space Art Foundation
Third Space Art Foundation supports artistic exchange and collective engagement through the cultivation of third spaces - dynamic zones of encounter, negotiation, and creative transformation. Drawing from the widely embraced concept of third space as a site for dialogue, and Homi Bhabha’s decolonial theory of third space as a liminal ground that challenges fixed hierarchies and dominant narratives, Third Space Art Foundation advances practices that expand cultural understanding and foster new frameworks for connection. Through exhibitions, residencies, and collaborative initiatives, it brings together artists and communities across geographic and cultural divides, working to catalyze critical inquiry, mutual understanding, and new structures of solidarity.
To learn more visit: https://thirdspaceartfoundation.org/
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Mike Verano NEWMEDIA.COM pr@newmedia.com 212-220-6200
1922 Revisited Artists, Venice Biennale 2026
Artists Bernard Akoi-Jackson, ruby onyinyechi amanze, Jelili Atiku, Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi (crazinisT artisT), Jermay Michael Gabriel, Tsedaye Makonnen, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, and Zora Snake will perform as part of 1922 Revisited, a live arts program presented during the preview week of the 61st Venice Biennale, May 5–9, 2026.
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