ONLY IN VENICE

As the Venice Biennale marks its 60th edition, the city's art scene has never been more vibrant.

- Rima Suqi

Jeffrey Gibson was returning to his studio last summer after visiting a metal sculpture foundry in upstate New York with a carful of his studio employees. When a call went to voicemail as he drove, the caller followed up with a text to his studio manager, also in the car. "Pull over," he told Gibson. "You need to take this call." The much-lauded artist, who is of Cherokee descent and a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, picked up to find out that he'd made history: He'd be the first Indigenous artist to have a solo show at the Venice Biennale's U.S. Pavilion. In doing so, he becomes a member of a rarefied group of solo exhibitors that includes Jasper Johns and Mark Bradford.

Gibson's work combines American, Indigenous, and queer histories with influences from fashion and pop culture, often incorporating words, phrases, or lyrics. His exhibition at the Biennale is titled the space in which to place me (referencing Oglala Lakota poet Layli Long Soldier's poem "He Sápa") and features 32 works, including sculptures, a video installation, and paintings. "We are doing a total transformation of the building and a sculptural installation in the forecourt," explains Abigail Winograd, commissioner and a curator of this year's U.S. Pavilion. "It's going to look like all the things you know about Jeffrey Gibson-pattern, color, text, and performance, and works in a variety of media-and is going to hopefully turn this building into a machine for transformation."