The 56th edition of the Venice Biennale - the world’s oldest, largest and most prestigious art gathering - has awarded its Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Brahim El Anatsui. The 71-year-old Ghanaian-born Nigeria-resident El Anatsui is acclaimed worldwide for his unique intricate shimmering metallic wall-hanging sculptures created from flattened aluminum bottle-tops, tin cans, bits of printing plates and roofing sheets, amongst other recycled materials, held together by copper wires.
The Golden Lion for Best Artist went to US-born Berlin-resident Adrian Piper, a pioneering conceptual artist. Piper “exhorts the viewer to a lifelong commitment to personal responsibility,” Okwui Enwezor, Curator of the 56th Biennale themed “All the World’s Futures,” said at the Open Day awards ceremony, May 9, in the Ca’ Giustinian Palace, near St Mark’s Square, heart of the Venetian city.
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