Nepal will make its debut at the Venice Biennale.

Nepal is set to make its debut at the 59th Venice Biennale, which will take place in Italy from April 23 to November 27. Sheelasha Rajbhandari and Hit Man Gurung will curate the Nepal Pavilion at the mega art event, which will feature works by artist Ang Tsherin Sherpa. KK Karmacharya, Chancellor of Nepal Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), stated at a press conference held in the capital on April 6 that Nepal’s debut at the event is a source of pride. Nepal’s pavilion participation in the exhibition will help introduce Nepali art and culture to the rest of the world, ultimately promoting Nepal as a religious and cultural tourism destination, he said.

According to Karmacharya, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation are installing the pavilion in collaboration with the NAFA and Siddhartha Arts Foundation as commissioners for the Nepali Pavilion. According to him, the Rubin Museum of Art in the United States also assisted Nepal in establishing its own pavilion at the event. Sherpa will work with 16 other Nepali artists on the festival’s exhibition, titled ‘Tales of Muted Spirits – Dispersed Threads – Twisted Shangri-La.’

“We need to create a space to reflect and re-evaluate these biases through such international exhibitions,” he said, adding, “International understanding of Nepali art remains plagued by a Western conceptualization of the Himalayan region – a pervasive, romanticized vision that frames Nepal as static, pure, and untouched by time and modernity.”

According to Rajbhandari, Nepal has always been associated with the concept of Shangri-La effects, in which Nepal is associated with a sense of mystique, sacredness, and remoteness. “However, a lot has changed since then. For centuries, communities have thrived on fluidity, mobility, and the exchange of knowledge “She went on to say that just because a country is economically backward doesn’t mean its artworks are, and this will be demonstrated during the exhibition.

According to Sangeeta Thapa, Founder of the Siddhartha Arts Foundation, “Art is also a medium; artists create artworks inspired by the culture that once existed in the hills and mountains. So, through our arts, we have the opportunity to present such culture to the rest of the world at the Venice Biennale.”