Sonja from Norway and Stéphanie from Luxembourg in Venice, the same day
Queen Sonja of Norway and Princess Stephanie of Luxembourg were both at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art last Thursday.
Did they meet? We ignore it. But Queen Sonja of Norway and Princess Stephanie of Luxembourg were both on the same day – this Thursday, April 21, 2022 – in the city of the Doges. One like the other had been commissioned as part of the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art which now opened its doors, for seven months, two days later.
Sonja took part in the Nordic pavilion Sami exhibition
The wife of King Harald V accompanied the Nordic-Sami art exhibition held in the Nordic pavilion. This brings together works by three Sami artists: the Norwegian Maret Anne Sara, the Finnish Pauliina Feodoroff and the Swedish Anders Sunna. All from families of reindeer herders, they experiment in their creations “a strong political activism”, specified the Norwegian Court, adding: “the artists problematize the questions of self-determination, identity, climate change, deforestation and the right to land and water”. The wife of the Norwegian sovereign also visited the Danish, Canadian and British pavilions and attended a reception in the evening at the invitation of the presidents of the Sami Parliaments, of Norway, Sweden and Finland, and of the Norwegian Office of contemporary art (OCA). The next day, she was able to discover the main exhibition of the Biennale entitled “The Milk of Dreams” which mixes well-known artists with others less prominent. Including three Norwegian artists and one Swedish.
The wife of the Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg, for her part, supported, with the Minister of Culture Sam Tanson, the pavilion of the Grand Duchy. The mother of little Prince Charles was able to discover the “living picture” of the Luxembourg artist Tina Gillen, composed of eight works, a project developed with Mudam, the Museum of Modern Art Grand-Duc Jean of which she is now the Honorary President. Then the daughter-in-law of Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa went to visit the Cini Foundation, on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, the 2nd edition of “Homo Faber: Crafting a More Human Future » dedicated to the excellence of European and Japanese craftsmanship. With, among the exhibitors, four Luxembourgers selected by the Michelangelo Foundation, which orchestrates the event, after the 3and biennale “De Mains De Maîtres”, organized on the initiative of Princess Stéphanie and Prince Guillaume.