The 60th Venice Biennale kicked off this week with a celebration of the more than 100 artists from around the world participating in the prestigious exhibition, titled “Stranieri Ovunque”—Foreigners Everywhere. Adriano Pedrosa, Biennale artistic director, hosted welcome festivities at La Caravella, and the intergenerational attendees included artists Samia Halaby, Lauren Halsey, Lydia Ourahmane, and Kim Yun Shin; as well as preeminent patrons Pamela Joyner and Fred Giuffrida. goldenqq

Mark Bradford, an old friend of Pedrosa and fellow Cal Arts alum, made a surprise appearance as the dinner wound down and delivered a speech that touched on his and Pedrosa’s shared history and the extraordinary experience of partaking in the Biennale (Bradford represented the United States in 2017). The artist lauded Pedrosa’s “generosity and quiet power to change things”; Pedrosa, for his part, recommended first-time fairgoers “wear comfortable sneakers”. goldenqq