The selection committee unanimously chose Julien Creuzet: "for his work, where poetry infuses a multiplicity of practices with strength and generosity: sculpture, text, video, music, performance, even new technologies. These different elements are used to construct immersive and multisensory worlds animated by whispering memories. His singular work and his gift for oral literature are informed by creolisation, bringing together a diversity of materials, stories, forms and gestures. The questions raised by his works will have particularly significant resonances with the issues of our time at the French Pavilion in Venice. Julien Creuzet has also been chosen for the horizons he draws, venturing beyond the opposition between identity and universality, demonstrating that, in the midst of his art, poetic and artistic resonances trace answers that are as beautiful, joyful and restorative as they are unexpected. "

Julien Creuzet is a visual artist, video maker, performer and poet, born in 1986 in Le Blanc Mesnil. He lives and works in Montreuil. He spent most of his childhood in Martinique. His early years in the Caribbean, at the crossroads of African, Indian and European cultures, have left their mark on a body of work where the fusion of imaginary worlds plays a central role. He studied at the École Supérieure d'Arts & Médias de Caen/Cherbourg and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, and graduated from Le Fresnoy - Studio National des Arts Contemporains in 2013. He teaches at the Beaux-Arts de Paris.

Julien Creuzet has presented his work in numerous solo exhibitions, including recently at LUMA Arles (2022); Camden Arts Center, London (2020); CAN Centre d'Art Neuchâtel, Switzerland (2019); VR Arles Festival as part of the extramural exhibition of the Palais de Tokyo at the Rencontres d'Arles (2018); Fondation d'Entreprise Ricard and Bétonsalon - Centre d'Art et de Recherche, Paris; NaMiMa gallery of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Art et de Design de Nancy (2016) and Frac Basse-Normandie, Caen (2015). His work has also been presented in numerous group exhibitions: "Aujourd'hui aura lieu", extramural exhibition of the Palais de Tokyo as part of the 12th Gwangju Biennale (2018); "Le centre ne peut tenir", Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, 2018; "A Cris Ouverts" 6th edition of the Ateliers de Rennes, Biennale d'Art Contemporain (2018); at the Rencontres de Bamako, 11th African Photography Biennale (2017); at the 14th Lyon Biennale (2017); at the Frac Pays de la Loire (Carquefou, 2016) and at La Galerie, Centre d'Art Contemporain (Noisy-le-Sec, 2015).

He is the winner of the Étant Donnés 2022 prize organised by the Villa Albertine and the Comité Professionnel des Galeries d'Art, the BMW Art Journey 2021 Prize and was nominated for the 2021 Marcel Duchamp Prize. He is represented by High Art (Paris), Andrew Kreps Gallery (New York), Document (Chicago). 

The French Pavilion at the Biennale di Venezia - International Art Exhibition is operated by the French Institute on behalf of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture. 

Professional members of the selection committee: 

Chiara Parisi, President of the committee, is an Italian art historian. She has been Director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz since 2019. In 2011, she was appointed artistic director of La Monnaie de Paris, which had begun exhibiting contemporary art to the public, remaining for 5 years. Between 2017 and 2019, she was curator of exhibitions at the French Academy in Rome - Villa Medici. She was director the Centre International d'Art et du Paysage de l'île de Vassivière from 2004 to 2011.

Guillaume Désanges is a French curator and art critic. He has been President of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris since January 2022. He is the director of Work Method, an independent production company. He has been the curator of La Verrière - Fondation d'Entreprise Hermès, in Brussels since 2013 and in 2021, he was appointed artistic director of the Salon de Montrouge.

Cédric Fauq is a French curator and author. He is chief curator at the CAPC Musée d'Art Contemporain de Bordeaux. He has previously been a curator at the Palais de Tokyo and curator of the exhibition department at Nottingham Contemporary in the UK. He also develops freelance projects.

Katerina Gregos is a Greek curator, lecturer and writer. Since the summer of 2021, she has been the artistic director of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) in Athens. She has previously curated three national pavilions at the Venice Biennale (Denmark, Belgium and Croatia). Since 2016, she has also curated the visual arts programme of the Munich-based Schwarz Foundation.

Flora Katz is a French curator and art critic. She curates exhibitions at LUMA Arles. She has a doctorate in philosophy of art and is a specialist in the work of Pierre Huyghe. She has previously worked at Bétonsalon - Centre d'Art et de Recherche. She also develops independent projects as a curator and art critic.

Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung is a Cameroonian curator, author and biotechnologist. He is the founder and artistic director of SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin and the artistic director of Sonsbeek 20-24. He is also the artistic director of the 13th Rencontres de Bamako and a lecturer in the Spatial Strategies MA programme, Weissensee Academy of Art, Berlin. From 2023, he will assume the role of director of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin. 

Institutional members of the selection committee:

Eva Nguyen Binh, President of the Institut français Matthieu Peyraud, Director of Culture and Soft Diplomacy at the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs François Quintin, Delegate for Visual Arts, General Directorate for Artistic Creation at the Ministry of Culture.