The seven artists contributing to the Nordic Pavilion are Adel Abidin (b. 1973) from Finland, Jacob Dahlgren (b. 1970) from Sweden, Toril Goksøyr (b. 1970) & Camilla Martens (b. 1969) from Norway, Sirous Namazi (b. 1970) from Sweden, Lars Ramberg (b. 1964) from Norway, and Maaria Wirkkala (b. 1954) from Finland. They have been invited by René Block, former director of Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany (1998-2006) and internationally acclaimed artistic director of exhibitions and biennials. He is the first curator in the history of the Nordic Pavilion who comes from outside the Nordic countries.

All the invited artists in this year’s exhibition draw upon ordinary life and their daily surroundings. When asking if René Block had a special concept in mind when planning the exhibition, he replies: “Actually, I didn’t start by designing an artistic concept, but concentrated much more on the space. The extraordinary Nordic Pavilion is probably the most beautiful, but also the most difficult space to gather artists’ works.”

By including artists from different national backgrounds, the exhibition emphasizes the fact that geographical maps and foundations of cultural identities are under re-formation today, also in the North. Interesting is also the fact that the six projects are produced by artists who didn’t know each other at all across the national borders. This emphasizes that the Nordic countries are not a homogenous entity where we could speak of certain particularities, similarities or sameness. However, interestingly enough, the non-Nordic curator has been able to pay a closer attention to the question of the Nordic society and culture than the standard ‘Nordic exhibitions’ have done so far.

Inside the Nordic Pavilion, there are the two Swedish artists, Jacob Dahlgren who is born in Sweden and Sirous Namazi of Iranian origin. Outside, on the outer walls on both sides of the building are the two contributions by artists of Norwegian origin, Goksøyr & Martens and Lars Ramberg. And framing the pavilion, almost like satellites, the two artists from Finland: in the depot of the pavilion Iraqi born Adel Abidin and in the Aalto Pavilion Maaria Wirkkala of Finnish origin.

The Nordic Pavilion has a focus on the performative character of the exhibits. This becomes very clear in It would be nice to do something political by Toril Goksøyr and Camilla Martens, where a "Black", thus an underprivileged person, is doing the never-ending cleaning of the glass window of the pavilion throughout the whole time period of the biennial. Jacob Dahlgren invites in his work I, the world, things, life the audience to use his dart boards and by throwing the darts to constantly change his work, while Adel Abidin’s travel agency ABIDIN TRAVELS – Welcome to Baghdad has specialized in vacation trips to Baghdad. In another way, Liberté, the work of Lars Ramberg that has been temporarily transferred to Giardini, is also performative: at the home grounds in the courtyard of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo the work has double function as a piece of art and public toilets. Also Container and Untitled, the sculptural installations of an unfolded garbage container or window and door structures by Sirous Namazi, can be characterized as performative works. All these works are at the same time traps into which the audience is allowed “to walk into”.

Maaria Wirkkala’s poetic installation is an important contrast in the collective appearance of the Nordic representation. The Aalto Pavilion, after a long time again becomes a room with an almost sacral charisma through her subtle and meditative work Landing Prohibited – Vietato Lo Sbarco.

In the course of building up the famous Nordic welfare society the Nordic countries have willingly wanted to give an impression of themselves as caring and helping nations in the global context. However, all Nordic countries have an increasing number of nationalists who are demanding that their own “borders” should be closed and striving to ensure that their part of the world retains its national sovereignty and economic privileges.The growing fear of the “other” divides people into “we” and “them”. Black immigrants cleaning the window outside the Nordic Pavilion are not allowed to get in the other side and participate in the popular recreational game of darts. This is a strong metaphor for confusion when confronting the question: How come these most affluent societies in world history practice policies which increase social polarization and nourish scare, cynicism, powerlessness and racism?

For René Block the titles of the exhibitions he has curated have always played a significant role in their attempt to crystallize his given approach. This time, he says, “the title intends to confuse: Welfare – Fare Well does not stand for the theme or concept, but is a motto. May welfare fare well! Unfortunately, however, ’fare well’ can also be understood as ‘farewell’, as in ‘goodbye’. I’d like to leave some space for individual interpretation.”

The joint Nordic Pavilion, designed by Sverre Fehn, was completed in 1962. This year also the Aalto Pavilion, designed by Alvar Aalto in 1956, is being used as a venue for the Nordic Pavilion exhibition. The Aalto Pavilion was initiated for the Finnish representation by Professor Maire Gullichsen (1907-1990), one of the major actors in the Nordic art life since the 1930s. This year is the centenary of her birth.

The Nordic Pavilion is organized and funded by the Nordic Committee for the Venice Biennial: FRAME Finnish Fund for Art Exchange / Director Marketta Seppälä; Office for Contemporary Art Norway / Director Marta Kuzma; Moderna Museet, Sweden / Deputy Director / Chief Curator Ann-Sofi Noring.

The responsibility for representation in each biennial alternates between the collaborative countries. In 2007 the hosting country is Finland.