Art and Culture
Italy
The Biennale of Venice
by Andreea
Since 1895, multi-disciplinary today
MORE THAN A CENTURY OF HISTORY
The Venice Biennale, which has its offices
at Ca’ Giustinian (San Marco, 1364/A),
has been for over a century one of the
most prestigious cultural institutions in
the world. Ever since its foundation in
1895, it has been in the avant-garde,
promoting new artistic trends and
o r g a n i s i n g i n t e r n a t i o n a l e ve n t s i n
contemporary arts. It is world-beating for
the International Film Festival, for the
International Art Exhibition and for the
International Architecture Exhibition, and
continues the great tradition of the
Festival of Contemporary Music, the
Theatre Festival, now flanked by the
Festival of Contemporary Dance.
A consolidated success over the years
THE ORIGIN
The birth of the Venice Biennale
Headed by its mayor, Riccardo Selvatico,
the Venetian City Council passed a
resolution on 19th April 1893 to set up a
biennial exhibition of Italian art, to be
inaugurated on 22nd April 1894. However,
the event took place in 1895, two years
later than it had been planned. On 30th
April, the 1st International Art Exhibition
was inaugurated.
The Venice Biennale is world-beating for
the International Film Festival, for the
International Art Exhibition and for the
International Architecture Exhibition, and
continues the great tradition of the
Festival of Contemporary Music and of the
International Theatre Festival, flanked in
the last ten years by the Festival of
Contemporary Dance.
This year, the Encyclopedic Palace
presented a unique exhibition by the
Central Pavilion at the Giardini and the
Arsenale with works from the beginning
of the last century and now, with many
new productions, including more than 150
artists from from 37 nations. The
exhibition was supported by 88 National
Pa r t i c i p a t i o n s , w i t h 1 0 c o u n t r i e s
participating for the first time, and 47
Collateral Events , promoted by
organizations and institutions , and
organized in a number of locations in the
city. The title chosen by the curator
Massimiliano Gioni for the 55th
International Art Exhibition is The
Encyclopedic Palace . Massimiliano Gioni
has introduced the choice of theme
evoking the self-taught artist ItaloAmerican Marine who Auriti ” November
16, 1955 filed with the U.S. Patent Office
for its projects Encyclopedic Palace , an
imaginary museum that would
accommodate all the knowledge of
mankind , collecting the greatest
discoveries of the mankind , from the