Venice is a city as enigmatic as it is romantic, and as famous as it is artistic. This city promotes art on all scales. By delving into the magic of its streets, you can discover unimaginable places. It is a city full of shows, festivals and exhibitions. One of the exhibitions that exalts the artistic spirit of this city is the Biennale di Venezia or Venice Biennale, the most famous art exhibition in the world, which disseminates and promotes contemporary art in all disciplines: visual arts, architecture, cinema, dance, music and theatre.
Founded in 1895, this exhibition was consolidated in the 20th century, and currently has several festivals: the International Festival of Contemporary Music, the International Theatre Festival, the Venice International Architecture Exhibition, the International Festival of Contemporary Dance and the International Film Art Festival.
The exhibition will run from Saturday 22 May to Sunday 21 November 2021, and will feature 213 artists from 58 countries, 79 national pavilions and 31 collateral events, which will take place in the Central Pavilion (Giardini) and the Arsenale. While the Republic of Cameroon, Namibia, Nepal, the Sultanate of Oman and Uganda will participate for the first time, the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will have an individual pavilion.
In addition, the artists Katharina Fritsch from Germany and Cecilia Vicuña from Chile will receive the Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement. Each of the festivals takes place at a historic venue in Venice. For example, the Biennale of Art and Architecture takes place in the main part in the Gardens, where pavilions from different countries are set up in addition to the central exhibition.
The International Film Art Festival, on the other hand, takes place in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on Venice’s Lido.
This Biennale will revolve around three main themes: the representation of bodies and their metamorphoses; the relationship between people and technologies; the connections between bodies and the Earth. As in previous editions, the whole city will be transformed into a large art centre on stilts, further exploring its themes in parallel events, identifying others, finally questioning the link between reality and artistic production.
Daniel Rodriguez Merino