The International Art Exhibition of the City of Venice, as its inaugural edition in 1895 was known, was the first such event conceived as a global meeting. In 1907, the first national pavilion – Belgium’s – was built in Venice’s spacious Giardini, a public park at the eastern tip of the island. Over the next 25 years, many western European countries and the US followed suit, building their own permanent pavilions there.
For the next 50 years, fewer than 20 countries participated but that number rose after 1945 and again in the 1980s and 1990s. Soon the Giardini reached capacity and nowadays countries rent spaces in the old shipbuilding hangars of the Arsenale or around the city.
This year’s event, the 55th, is entitled The Encyclopedic Palace and curated by Massimiliano Gioni. Young and fresh artists abound but this year’s Golden Lions go to two European veterans, Marisa Merz, aged 83, and Maria Lassnig, 94.