Venice Biennale

Venice Biennale, international exhibition of contemporary art held every two years from June to November in Venice, Italy. Founded in 1895, its earliest incarnation was as the International Exposition of Art, held at the Castello Gardens to the east of St Mark’s Cathedral. Festivals of music, cinema, and theatre were added in the 1930s as the Biennale grew in scale. Interrupted by World War II, it resumed in 1948, acquiring a reputation as the leading world forum for the avant-garde.

Biennial awards, the most prestigious of which is the Golden Lion, are made by an international jury to the living artists judged to have made the greatest contribution to modern art. Previous winners include Henry Moore (1948), Raoul Dufy (1952), Shiko Munakata (1956), Hans Hartung (1960), Louise Bourgeois (1999), and Richard Serra (2001). The awards were suspended in the aftermath of the May 1968 political uprisings but were later reinstated (see Italy: History).

The art festival has traditionally been organized into international pavilions set up in the Castello Gardens, with selected artists representing each nation. However, in 1997 a new exhibition Future, Present, Past juxtaposed established and upcoming artists of different nationalities in the Italian pavilion and the exhibition complex in the nearby Arsenal. Additional exhibition spaces are employed in palaces, churches, theatres, and museums throughout the city. Today an associated biennial festival of architecture is also organized on alternate years to the visual arts, as well as annual festivals of dance, music, and theatre, and film.