A world of pure imagination

Imagine every time someone has told you that you absolutely must visit [insert name of major local art institution] to see an immersive installation from [insert name of major multi-disciplinary artist here] because they did such an amazing job transforming the space into a ecstatic fever dream birthed by the artist's singular vision and a generous grant from the Ford Foundation. The Venice Biennale is that times a hundred.

This post is meant to give a brief description of what the Biennale is (from my, admittedly, neophyte understanding), some tips on what worked well for our trip, and some specific pointers to parts of the larger festival that we especially enjoyed. I had somehow never considered going before and I'm very thankful to Yuva for suggesting we go! The festival runs from May to November, so there's still time to plan a trip if you're interested.

I will be overall vague with both photos and words when it comes to describing the particular pavilions because, for me, being delighted and surprised by ecstatic artistic experiences is one of my great joys in life. If you want more detailed photos, google is your friend (lies, google is no one's friend unless it temporarily benefits their business interests).

The Grand Pavilion

The Biennale itself consists of two central locations - Giardini and Arsenale, as well as 50-100 satellite exhibits around town - some of which are "official selections" of the festival, others of which are just happening at the same time because why not, the city is full of art lovers for half a year. Access to the two main venues requires ticketed admission - a three day ticket is 45 euro. The satellite exhibits are all free as far as we could tell, as are many of the unofficial satellite shows. The museums are ticketed like normal.

Map of satellite shows

Within Giardini are ‘National pavilions' - these are beautiful permanent buildings that various countries around the world have built over the past 100+ years, and return to every two years (most of the time - sometimes they go elsewhere and lend their pavilion to artists from other countries, like Netherlands did in 2022). Each country selects one artist (usually) to represent them, and then they seemingly drum up infinite budget to put on the aforementioned immersive shows. More on this later.

Additionally, there is a giant central exhibit at the "central pavilion" which is art from all over the world (both contemporary and historic) curated by that year's guest curator of the Biennale. This is the Biennale's definition statement from the team that runs it. This year, it felt like a museum show, apparently in other years it feels different. For us, it paled in comparison to the spectacles of the national pavilions.

Arsenale is a newer venue for the Biennale, which for the most part is where countries that don't have permanent pavilions rent space to stage (usually) smaller pavilions than the comparable ones at Giardini. Italy moved their national pavilion here permanently at some point, and this year China had a gigantic space in the back. It also has a curated central pavilion show to complement the one at Giardini.

Around town is a mix of (temporary) national pavilions that for whatever reason aren't in Arsenale or Giardini, (temporary) shows put on by museums and other cultural institutions, as well as shows put on by the permanent museums of Venice that choose to put on new curation to coincide with the festival.

We found it somewhat hard to make an iron-clad route to hit every satellite pavilion we wanted (especially because they are pretty spread out and, spoiler alert for the strange fairytale charm of the city, there are no cabs in Venice because of all the canals and stair-stepped bridges). But a great joy of walking around town, even with a pavilion destination in mind, was stumbling on installations we hadn't planned to see and having our minds blown by an ancient church that had been converted into a multi-disciplinary meditation on how excess has become a defining feature of capitalist society.

The sprawling satellite shows give the experience a bit of a SXSW vibe.

Venice is a ridiculous place

We spent three days in Venice, which is seems to be what people tend to recommend for a visit. One day at Giardini, one at Arsenale, and one to see shows around town. This worked out pretty well for us, but I still think that taking a full week, with a break from art in the middle to rest our eyes and minds, might have allowed us to enjoy even more.

We tried (and failed) to see every national pavilion at Giardini in one day. We saw maybe 80% of them, and that was being there 11am-7pm (the maximum opening hours!). The next day, the smaller magnitude of the shows at Arsenale felt like a bit of a let down. On our last day, we saw some satellite shows around town (including being turned away by the Holy See for not having tickets in advance) and then went back to Giardini to run clean-up on the national pavilions and to try to see the Central pavilion. We got something out of our return visit but honestly were a bit worn out by that point to really give the incredibly dense central show and Spanish pavilion the time they deserved. Hence why I'd suggest building in some down time, mid-week.

Food and lodging logistics

The strangest part of our trip was just how empty the Biennale was, as well as Venice itself. When I walked back through the central pavilion of the Arsenale at 6pm on Saturday, I was the only person in many of the rooms. There was never a line at any of the cafes or restaurants or entry points of the festival. We were genuinely surprised that in the height of summer, when Venice is experimenting with a ticketing system for tourists entering the historic part of the city, it felt so empty.

We stayed on the far east side of town, which meant we were about a fifteen minute walk from Giardini and about ten from Arsenale, and still only fifteen minutes from one of the tourist centers of town (San Marcos Square). The only downside to this was that we were on the complete other side of town from where much of the well reviewed and hip food was. Oh well, most of the food in Italy is, at a baseline, pretty good.

Via Giuseppe Garibadi is a long street in between Giardini and Arsenale that if you are trying to maximize art time during the day, you will likely find yourself making heavy use of. There are infinite wine bars selling cicchetti (small open faced sandwiches / large crostini) that are all fine. The standouts were foccia-style pizza at MAJER and a breaded meatball at Bar Pasticceria Baldo Emilio (a pub at the end of the street that feels incredibly "townie"). I got good vibes from Nevodi Pizzalab (confirmed by Reddit and google maps) but didn't get the chance to try it. It's also takeout only and not open for lunch. There's also a Coop supermarket and various butchers and bakeries if you want to pack a picnic lunch. The best sit-down meal we had in this neighborhood was at Trattoria Da Johnny.

There are also cafes inside both Arsenale and Giardini that, while nothing to write home about, are fine in a pinch (and, again, as above, surprisingly empty when we went)

Beware

Pro-tip: Always talk to the docents! If you like a pavilion, talk to the docents to deepen your understanding of it. If you don't like a pavilion, talk to the docents and the added depth might change your mind. If a pavilion seems like it should be a kaleidoscope of mechanical movement and multimedia visuals but isn't doing anything, talk to the docents! They might hit the soviet-era irrigation tractor with a wrench until the show starts up! (I think the docents might be very bored and relish the opportunity to talk to folks. Every time we engaged them, we were surprised by their kind passion and how long they spent walking us through the pavilions. We were really grateful when we did)

Satellite shows

Standouts

Particular tips for the satellite shows this year (that we know of! There's lots we missed!)

William Kentridge - Absolute delight. This is a series of nine half-hour short films put together by William Kentridge during COVID, being shown one after the other in a space that's vaguely designed to mimic the organized chaos of his studio. Kentridge comes off like the platonic ideal of the wizened old British grandpa who is going to challenge you on your conceptions of beauty and art, remind you to be a good person, draw the most beautiful painting you've ever seen and then give you a cookie. We vaguely considered staying here for half a day to see the entire series. The piece has been picked up by MUBI, so should theoretically be streaming some time this summer, but seeing it in the 'immersive' installation with lots of other folks who are also being charmed, delighted and laughing along with it made the experience very special. This one is super pleasantly convenient to both Arsenale and Giardini (note: it's at the "Arsenale Institute for Politics of Representation" which is different from the Arsenale) and opens an hour earlier than both.
The Holy See (Vatican) pavilion is getting a lot of buzz this year, it's in a new location (a former women's prison). It requires pre-registration (and showing your government ID when you get there) and appears to be selling out ~1 week in advance. Book accordingly! It's the only show we found that required registration.
Nebula ‘between film and art' show (it's video art) did a great job of making us want to sit and watch art films for longer than I normally want to in a white box museum context. They've taken over a church and built beautiful hallways and dark rooms to separate and focus the videos. Read the pamphlet, it helps with the pieces a lot.
Nigeria pavilion also seemed to be getting a lot of buzz but we sadly missed it :-( Also I think Korea and Taiwan? We missed both :-(
Bulgarian pavilion - come for the sensitive exploration of soviet-era prison-camp atrocities, stay for the talking refrigerator.
The street outside the entrance to Arsenale has a run of very good small shows that served as an incredible introduction to the entire experience. We got into town ~4pm so this was a great use of an hour without needing to start the clock on a 3-day Biennale ticket. Puerto Rico, Mongolia, Hong Kong, and an exhibit of e-waste sculpture from a (German?) museum by the artist Elias Sime were all spectacular.
Armenian - quiet show that was both strong visually and maybe even stronger for the excellent staging of the space.
Pinnault Collection at Dogana - This is such a strange show - I am still unsure quite what I think of it. But I'm still thinking about some of it, and the staging is super unique. It veers uncomfortably close to being a shallow collection of AI-ate-humanity art, but somehow mostly avoids this. There's no wall text at all (much of the museum is nearly pitch black) - make sure to read the program with a cell phone light to get much of the context - especially around the fish tanks. The vibe of the installation reminded me of this 'the humans are dead' short film by Bi Gan.

Mongolia Pavilion

Underwhelms

Josefa Ntjam - we saw a bunch of positive reviews of this but found it to be pretty trite. Underwater fantastical creatures with an early 2000s computer graphics aesthetic and some AI-washing.
Lithuanian pavilion ("Inflammation") - this was a retrospective of Pakui Hardware that we wanted more out of. The wall text talked a big game but we expected a more immersive experience (also we were tired)

Particular standouts from Giardini

If you visit Giardini, I imagine that you will stumble into most of these, but just to quickly highlight the ones that you can't miss.

Australia - won the Golden Lion (top award) at the Biennale. Super recommend getting the full story from the docents. Beautiful sensitive space.
Germany - The scale of this one is just incredible. I read some criticism of it that this is kind of the norm for Germany - giant, over the top build going over German guilt around Jews and immigrants. This year: Jewish space colonists and a memorial to the Turkish bodies that (re-)built Germany.
Serbia - Maybe my absolute favorite. Like stepping directly into the stage of a high concept theater production about colonialism and exploitation of labor and comforts. Immaculate
UK - Won the "Silver Lion for a Promising Young Artist" award. Maybe read up on Ezra Pound's The Cantos before you go? There is a lot of deeply layered symbolism in this sprawling video-art exhibit. But you can also just let it wash over you (like the gentle water throughline of the piece)
Egypt - Give this one 45 minutes to see the whole thing. It's a life-size video of a staged play that's a semi-historical account of an important flashpoint in Egyptian history. The stage sets have the feeling of an exquisite children's TV show.
Greece - I am still not quite sure what was going on here - the docent explained it to us as a celebration of rural festivals in Greece, but we felt a sinister overtone to the whole presentation. Worth experiencing. If the tractor is stuck, make sure you wait until they hit it with a wrench and restart the fun house.

Venice Pavilion (because I don't want to lessen your joy at seeing any of the awe-inspiring pavilions for the first time)

Swiss - Over-the-top drag-queen kitsch combined with a deep sci-fi-esque lore.
Spain - Make sure you have enough energy for this one before you go - it's almost a mini-museum unto itself. Requires lots of wall-text reading. But even zoned out, there's meaningful moments in it.
Netherlands - This one is one everyone's lips as far as I can tell. The Netherlands artist basically turned it over to an eco-activist / artist community in Congo. The short films are impactful, the art is dark, and the smell is overwhelming and powerful.

But, honestly, every pavilion has at least one moment of ecstatic beauty. We loved Japan and Scandinavia. The Canadian pavilion had a quiet beauty. The American pavilion was a let down but it's hard to argue with the bright colors of it, and the video at the end is a true joy.

More context

We really enjoyed listening to this podcast afterwards - The Week in Art - Venice Biennale 2024 special to get more of a sense of how the various exhibits fit into the history, legacy and trends of the Biennale. Had we stayed for longer with a gap in between, it would have been great to listen to this on the off days to get ideas of what art we could revisit with fresh eyes and more context.