The 50th Venice Biennale

The Biennale di Venezia presents the 50th International Art Exhibition, directed by Francesco Bonami.

Dreams and Conflicts; The Dictatorship of the Viewer.

This year's Biennale di Venezia's 50th International Art Exhibition presents an "exhibition of exhibitions" throughout the spaces of the Arsenale, the historic Giardini della Biennale, the Museo Correr in San Marco, and various projects within the city of Venice to be included in the section Interludes, making it bigger than any previous Biennale Exhibitions.

Francesco Bonami has strived to exploit the unique nature of the Biennale di Venezia's exhibition structure in order to organize a major international exhibition that takes into consideration the diverse characteristics of the world of contemporary art. To achieve this, the exhibition will be composed of different projects (like islands in an archipelago), each with its own identity and autonomy.

The viewer-reader of this map will thus be able to build upon each of these singular contemporary artistic experiences. Indeed, there will be no beginning and no end but various locales with different visions and concepts used as tools to tackle a contemporaneous voyage.

At the Museo Correr, in collaboration for the first time with the Musei Civici Veneziani and the Biennale di Venezia, Francesco Bonami will curate an exhibition dedicated to painting from 1964 to the present. Pittura/ Painting will include more than 40 works by leading proponents of contemporary art who have previously exhibited at the Biennale di Venezia, sharing a part of its vital history.