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Venice Biennale

Has anyone "gone" to the Venice Biennale?

I'm not quite understanding how I would attend. Is it art installations all over Venice that anyone can see or are there specific tickets and locations?

Thank you in advance!

Melissa

Posted by
438 posts

There are two major locations covered on one ticket: Arsenale and the Giardino nearby whose name I can't now remember. That site has displays set up by many different countries (some who have permanent structures), where Arsenale seemed to be more by individuals than countries. It was all very modern, some good and some meh. This is where I found out that I don't like most digital art, but it's still interesting and a nice break from the usual museum/church stuff.

There are also individual exhibits around Venice that I think we're all free. Across the water at San Giorgio Maggiore, for example, had some art set up inside the church and in a nearby building. There was a program available to tell you where everything was located. And they had some other events associated with it. I went to a concert of some very modern music which was a mix of very strange and fascinating. I wasn't sorry to have picked that over Vivaldi, etc

If I were to go again, I'd probably skip the ticketed section and just see the free stuff, but I'm not sorry I went. It's interesting if you're open to modern art and seeing something different.

Posted by
388 posts

KKC, thank you! That's what I was thinking...or hoping, that there is open/free stuff. I've seen the picture of the hands coming out of the water on the venetian building. I wonder if the TI office has a map of where all the art installations are that I can pick up.

Thanks for your response!

Melissa

Posted by
1297 posts

Hi Melissa,
It depends when you are going. 2017 is an Art Biennale, 2018 is Architecture, 2019 is Art etc.

The two main venues, as noted above, are the Giardini and the Arsenale. A combined ticket for the two is about 30 euro, and to really see both venues, you would need the best part of two days.

Outside those two venues, there are something like thirty or fourty collateral exhibitions, and most but not all of them are free. They are all over Venice.

There is a permanent Biennale office near the Piazza. Exit the Piazza to your west along Salizada San Moise. The Biennale offices are down either the first or second street on your left. They will give you a free guide that shows all the venues around Venice.

I am not so much an art freak, and architecture is more my thing. I spent two weeks in Venice last September, doing archi Biennale things, and loved it.