60th VENICE BIENNALE: Art Event of the Year – Apr 20 to Nov 24, 2024

Alongside the main event at the Giardini and Arsenale, galleries, private foundations, and artists take advantage of the mega art event to present both group and solo shows throughout the city.

When I look at the Instagram stories of my friends these days, I see gondolas and water taxis everywhere against the stunning backdrop of the famous lagoon city of Venice — the magical place where the entire art world flocks for the Art Biennale.

The 60th Venice Biennale goes into its 130th year in 2024 and has taken place biennially since 1895. This edition is titled “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere.”

In the summer of 1895, the first Venice Biennale opened its doors, immediately igniting a scandal that made it famous — a painting by Giacomo Grosso caused nationwide controversy and drew record crowds.

This year’s edition invites over 300 artists and is a kaleidoscope of the contemporary art scene, spanning the Giardini, Arsenale, and countless parallel exhibitions across the city.

Every edition sees intense competition for the Golden Lion, the award for the best national pavilion — a prize that can shape a country’s cultural identity on the global stage, as it did for Germany's pavilion in 2001.

Venice itself, built on more than 100 small islands, has been central to art history for centuries — from Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese in the Renaissance to St. Mark’s Basilica and the palaces of the Grand Canal.