page_title: 56th Venice Biennale
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: 56th Venice Biennale / Overview
caption_attribution_description: Okwui Enwezor
context_page_description: The 56th Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held between May and November 2015. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Okwui Enwezor curated its central exhibition, "All The World's Futures".
context_section_description: The Biennale is the world's most prestigious art exhibition, an international show of contemporary art. It is a major event for art world cosmopolitans. The 56th Biennale began one month sooner than usual, and ran between May 9 and November 22, 2015. The opening coincided with the Frieze Art Fair in New York, which affected early attendance. At the 56th Biennale, 136 artists represented 88 nations. Nearly a third of the artists had exhibited in a previous Biennale. The 56th Biennale was the first for the newly constructed Australian pavilion, the 30th national pavilion in the Giardini, and the first in the new millennium. Kenya and Costa Rica both withdrew from this year's Biennale.
  Okwui Enwezor served as the 56th Biennale's curator, its first from Africa. His theme was "All The World's Futures". Enwezor created the Arena, an interdisciplinary space for live performance in Giardini's Central Pavilion. The Arena's main performance was a live reading of Das Kapital (Karl Marx). It also hosted a performance by Olaf Nicolai and a memorial for Julius Eastman. Enwezor also curated the Arsenale, a group exhibition for 200 artists without permanent national pavilions. Additionally, 44 events sanctioned by Enwezor ran in conjunction with the Biennale. The most common media throughout the Biennale were film, photography, and documents.
caption: Okwui Enwezor, the Biennale's curator and its first from Africa
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