The Venice Biennale, a massive contemporary art exhibition that takes over the city from May to November every two years, is basically the Super Bowl of the art world. It’s a glitzy spectacle that brings together work from boundary-pushing contemporary artists from all over the planet. This year’s edition is titled “May You Live in Interesting Times,” and focuses on artists who are working in a variety of media and challenging viewers to reconsider their perspectives. It’s a beautifully curated, diverse, genuinely exciting show. But here’s the thing: there’s an overwhelming amount of stuff going on.
The Biennale itself is split between two main venues, the Arsenale, a massive former shipyard, and the Giardini, a leafy garden at the edge of the city. Each venue has one main exhibition hall, where work by the artists invited by this year’s curator are displayed, and multiple national pavilions, where participating countries select an artist (or group of artists) to represent what they’ve defined as their most significant contribution to the contemporary art discourse of the moment. On top of that, there are even more national pavilions scattered around the city. And then there are all the collateral events—often just as exciting, if not more so—at museums, palazzi, pop-up spaces and commercial galleries from Giudecca to Castello.
In a city that’s already infamously difficult to navigate, planning a visit can feel more than a little daunting (even to a reporter with multiple lists, a decent sense of direction, very comfortable walking shoes, and a relatively strong grasp of the local language). We broke it down: here’s how to see as much of the good stuff as possible, while maintaining your sanity, no matter how much time you have.
If you have half a day
One cool thing about this year’s Venice Biennale is that all of the 79 invited artists have work on display in both of the main exhibition venues. So if you only want to spend a few hours checking things out, pick one of them and skip the national pavilions altogether. The Giardini is a bit more accessible, in terms of both content and scale. There’s a hologram by Danh Vo that seems to bend the laws of physics, a stunning video piece by Arthur Jafa, and lots of thoughtful, intimately scaled installations, like the crocheted and beaded coral reefs by Christine and Margaret Wertheim. The Arsenale is enormous, and contains some of the show’s more out-there work, like an interactive virtual reality experience by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (worth the wait, seriously) and a delightfully unhinged video installation by Alex Da Corte.
If you have one full day
This is where being highly strategic is key to your Biennale success. Get to the Giardini right when it opens at 10 a.m. and go straight to the French pavilion, under which the artist Laure Prouvost dug a tunnel to the neighboring British pavilion, a visceral political gesture that had people lining up for up to an hour during previews. Then, do a quick visit to the Japanese, Nordic, and British pavilions before making the rounds at the main exhibition hall.
At this point, depending on how solid your breakfast was, you may be tempted to stop for lunch. If you’re not feeling it yet, grab a coffee and a snack at one of the fine-not-amazing cafés you’ll pass on the way to the Arsenale (it’s about a 10 minute walk from one entrance to the other) just so you have a little extra fuel. If you’re starving, head to Al Covo, a low -key restaurant that serves classic Venetian seafood and exceptional vongole, and is about a five minute walk from the Arsenale entrance.
Once you get to the Arsenale, hit the main pavilion first. (If you haven’t had lunch at this point, there’s a surprisingly good café located right at the end of it that serves light-but-nourishing fare like main course salads and *spaghetti al pomodoro*.) Then, continue through the national pavilions lined up immediately after it (Ghana, a first-time Biennale participant this year, is particularly amazing) and spend some time walking around the waterfront grounds and hanging out in the sunny patch of grass next to Tomás Saraceno’s soothing sound installation. Finish the day at the Lithuanian Pavilion, in an old military building a short walk from the Arsenale grounds. The winner of this year’s Golden Lion award, it’s a surreal 13-person opera performed by what appear to be people suntanning on a giant beach installation made of sand imported from the Baltic Sea.
If you have 36 hours
Repeat the above for day one. Then, spend the second day checking out a few of the most buzzed-about collateral exhibitions, beginning in Santa Croce, which is home to the fabulous Palazzo Venart hotel, and making your way down to the tip of Dorsoduro (all on the Southwestern side of the Grand Canal). Start at Ca’ Tron, where the Future Generation Art Prize showcases 21 immensely talented artists under 35, including the Lithuanian video artist Emilija Škarnulytė. It’s about a five minute walk from there to Ca’ Corner Regina, the Venetian headquarters of the Prada Foundation, where a retrospective of Arte Povera artist Jannis Kounellis has filled the crumbling palace with installations involving blowtorches, cacti, and live music.
Make your way south, and stop for lunch at Trattoria Antiche Carampane (another seafood-heavy Venetian spot with delicious fried zucchini and a rustic vibe) before continuing onward to the Gallerie dell'Accademia, where they’re exhibiting work by a living artist for the first time: large-scale portraits and lovely art historical drawings by the German painter Georg Baselitz. Take the vaporetto to San Giorgio Maggiore and start in the church, where the artist Sean Scully constructed a monumental felt sculpture in the nave. Don't miss his contemplative water colors, tucked into a side room on the left. Next door, at the Cini Foundation, check out the show devoted to Alberto Burri's warped plastic and cracked gesso paintings. If you have any stamina left, finish up at Punta Della Dogana, where "Luogo e Segni," a group show, includes heavy hitters like Louise Bourgeois and Roni Horn alongside relative newcomers like Hicham Berrada.
If you have three days
Follow the above for days one and two. Then hit the exhibitions on the other side of the canal, starting with the Luc Tuymans show at Palazzo Grassi, where the artist has created basically the opposite of the Damien Hirst show that took place there two years ago, with faded and blurred paintings in soft grays and washed-out pinks, and a site-specific mosaic installation on the ground floor. Stop for a quick lunch of fried *moeche* crabs, grilled octopus and potatoes at Bacaro Da Fiore, just off of Campo Santo Stefano, before continuing on to Palazzo Grimani, where massive color-washed paintings by Helen Frankenthaler contrast with the building's ornately painted interiors.
Other quick tips
There are so many more things happening all over the city. If something catches your eye en route from one place to another, dip your head in. You never know, it could be a fun revelation. Don’t even think about wearing heels. You will regret it. Use the *vaporetti* to get to and from the main venues. Try and get a solid breakfast in your system before leaving your hotel. Take photos of the wall text next to work by artists that you liked, to jog your memory later. Once you’ve seen so much of it, it’s really easy to forget what’s what, and having a photo with their name and info makes for an easy reference. Most importantly, enjoy the spectacle of it all, and don’t forget to stop for a spritz or two along the way.
A note on hotels
Your best bet is to stay in or near San Marco, which puts you pretty much in the middle of everything (and is long-ish but not an unpleasant walking distance from both of the main venues). We love the boutique-y Hotel Flora and Casa Flora, or if you're splurging, go for the Gritti Palace.
