55th Venice Biennale: Ghosts of Art History and Contemporary Imagination

The 55th Venice Biennale features a reenactment of Harald Szeemann's 1969 exhibition "When Attitudes Become Form" at Fondazione Prada, curated by Thomas Demand, Rem Koolhaas, and Germano Celant. The show overlays the floor plan of Bern's Kunsthalle onto Ca' Corner della Regina, mixing original works, reproductions, and absent pieces marked by dotted lines. Massimiliano Gioni's Palazzo Enciclopedico explores contemporary imagination and the invisible. Tino Sehgal won the Golden Lion for his performance on knowledge transmission. Camille Henrot received the Silver Lion for a video shot in Washington museum archives. Six African nations participated, including Angola and Côte d'Ivoire for the first time. Angola's pavilion, "Luanda Encylopedic City" by Edson Chagas, won the Golden Lion for best national participation. Jeremy Deller's UK pavilion presented a sensual and fierce vision of contemporary England through folk art.