After seven months full of showcases with more than 1,500 works of art by 218 artists from 58 countries, the 2022 edition of the Venice Biennale has come to an end. Although it took place against the backdrop of seismic international events, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the show attracted a staggering number of visitors: more than 800,000, plus another 22,500 who attended the various previews.
The record figure represents a 35% increase compared to 2019 ticket sales, although the fair ran for 197 days in 2022, instead of 173 that year. More impressively, the visitors – of whom 59% were foreign and 41% Italian – made the trip amid pandemic-related travel restrictions.
In addition, the fair’s official Instagram account has gained more than 136,000 new followers since the opening of the 2022 edition in April, with the most popular post featuring an image of Golden Lion winner Cecilia Vicuña.
Curator Cecilia Alemani took to social media to thank the participants and reflect on the obstacles she faced in organizing the event. “It’s been a very long journey that has taken us through a pandemic, a brutal war, and a collective sense of uncertainty,” she wrote. “Organizing this exhibition under such circumstances was a great adventure, but not without obstacles and complications.”
Alemani organized the event remotely, conducting hundreds of virtual studio visits with artists, most of whom were unable to visit the site ahead of time. “Nobody knew if the artworks would make it to Venice in time,” she said.
Most of the artworks did, in fact, arrive, and both the main exhibition — “Milk of Dreams,” heavily weighted with female artists and surrealist works — and the national pavilions were heralded as overwhelming successes. As Alemani wrote in the catalog, “Despite the climate that created it, this is an optimistic exhibition that celebrates art and its ability to create alternative cosmologies and new conditions of existence.”
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