Katharina Fritsch’s elephant welcomed visitors to the main exhibition
(Picture: Katharina Fritsch)The 59th Venice Biennale is underway at last, and it’s a brilliant one. . Among the major, splashy presentations by the usual suspects (pop into the classiest retail space in Venice, the Olivetti store on San Marco, to see drawings and sculptures by Antony Gormley and Lucio Fontana; or head to the Accademia if you’re a fan of Anish Kapoor) overall it has a progressive, forward-looking feel, full of the work of female and gender non-conforming artists and concerned with how we might live in the world as it is becoming, how we might care more, uplift more, protest more.
Though there are a number of fantastic exhibitions among the national pavilions this year, there’s also a lot of rather underwhelming stuff - they’re rarely the best things to see among the, honestly, God knows how many shows on display, so below I’ve picked 15 things to see this year if you’re visiting Venice and fancy getting to grips with a bit of contemporary art amid all the ancient beauty.
