venice

The Venice Art Biennale – Where the World Comes to Imagine

Visitors of the Venice Art Biennale of 2011.

Every other years, Venice transforms into a living map of contemporary art. The Biennale, founded in 1895, stretches across the city — from the historic pavilions of the Giardini to the vast halls of the Arsenale and countless palazzi scattered along its canals. It’s not a single exhibition but a city-wide conversation, where artists, curators, and visitors explore what art can still say about the world.

Each edition has its own theme, but the real magic lies in the contrasts: quiet installations beside theatrical spectacles, digital dreams across from centuries-old frescoes. National pavilions show pride, politics, and poetry side by side. Venice itself, half sinking and half eternal, adds its own commentary — a reminder that beauty and fragility often walk together.

The Biennale isn’t about answers. It’s about curiosity — about stepping into rooms that challenge, delight, or disturb, and leaving with more questions than before. In a city built on reflections, that seems perfectly fitting.

Holy Sightseers

A group of Asian nuns on St. Mark’s Square, Venice (Italy).

Even nuns are tourists. Across Europe, they travel in small, smiling groups — cameras in hand, guidebooks tucked beneath their habits — tracing the footsteps of saints and centuries. On Piazza San Marco in Venice, amid selfie sticks and pigeons, their quiet laughter blends with the crowd’s hum. Faith meets curiosity; devotion meets delight.

Two Souls in Awe of Venice

Two Asian girls in Venice.

We came from far across the sea,
 With phones and dreams and time for tea,
 Each bridge, each boat, each golden dome,
 Feels like a story far from home!

 Oh, life is full of wonders, see —
 From gondolas to gelat-i!
 We click, we pose, we laugh, we cheer,
 Europe feels like magic here!

 The pigeons dance, the waiters smile,
 We’ve walked in style for half a mile,
 We tilt our heads, the photo’s right —
 Two wandering souls, what a sight!

 Oh, life is full of wonders, see —
 From bridges old to the wide blue sea!
 With selfie-sticks and joy so clear,
 Europe feels like magic here!

 So if you see us grin and spin,
 Just smile — and let the cameras in!