Venice Art Biennale 2015

The 56th Venice Biennale "All the World's Futures", which started on May 9th, is still running until November 22nd, 2015.

The Venice Biennale is one of the most important international contemporary art exhibitions. Founded in 1895 by the Italian King Umberto I and Queen Margherita de Savoia, the exhibition was originally held solely in the Padiglione Italia at the Giardini, which was renamed the Central Pavilion in 2009. Since its expansion, the Giardini also hosts an additional 30 national pavilions, built by participating countries themselves. Everyone in the art world, it seems, descends on the city for this event for the art, the schmoozing, and the chance to travel to one of the most beautiful and art historically rich sites in the world. Here's a tip sheet on what to do when you get there.

This year there will be an unprecedented 136 artists representing 88 national participants in the 56th edition of the exhibition, in Venice. Of the works on display, 159 are specifically fabricated for the event and have never been exhibited before.

A new section called the ARENA will be introduced as interactive space within the Central Pavilion of the Giardini devoted to live exhibitions across an array of disciplines. The centerpiece of the events in the ARENA will be a reading of Karl Marx's Das Kapital, which will be read over the course of the seven months of the exhibition. Also taking place will be a temporary memorial for African American musicians, designed by architect David Adjaye, for composer Julius Eastman by Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, as well as a new performance work by Olaf Nicolai inspired by the tapes of Italian composer Luigi Nono.

The Arsenale, a former military complex for the Italian navy, is a place where visitors can view up to 200 young artists whose national origin is not represented in the permanent pavilions. This year's Arsenale exhibition will be curated by Okwui Enwezor and will feature works by artists such as Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla.