With a Record 89 Countries, Venice Biennale to Kickoff Europe’s Art Summer This Weekend

VENICE (AP).- The Venice Biennale contemporary art fair kicks off Europe’s summer of art this weekend. This year’s edition of the art fair held every two years is curated by Switzerland’s Bice Curiger, who titled the show: “IllumiNations.” Curiger said in an interview on the Venice Biennale website that she wanted to tie the exhibit she curates in Venice’s Arsenale with the national pavilions nearby. “I began to reflect on the institution of the Biennale, and that is how I found the name IllumiNations, which refers to the fact that we are in Venice, and light is an old theme of art, and nations refers to the situation of the national pavilions,” Curiger said. A record 89 countries will have national pavilions at the 54th Biennale, including for the first time Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Malaysia and tiny Andorra. Curiger is seeking to unite the often eclectic and anachronistic national pavilions in Venice’s shaded Giardini with the main exhibition by posing questi

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