Venice Biennale: How Does the Exhibition Work?

What is the Venice Biennale?

La Biennale di Venezia is a cultural institution founded in 1895, the year of its first International Art Exhibition. Today it has six sectors — art, architecture, cinema, dance, music and theatre —, but it is its International Exhibition, at the Giardini and the Arsenale, that people commonly call "the Biennale". This guide deals with that exhibition, devoted to the visual arts and architecture.

Its form is singular. At the centre, an exhibition entrusted to one or more curators appointed by La Biennale. Around it, the national participations: each country presents its own exhibition, in a permanent pavilion at the Giardini, at the Arsenale or in a venue in the city. Further out still, collateral events, put forward by institutions and selected by La Biennale, take over palazzi and churches.

It is this whole city, as much as the two main venues, that a private visitor comes for: the pavilions of the Giardini, the scale of the Corderie at the Arsenale, a pavilion discovered at the turn of a campo, a foundation on the Grand Canal, a dinner by the water. This guide shows how to compose it.

Art and architecture: an alternation worth knowing

For several editions now, the International Art Exhibition and the International Architecture Exhibition have alternated from one year to the next. Art takes the even years, architecture the odd years. As we write, the 61st International Art Exhibition is open until 22 November 2026; the next edition is devoted to architecture, in 2027, and art will return in 2028.

The 2027 edition at a glance

La Biennale di Venezia has entrusted the 20th International Architecture Exhibition to Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu, who founded the practice Amateur Architecture Studio in 1997. Its title, published by La Biennale, is "Do Architecture — For the Possibility of Coexistence Facing a Real Reality". The list of participating countries and collateral events for 2027 has not yet been published; as a point of reference, the 2025 edition brought together 66 national participations and 11 collateral events.

Giardini, Arsenale, and the whole city

The Giardini, at the eastern end of Castello, are gardens created at Napoleon's wish in the early nineteenth century. In 1907 Belgium built the first foreign pavilion there; some thirty permanent pavilions now stand there, around the Central Pavilion, which hosts part of the main exhibition. In 2025, 26 national participations were held there.

The Arsenale, the former shipyard of the Republic, has been an exhibition venue of La Biennale since 1980. The main exhibition unfolds there in the Corderie, a hall more than three hundred metres long rebuilt at the end of the sixteenth century, then in the Artiglierie, as far as the Gaggiandre, two covered slipways beside an inner basin. The Padiglione Italia and the Giardino delle Vergini close the route.

Beyond these two venues, other national participations — fifteen in 2025 — and the collateral events settle in the palazzi, churches and courtyards of the city. Discovering them is part of the experience; linking them without exhausting yourself takes a plan. Our guide What to See at the Venice Biennale? maps it out.

Planning your stay: accommodation, journeys, budget

Accommodation first: Venice is a city where the address decides everything, because every journey is made on foot or by water. Castello puts the Giardini and the Arsenale a few minutes away; the Grand Canal brings the city and the foundations within reach; the Giudecca offers calm, facing the city. Our guide Where to Stay During the Venice Biennale? compares the options one by one.

Journeys next: Marco Polo airport is about thirteen kilometres from the centre, reached across the lagoon; Santa Lucia station receives trains from Milan and the rest of Italy. Once there, vaporetto, water taxi and private boat with a pilot complement one another: our guide How to Get to the Venice Biennale? explains how it works. And finally the budget: it is set on a bespoke quote, element by element — address, period, length of stay, transport, boat, evenings, size of party.

And one rule that applies throughout: the opening weeks, in May, are in high demand. Summer and autumn leave more choice, and the late-season light on the lagoon has its devotees.

What to remember

The Venice Biennale 2027 is devoted to architecture: public opening from 8 May to 21 November at the Giardini and the Arsenale, pre-opening on 6 and 7 May for accredited visitors. Tickets are sold by La Biennale; accreditations cannot be bought from a third party. The private experience is composed across the whole city: pavilions, collateral events, foundations, fine tables, evenings through private channels subject to availability, all supported by logistics designed around the water. TGZ Conciergerie, an independent house based in Paris, with no affiliation with La Biennale di Venezia, the participating countries or the foundations, and with no official status, orchestrates the entire stay. Every stay is quoted on request, with availability and conditions confirmed before any commitment.