The Venice Biennale Against the Art Fair: Operational models and rhetoric strategies for an unlikely differentiation

Abstract

This chapter analyses the organisational development of the Venice Biennale from its inception in 1895 to the first quarter of the twenty first century, in order to assess its role and function towards the art market and, particularly, towards the art fair. The study argues that until well into the second half of the twentieth century, there were only few differences between the Biennale and an art fair, both at an organisational level and regarding display modes. Indeed, the original aim and function of the International Art Exhibition in Venice mimicked both the Secessions in Middle Europe and the world fair by help of prizes and national pavilions, thus providing an institutionalised venue for the display and trade of artworks also facilitated by a sales office active until the early 1970s. A more distinctive differentiation only emerged during the last decades when the Venice Biennale failed with several attempts to reinstate its commercial arm and eventually assumed the role of a mere exhibition venue. Thus, the chapter claims that the extraordinary longevity of the Venice Biennale is due to its numerous institutional adaptions in the context of an evolving art system stretching over dozens of decades.