After years of absence, a specific venue has been dedicated to Italian art: this edition of the Biennale Art marks the debut of the new Italian Pavilion, a result of the collaboration between DARC – General Direction for Architecture and the Contemporary Arts of the Ministry for Culture and the Fondazione la Biennale di Venezia, in the attractive space of the Tese delle Vergini at the Arsenale, which presents two one-man exhibitions curated by Ida Gianelli.

Again in the area of Italian art, this edition celebrates the return of the Venice Pavilion to its city – an initiative of the Regione Veneto, the Comune and the Provincia di Venezia – to promote artistic creativity in the region in relation to international contexts: the debut exhibition, curated by Luca Massimo Barbero, Chiara Bertola and Angela Vettese, is a tribute to Emilio Vedova.

The 52nd Exhibition constitutes the synthesis of a survey that extends beyond the frontiers of world art: not only towards rapidly evolving artistic languages, but also towards figures, countries, and trends emerging in lesser-known areas of the globe, which otherwise remain marginal to the more consolidated art world. To this end, artistic director Robert Storr has chosen to host the national Pavilion of Turkey at the Artiglierie in the Arsenale along with an exhibition that represents the contemporary art of Africa - Check List Luanda Pop from the Sindika Dokolo African Collection of Contemporary Art (Luanda, Angola) – with a project selected by a panel of experts he himself chaired - which becomes a veritable African Pavilion as a tribute to an entire continent that remains relatively unknown in artistic terms.

This edition is also complemented by a selected programme of 34 collateral events – another record participation for the 52nd Exhibition – which, thanks to the active support of international cultural institutions, presents exhibitions, workshops, projects and conferences on art that take place within the city of Venice, and represent a major cultural potential which the Biennale di Venezia lays open to the entire world. The venues are dotted around the city centre and also on the islands of San Servolo, San Lazzaro degli Armeni and Sant’Erasmo. While most of the events are promoted or represented by non-Italian promoters and artists, many Italian institutions and artists are also represented, including a one-man exhibition dedicated to the winner of the Premio Giovane Arte Italiana organised by DARC – General Direction for Architecture and the Contemporary Arts of the Ministry for Culture at the Sala Marceglia in the Arsenale.

Created in 1928, the ASAC – Archivio Storico delle Arti Contemporanee of the Biennale di Venezia, is a permanent division for research and cultural production specialising in the field of contemporary arts. Strongly linked to the 112 years of history, to the image and the significance of the Biennale in the world, the ASAC acquires, preserves, catalogues and publicises its collection of archive documents, photographs, films, records, audio-visual material, press clips, books, pamphlets, magazines, music scores and works of art. During the 1970s, it was the finest multimedia library in Italy.

Now the Foundation has undertaken to revitalise it, and in the area installed in the Spazio Fonderie at the Arsenale, transformed into a venue for discussions and lectures during the vernissage and exhibition, ASAC presented the work that was begun in late 2004: the venues, the restoration of paintings, sculptures and artists’ videos; the exhibitions; the database and the cataloguing, the books and the seminars.