From Obsolete to Contemporary: National Pavilions and the Venice Biennale

For over a century, the Venice Biennale and its national pavilions have served as a platform for international artistic display. Despite the fact that national representation has been a pivotal aspect of the Biennale since the first pavilion was built in 1907, there is a lack of deep understanding of the nature of this model. The purpose of this article is to offer an historical account of the conceptual and material predicament of national representation at the Venice Biennale. The focus is directed mainly at the introduction in 1993 of a more transnational approach in the context of an increasingly interconnected and globalized world.