The Venice Biennale runs through November 24th. This biennial contemporary art festival sees each country select artists they believe best represent their country's current state of affairs. This year's Biennale, the 55th since its inception in 1895, sees 88 countries participating. This event, often referred to as the "Olympics of Contemporary Art," features national exhibits, large-scale themed exhibitions, and smaller exhibitions organized by various organizations scattered throughout the city. This year's exhibitions featured works by over 150 artists from 37 countries. This year's exhibitions, unlike recent trends that have featured large-scale installations by major artists showcasing the latest trends or works selected to showcase emerging artists, focused instead on the theme of "The Encyclopedic Palace." The theme was inspired by the "Encyclopedic Palace of the World," a fictional museum created in the 1950s by Marino Auriti, who fled Italy to the United States in the 1920s and created a museum that collected and exhibited all the knowledge in the world. Like Auriti's fictional museum, the museum gathered works by artists who dedicated their lives to the pursuit of "knowledge."

The exhibition was curated by Massimiliano Gioni, exhibition director of the New Museum in New York. Still in his 40s, he is the youngest curator in the history of the Venice Biennale.

As in previous years, the exhibition was held in two venues: the Arsenale and the Central Pavilion. "Encyclopedic Palace," directed by Gioni, features a selection of outsider art and works that are not categorized as "art" in the market, creating an exhibition that questions the current state of art, which is biased toward the "market."

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