The Venice Biennale is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of its kind. The main exhibition held in Castello, in the halls of the Arsenale and Biennale Gardens, alternates between art and architecture. The other events hosted by the Foundation—spanning theatre, music, and dance—are held annually in various parts of Venice, whereas the Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido.
In the art world, a Biennale, Italian for "biennial" or "every other year", is a large-scale international contemporary art exhibition. The term was popularised by the Venice Biennale, which was first held in 1895, but the concept of such a large scale, and intentionally international event goes back to at least the 1851 Great Exhibition in London.
The Herzliya Biennial of Contemporary Art was an art biennial event held in the city of Herzliya, Israel.
Emily Jacir is a Palestinian artist and filmmaker.
Sigalit Landau is an Israeli sculptor, video and installation artist.
Nirith Nelson is a contemporary art and design curator and art educator. She is the art director of the Residency Program of the Jerusalem Center for the Visual Arts.
Orit Ishay is an Israeli artist working in photography, video and installation. She is also a lecturer in photography. Ishay's art examines the interrelation between man and place and possible systems of representation, while addressing questions pertaining to social and mental issues through temporal and spatial motifs. Her work is usually accompanied by theoretical research.
The Jerusalem Biennale is a contemporary art event which has taken place biannually since 2013. Exhibits are held in different historical and modern locations around Jerusalem, with a focus on where the contemporary art world and the Jewish world of content intersect. The Biennale is a stage for professional artists whose work references Jewish thought, spirit, tradition or experience, to exhibit their work in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Biennale is a member of the Biennial Foundation, together with more than a 100 Biennales from around the world.
Sharon Yaari is an Israeli photographer.
Servet Kocyigit is a Turkish-Dutch visual artist based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Michael Sgan-Cohen was an Israeli artist, art historian, curator and critic. His oeuvre touches different realms of the Israeli experience and the Hebrew language, displaying a strong connection to the Jewish Scriptures. His works were nurtured by his extensive knowledge of Art history, philosophy, Biblical Texts, Jewish thought and Mysticism, which in turn illuminated all these pursuits. His engagement with Judaism and the Bible as a secular scholar and his vast knowledge of modern and contemporary art contributed to the development of a distinctive approach which combined Jewish and Israeli symbols and images to create a multilayered and contemporary artistic language.
The Angolan pavilion, representing the nation of Angola, has participated in the Venice Biennale since 2013. As one of the biennial international art exhibition's national pavilions, Angola mounts a show in a Venetian palazzo outside Venice's Giardini. The first Angolan pavilion, which featured the photography of Edson Chagas, became the first African national pavilion to receive the biennial's top prize, the Golden Lion for best national pavilion. Chagas displayed poster-sized photographs of resituated, abandoned objects and weathered architecture in the Angolan capital of Luanda. Reviewers praised the interplay between the photographed subject matter and the Italian Renaissance artwork that adorned the hosting palazzo's walls. The 2015 Biennale hosted a group show of five Angolan artists on themes of intergenerational dialogue.
Rami Maymon is an Israeli artist.
Smadar Sheffi is the Chief Curator of the Contemporary Art Center, Ramle – CACR. She is an art critic, researcher of contemporary art and culture, and independent curator. Over past years, she has gained vast experience in curating exhibitions in historical structures, among them the Bialik House Museum, Jerusalem Artists House, Contemporary Art Center, Ramla-CACR, and the Pool of the Arches, Ramla. Dr. Sheffi’s bilingual blog of art criticism and notes on contemporary culture, The Window, has been active since 2012.
The Israeli pavilion houses Israel's national representation during the Venice Biennale arts festivals. Jewish Israeli artists first participated in the 24th Venice Biennale in the Erez Israel, Artisti Palestinesi pavilion. Israel first participated in the 25th Venice Biennale in 1950.
The Jerusalem Biennale, as stated on the Biennial Foundation's website, "is a platform for professional curators and artists to present contemporary works that relate, in one way or another, to the Jewish world of content. Every two years, a growing community of artists, art lovers, collectors, writers, researchers, and social activists gather in Jerusalem to celebrate Contemporary Jewish Art and to enjoy a variety of exhibitions, projects, site-specific installations and events under this conceptual framework."
The Jerusalem Biennale, as stated on the Biennial Foundation's website, "is a platform for professional curators and artists to present contemporary works that relate, in one way or another, to the Jewish world of content. Every two years, a growing community of artists, art lovers, collectors, writers, researchers, and social activists gather in Jerusalem to celebrate Contemporary Jewish Art and to enjoy a variety of exhibitions, projects, site-specific installations and events under this conceptual framework."
Ram (Rami) Ozeri is the founder and director of the Jerusalem Biennale. He was born in Jerusalem.
Shahar Tuchner is an Israeli artist who works primarily in video, sculpture, painting and installations.
Michael Liani is an Israeli artist, photographer, video artist and editor, and art lecturer who lives and works in Tel Aviv. He has won several awards, including two from Israel's Ministry of Culture and Sports, Docaviv festival and the International Photography Contest at Paris College of Art. His creations have been displayed in dozens of museums and galleries.
