Looking for expert advice on how to get the most out of your visit to the 60th Venice Biennale? Amid the opening of the prestigious art exhibition, ARTnews caught up with some of the festival’s former directors. Below they offer tips on how to navigate the city, their curatorial experiences, and what they’re looking forward to at this year’s edition. megahoki88

Cecilia Alemani

Photo of Cecilia Alemani.

Photo : Photo Andrea Avezzù/Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

Italian curator Cecilia Alemani was artistic director of the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. The theme, “The Milk of Dreams,” was taken from a children’s book by Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington. Developed amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the show considered the sciences, arts, and myths via three central themes: the representation of bodies and their metamorphoses, the relationship between individuals and technologies, and the connection between bodies and the Earth. The extraordinary circumstances that caused the Biennale’s one-year postponement inevitably entered the conversation as we grappled with the uncertainties of this time. megahoki88

For the 60th edition of the exhibition, Alemani suggested a few tips to make the trip that much more enjoyable for newcomers and art world veterans alike. First and foremost, “bring comfortable shoes” for all the walking required to experience the festival. In particular, she encourages visitors to “walk around the walls of the Arsenale”. Second, being in a water-logged city, “get used to the vaporetto routes and timetable” by “download[ing] the app Chebateo” (meaning “What boat?”). Regardless of whether you use Venice’s public water bus, she adds, “get ready to get lost”—perhaps the best tip to properly exploring any city.

When attendees get hungry, Alemani suggests sampling “some cicchetti in Campo Santa Margherita” or “a tramezzino in Via Garibaldi”. And when needing a break from the art, Alemani relaxes by “go[ing] to the Lido and sit[ting] on the beach reading Death in Venice“, the 1912 novella by German author Thomas Man. At the end of a long day, she recommends “buy[ing] some slippers (“friulane”) at Piedaterre in Campo Santo Stefano”.

Before you head home, don’t forget to check out other seminal works, including “Tintoretto at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco”.

For this year’s edition, Alemani is most looking forward to seeing “some great art from around the world, lots of surprises and artists I don’t know, some amazing venues for the collateral events, and lots of friends!” megahoki88