INFERNO

Considering the visitors to date, we are certain to exceed 475.000 visitors with an increase of 8% (440,000 the total figure in 2011). 28.386 people have visited the exhibition during the last week of October that greatly exceeding the 20.424 visitors of the preview days. Young people and students represented 31,75% of total visitors. The students who visited the Exhibition in groups represented 21% of the public.

“This chapter has come to a close with very positive quantitative and qualitative results – states Baratta. Very positive quantitative results are useful, firstly, because they allow us to satisfy those who believe that the task of cultural institutions is increasing hotel reservations—and this was most certainly the case. However, these results are also a sign of a highly significant evolution in terms of quality, our primary concern. Some time ago we began a specific research with regard to the people visiting la Biennale to contribute to the critical and cultural enrichment and sophistication of increasingly broad groups of visitors and young people.”

“One element stands out, adds Baratta: those who still only attend la Biennale ’s more social Vernissage and draw false conclusions, must now acknowledge that we recorded more visitors in three weeks in October than in the opening week. After the opening five days of the exhibition, the yachts all departed and the following six months were characterised by the presence of the backpack crowd. Many of those who came for the pre-opening returned to visit a second and third time; this is another important element, which makes our glorious Vernissage no longer the paradise but the purgatory of super experts in the field.”

“La Biennale is a research laboratory – concludes Baratta. It is thus important that attendance records were reached without giving in to the clamour and approximations typical of self-celebrating events.”

On his side, Massimiliano Gioni said: “The Encyclopedic Palace is an exhibition that tells the impossible desire of knowing and seeing everything: it’s an exhibition that collect the adventures, tales and the histories of many individuals that – often in solitude – have tried to create a code, an image of the world, that could capture its richness. Many of them – like Marino Auriti from whom, for the title of this edition of the Biennale, we have borrowed the title of his work – have failed to reach their dreams because they worked in solitude. I had the luck to work with a talented team, with a great institution, with brilliant colleagues and collaborators, with the support of many generous donors, and with so many artists who have accepted the invitation to exhibit at the Biennale with great enthusiasm and generosity. Therefore, if I was able to build this imaginary museum we call Biennale, this year’s Palazzo Enciclopedico ( Encyclopedic Palace ), I owe it to so many talented fellow adventurers who helped me throughout this journey.” “The success of visitors of this edition – ends Gioni – shows that art is something we do together and is a part of many people’s lives.”

The numbers of the Exhibition
161 artists from 38 countries
88 National Participations
10 countries participating for the first time: Angola, Bahamas, Kingdom of Bahrain, Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, the Republic of Kosovo, Kuwait, Maldives, Paraguay, Tuvalu and the Holy See.
4 countries hosted in the new pavilions restored by the Biennale in the Sale d’Armi at the Arsenale: the Holy See, Argentina , South Africa and United Arab Emirates .
47 Collateral Events (they were 37 in 2011) promoted by international organizations and institutions held in different locations in Venice .