The catalogue of the 49th Venice Biennial: 400 contemporary artists, seen through works, photographs, installations, videos and critical texts.
[The Venice Biennial. 49th International Art Exposition / Platea dell’umanità – Plateau of Humankind – Plateau der Menschheit – Plateau de l’humanité] The 49th Venice Biennial represents one of the most important events of art and culture of the year 2001. From June to November the area traditionally set aside for the show in the Castle Gardens expands into the spaces of the Arsenal, to welcome 400 contemporary artists from all over the world. “This year the Biennial is a ‘Plateau of Humankind’, a place toward which we look and from which we are observed, a place in which the audience is spectator, protagonist and the measure of things, a place of encounter between artist, work and viewer.” With these words Harald Szeemann, director of the 49th Venice Biennial, sums up the idea of the event as a platform and mirror of humanity, a place of intense dialogue.
The catalogue edited by the curator devotes its first volume to an overview of the artists in the international exhibition. All the projects – sculptures, works on paper, photographs, installations, video images – are reproduced and accompanied by short critical texts. The second volume contains the contributions of the national participants and the collateral exhibitions organized in Venice during the Biennial.