Entang Wiharso, Crush Me (detail), 2013, Pearl Lam Galleries, Shanghai

The Biennale’s main exhibition, entitled Il Palazzo Enciclopedico (the Encyclopedic Palace), takes its theme from an 11-foot-tall architectural model built by self-taught artist Marino Auriti in the 1950s. Auriti conceived the work as a model for a museum that was intended to house all of the knowledge in the world, an appropriate reflection of the giant international scope of the Biennale today. Gioni’s incarnation amasses works by over 150 artists from 38 countries, which span over the past century. The diverse represented artists range from Contemporary heavyweights, such as Bruce Nauman (American, b.1941) and Rosemarie Trockel (German, b.1952), to emerging and self-taught figures, including James Castle (American, 1899–1977). The Encyclopedic Palace also offers a show within a show, organized by Cindy Sherman (American, b.1954), who sets sculptures by Paul McCarthy (American, b. August 4, 1945) and Charles Ray (American, b.1953) alongside works by Norbert Ghisoland and Phyllis Galembo (American, b.1952).

Christopher H. Martin, Ordos, The McLoughlin Gallery, San Francisco, CA

The vast main exhibition is presented along with national pavilions from 88 countries, 10 of which are exhibiting at the Biennale for the first time. Many of the national exhibitors expand on the Encyclopedic Palace’s themes of reflection and accumulative density, embodied in Sarah Sze’s complex assembled installation of everyday objects at the United States pavilion. The Biennale institution itself is memorialized at the Romanian pavilion, where five dancers act out artworks from biennales in previous years. Angola’s award-winning show is located in the Palazzo Cini, where paintings by Renaissance masters such as Bernardo Daddi (Italian, 1512–1570) and Sandro Botticelli (Italian, 1444–1510) are juxtaposed with large-format photographs by Edson Chagas, which are stacked and available to take away.