Photo Diary: The 2013 Venice Biennale

Every two years, Venice's dramatic canals serve as a theatrical backdrop to the Biennale's international art. This year, for the festival's 55th edition, artists from over 80 countries displayed work in national pavilions like the Giardini della Biennale and the Medieval Arsenale, as well as in various spaces throughout the city.

At the Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace)'s collective exhibition this year, curator Massimiliano Gioni presented a new generation of contemporary artists like Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie Fitch to contrast with the classical feel of Venice's art. Another highlight was Antoni Tàpies' exhibition at the Gothic Palazzo Fortuny, where the artist's paintings and sculptures were displayed alongside Renaissance works and tribal pieces.

The Biennale placed Venice in the present, further shifting the city from theater to reality. See more highlights from the fair below!

Rudolf Stingel at Palazzo Grassi

Sarah Sze's installation outside the United States Pavilion

Inside the United States Pavilion

Henrik Olesen at the central exhibition, Il Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace)

Kohei Yoshiyuki's photographs, taken in Tokyo's parks in the 1970's

Ellen Altfest's hyper-detailed paintings at Il Palazzo Enciclopedico

Uri Aran's Untitled installation

Photograph from Viviane Sassen's Lexicon series

Women collected raining gold coins at Vadim Zakharov's installation, Russian Pavilion

Jeremy Deller asked prisoners, many who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, to make drawings surrounding UN weapons inspector Dr. David Kelly's posthumous trial, British Pavilion