Emily Carr
David Milne
Goodridge Roberts
Alfred Pellan
Bertram Charles Binning
Paul-Emile Borduas
Jean-Paul Riopelle
Jack Shadbolt
Louis Archambault
Harold Town
James Wilson Morrice
Jacques de Tonnancour
Anne Kahane
Jack Nicols
Edmund Alleyn
Graham Coughtry
Jean-Paul Lemieux
Frances Loring
Albert Dumouchel
Elza Mayhew
Alex Colville
Yves Gaucher
Sorel Etrog
Ulysse Comtois
Guido Molinari
Michael Snow
Gershon Iskowitz
Walter Redinger
Greg Curnoe
Ron Martin
Henry Saxe
Colin Campbell
Pierre Falardeau &
Julien Poulin
General Idea
A.A. Bronson
Felix Partz
Jorge Zontal
Tom Sherman
Lisa Steele
Paterson Ewen
Ian Carr-Harris
Liz Magor
Melvin Charney
Krzysztof Wodiczko
Roland Brener
Michel Goulet
Genevieve Cadieux
Robin Collyer
Edward Poitras
Rodney Graham
Tom Dean
Janet Cardiff &
George Bures Miller
Jana Sterbak
Rebecca Belmore
  • The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861; Venice was united with the kingdom in 1866.

• The Venice Biennale was founded in 1893 by a resolution of the City Council.

• The first art exhibition took place in 1895.

• Canada began participating in 1952.

• 2005 marks the 51st Edition of the Venice Biennale.

• The 51st Edition will take place June 12—November 6, 2005

• 73 Nations will participate

• 23 collateral events

• For the first time in the history of its 110 years two female Directors, María de Corral and Rosa Martínez, have been invited to curate the Biennale. Both are art historians, critics and independent curators from Spain. The exhibition will be composed of two specific and complementary shows that will offer an articulated yet harmonized reading of international contemporary art from the Seventies through today.

• The Canada Pavilion was designed and built in 1957-58 by a Design Team from Milan (Belgioso, Peressutti & Rogers)

• Canada first participated in the Venice Biennale in 1952 and was commissioned by H.O. McCurry, Director of the National Gallery of Canada, and featured the work of Emily Carr, David Milne, Goodridge Roberts & Alfred Pellan

• Until 1988, institutions other than the National Gallery were not eligible to commission the show

• Rebecca Belmore is the 58th artist and the first Aboriginal woman to be selected to represent Canada

• She is the 9th woman to represent Canada in the history of our participation

• This is the second time in the history of Canada’s participation that a university gallery and a small regional gallery have commissioned the show.

• History changed when Winnipeg based Plug In, in collaboration with the Walter Phillips Gallery commissioned the show and for the first time in Canadian history won a prize at the Biennale with the work of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller.