ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the political, artistic and bureaucratic history of Australia’s 35 years of exhibiting at the Venice Biennale without its own pavilion through the gracious gestures of the Biennale authorities, leaning heavily on other nations who had pavilions that enabled Australian artists to store work and prepare materials for exhibition. The Venice Biennale has been seen as the most enduring contemporary art event in the world: ‘it is not only a demonstration of art’s contextual shifts. Not only was the Venice Biennale a window on modern and contemporary visual art but it carried spatial emphasis or status afforded to the venues in which the work was installed. Behind the scenes, the president of the Biennale was concerned about Australia’s commitment to the 1954 Biennale, especially seeing that Australia had declined an invitation in 1952. Despite the success of the 1954 Biennale, Australia again failed to take up the opportunity to exhibit in the 1956 Biennale in its own right.
