The Venice Biennale 2018 closed to the public yesterday after six months in operation. Curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, the Biennale was titled FREESPACE and celebrated “generosity, thoughtfulness, and a desire to engage.”
With the exhibition closed, the organizers behind the Venice Biennale have released an impressive roundup of statistics related to the event, demonstrating the Biennale’s role as one of the most influential events in the architectural calendar.
In total, the 2018 exhibition welcomed over 275,000 people, marking a 6% increase on the 2016 edition. Half of those who visited were under 26 years of age, demonstrating a rise in youth interest in the festival, while 27% of those visited did so in groups.
Below, we have rounded up some other impressive figures from the Biennale, quantifying the exhibition in terms of participants, educational outreach, and social media influence.
The Numbers
- 71 Architects invited to the Exhibition
- 2 Special Sections
- 63 National Participations
- 29 National Participations in the historical Pavilions of Giardini
- 24 National Participations in the Arsenale, including Italy
- 10 National Participations around the city of Venice
- 6 National Participations for the first time: (Antigua & Barbuda, Saudi Arabia, Guatemala, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Holy See)
- 2 Special Project: Applied Arts Pavilion, in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Forte Marghera Special Project in Mestre
- 12 Collateral Events
Educational Engagement
- 160 affiliated universities (50 Italian universities, and 110 universities across all continents)
- 5,730 university students involved in the Biennale Sessions project
- 50,467 participants in educational activities and guided tours
- 33,347 young people and students participated in educational activities
- 17,120 adults and public organized in groups have participated in guided tours
- 103 students from 9 Italian universities involved in the “Alternanza Scuola Lavoro” internship program.
Web and Social Media
- 4000 accredited journalists
- 1,226,384 unique visitors to the official Biennale website
- 1,962,334 sessions on the official Biennale website (563,296 on smartphone, 545,196 on desktop, 73,063 on tablet
- 341,720 Facebook fans, increasing by 14,656 since the 2018 opening
- 701,559 Twitter followers, increasing 80,559 since the close of the 2016 event
- 297,907 Instagram followers, increasing 80,000 since the 2018 opening
News via: La Biennale di Venezia
