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The Italian American artist Marino Auriti (1891−1980) conceivedof Il Enciclopedico Palazzo del Mondo (The Encyclopedic Palace ofthe World), a museum of mankind’s greatest achievements in allfields of art, technology, and science, after his retirement as anauto mechanic. The planned 140-story mega-skyscraper, soaringup to the staggering height of 2,300 feet, was designated to belocated on the Mall in Washington, DC. Auriti’s palace, however,was never built. After having been shelved for decades, the modelof the building finally found recognition as a unique utopianvision in the collection of the American Folk Art Museum in NewYork. Auriti’s Palace will serve as a conceptual blueprint forMassimiliano Gioni’s core exhibition, Il Palazzo Enciclopedico/ TheEncyclopedic Palace, at this year’s 55th Venice Biennale [June 1−November 24, 2013]. Gioni (b. 1973, Busto Arsizio, Italy) is based inNew York and is an art critic and curator. He is associate directorand director of exhibitions at the New Museum of ContemporaryArt in New York and has already realized a number of major exhibitionsand biennials. He also has a reputation for assuming apoetic, often explicitly literary stance in his presentations of contemporaryart.In his latest endeavor as the Venice Biennale’s youngest artisticdirector thus far, Gioni intends to remain true to his fondnessfor collapsing the boundaries between artworks and artifacts,and between cultural contexts, formal genres, and historical eras.He previously employed this method as curator of the 8thGwangju Biennale in 2010, which centered on the epic poemManinbo (10,000 Lives), written by the South Korean author andpro-democracy activist Ko Un after his release from imprisonment.As a method of survival, the poet envisaged all the peoplewho were important to him in his life. Addressing the interrelationshipsbetween images and the crucial ways we engage withthem, Gioni’s Gwangju Biennale featured works of art alongsidemasks, idols, dolls, figures, and other artifacts.For his International Art Exhibition at the 55th VeniceBiennale, spanning the two venues of the Central Pavilion in theGiardini and the spaces of the Arsenale, Gioni plans to draw uponthe cross-cultural notions and interdisciplinary dynamics representedby the baroque concept of the curio cabinet orWunderkammer (chamber of wonders). In fashion in Europebetween 1600 and 1800, the Wunderkammer transcended theborders of time, space, and aesthetic categorization, representinga “theater of the world” wherein the various spheres of naturePalace of PropositionsBeyond the boundariesof space and time:Massimiliano Gioni’sdual-venue exhibitionThe Encyclopedic Palaceat the 55th Venice Biennale, 2013TEXT / BELINDA GRACE GARDNERINSIDE FRONT COVER: Melvin Moti, Eigenlicht, 2012, 35 mm film [courtesy the artist and Meyer Riegger] / ABOVE: Marino Auriti, in situ view of the artist with The Encyclopedic Palaceof the World, c. 1950s, wood, plastic, glass, metal, hair combs, model-kit parts, dimensions unknown [photographer unidentified; collection of the American Folk Art Museum, NewYork; courtesy of Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte la Biennale di Venezia]ARTPAPERS.ORG 49