Meet Eight Artists Reshaping the 59th Venice Biennale By Christopher Bollen “If this year’s roster of artists for the 59th Venice Biennale looks a little different than previous iterations of the longest-running survey of contemporary art on the planet, that’s because significantly—and finally!—the majority of the participating artists are women or gender-nonconforming. That much-needed burst of energy is thanks largely to this year’s curator, Cecilia Alemani, who stacks the deck in favor of artists exploring identity, subversive states of being, technology, and an aesthetic rebuff to the tired tropes of straight white males of yore. “The artists in the show portray a world where everyone can change, be transformed, become something or someone else—a world set free,” Alemani explains.  “The show looks at art and artists as travel companions, who can help us imagine new modes of coexistence.” To celebrate this sense of freedom, we spotlight eight artists showing their work this spring in the most beautiful city on the planet.”