The Venice Biennale has opened with nearly 100 national pavilions spread across the Giardini, the Arsenale and venues throughout the city, demanding both stamina and discernment from visitors. This year’s edition has already been marked by controversy after the awards jury resigned amid tensions over whether countries involved in wars should be eligible for prizes, prompting organizers to promise a public vote instead.

Austria’s pavilion has drawn some of the longest lines with Florentina Holzinger’s flooded performance spectacle featuring nude performers, a jet ski and audience participation, sparking debate about environmental damage and tourism. The Vatican has created a contemplative garden experience with site-specific music by experimental composers, while Canada has transformed its pavilion into a glowing hothouse centered on a giant Amazonian water lily and its colonial history.

Elsewhere, Japan’s interactive installation invites visitors to carry baby dolls through a meditation on parenthood and memory, Belgium stages a raucous ritual of smashing plaster tablets, and Peru presents intricate geometric paintings rooted in Indigenous Amazonian traditions. In one of the most politically charged episodes, South Africa shuttered its official pavilion over a dispute about a work honoring victims of violence, though the piece is now being shown independently in a Venetian church to powerful effect.