Spring is here, and that means the publicity blitz for the year's biggest art event — the 54th Venice Biennale, set for June 4 to November 27 — is getting under way in earnest. The list of artists has been announced, along with statements outlining the ambitions of curator Bice Curiger, who has given her International Pavilion show the rather cringe-inducing title "ILLUMInations," meant to stress the power of art in a global context (that's pronounced "Illumi-nations"), as well as evoke Walter Benjamin, Rimbaud, and medieval manuscripts.

So, what to expect? Curiger, an art historian and critic who has worked at Kunsthaus Zurich, suggests that her show will focus on "the intuitive insight and the illumination of thought that is fostered by an encounter with art and its ability to sharpen the tools of perception." Though her selection gravitates towards young artists, she declares that contemporary art "no longer cultivates the pathos of anti-art," and that she will somehow incorporate the works of Venetian Old Master Tintoretto into the show to ground it. She also declares that the "Age of Enlightenment also resonates in 'ILLUMInations,' testifying to the enduring vibrancy of its legacy" — a pronouncement that is sure to rankle the more unreconstructed deconstructionists among the art critics.

For his part, Biennale president Paolo Baratta issued his own rather eccentric statement, comparing the Biennale to "a great pilgrimage" and "a wind machine." He states that Curiger had been explicitly charged with creating a "boundless" exhibition, though it is not immediately clear what this means. Finally, noting that the modern Biennale took form in 1999 when it was curated by Harald Szeemann, who like Curiger hails from Zurich, Baratta teases the show by revealing, "Some friends describe these 12 years of the Biennale like 'the happy travel from Harald's beard to Bice's cherry red lipstick.'" What?

But what about the artists? There are 82 included in "ILLUMInations" in all, of which an unimpressive 32 are female, for those who keep score. The list contains a fair number of figures who are already favorites of other international art spectacles — Omer Fast, Urs Fischer, Katharina Fritsch, Cyprien Gaillard, Klara Lidén, Christian Marclay, Philippe Parreno, Seth Price, Pipilotti Rist, and Josh Smith, to name a few.

Original work on the theme of "ILLUMInation" will be created for the show by Monica Bonvicini, James Turrell, Nicholas Hlobo, Norma Jean, R.H. Quaytman, Haroon Mirza, Loris Gréaud, Carol Bove, Gelitin, Dayanita Singh, and Christopher Wool. Finally, Curiger has tasked Monika Sosnowska, Franz West, Song Dong, and Oscar Tuazon with creating what are being called "parapavilions" — artist-designed architectural structures — to host other artists' works.

Here, in alphabetical order, is the full list of artists:

– Giorgio Andreotta Calò
– Meris Angioletti
– Nairy Baghramian
– Yto Barrada
– Elisabetta Benassi
– Birdhead
– Monica Bonvicini
– Mohamed Bourouissa
– Carol Bove
– Gerard Byrne
– Mariana Castillo Deball
– Gianni Colombo
– Martin Creed
– DAS INSTITUT and Kerstin Brätsch
– Guy de Cointet
– Gintaras Didžiapetris
– Song Dong
– Trisha Donnelly
– Shannon Ebner
– Latífa Echakhch
– Ida Ekblad
– Omer Fast
– Urs Fischer
– Peter Fischli & David Weiss
– Llyn Foulkes
– Luca Francesconi
– Katharina Fritsch
– Cyprien Gaillard
– Dani Gal
– Ryan Gander
– Gedewon
– GELITIN
– Luigi Ghirri
– David Goldblatt
– Jack Goldstein
– Loris Gréaud
– Nicholas Hlobo
– Karl Holmqvist
– Bruno Jakob
– Norma Jeane
– Rashid Johnson
– Annette Kelm
– Gabriel Kuri
– Elad Lassry
– Klara Lidén
– Christian Marclay
– Fabian Marti
– Nathaniel Mellors
– Asier Mendizabal
– Haroon Mirza
– Jean-Luc Mylayne
– Shahryar Nashat
– Navid Nuur
– Romen Ondak
– Nicolás Paris
– Philippe Parreno
– Mai-Thu Perret
– Amalia Pica
– Giulia Piscitelli
– Sigmar Polke
– Seth Price
– R.H. Quaytman
– Nick Relph
– Pipilotti Rist
– Marinella Senatore
– Cindy Sherman
– Dayanita Singh
– Josh Smith
– Monika Sosnowska
– Frances Stark
– Sturtevant
– Anya Titova
– Rosemarie Trockel
– Oscar Tuazon
– James Turrell
– Emily Wardill
– Rebecca Warren
– Corinne Wasmuht
– Andro Wekua
– Franz West
– Jeanne (Johanna) Natalie Wintsch
– Christopher Wool

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