According to declarations of curator Ralph Rugoff, quoted in various media after the release of the list of artists, some key aspects of this year's Biennale are:

The Central Exhibition will feature only 79 artists - all living artists.

It will be divided into two separate shows, one at the Arsenale, and one at the Central Pavilion in the Giardini. Both "Propositions" will include all artists, exhibiting very different kinds of works.

One aspect in focus will be the "post-truth era" of our times, and how artists deal with the so-called alternative facts, creating spaces for complex thinking and multi-level discourses.

It is expected that there will be a lot of painting in this Biennale, besides of film/video, spatial and digital works.

The title of the 58th International Art Exhibition is taken from a [supposedly] Chinese saying referring to periods of uncertainty, crisis and turmoil; "interesting times," exactly as the ones we live in today.

Curator Ralph Rugoff about his concept:
"At a moment when the digital dissemination of fake news and 'alternative facts' is corroding political discourse and the trust on which it depends, it is worth pausing whenever possible to reassess our terms of reference. The 58th International Art Exhibition will not have a theme per se, but will highlight a general approach to making art and a view of art’s social function as embracing both pleasure and critical thinking. Artists who think in this manner offer alternatives to the meaning of so-called facts by suggesting other ways of connecting and contextualising them."

Curatorial statement