The 55th Venice Biennale is under way, bringing together international artists working in diverse media for one of the art world's biggest events. The title of this year's exhibition is "The Encyclopedic Palace," a reference to a 1955 work by Italian-American artist Marino Auriti, who created a model of an enormous museum that would theoretically house all human knowledge. The Biennale's artistic director, Massimiliano Gioni, said that the choice of theme represents "the impossibility of capturing the sheer enormity of the art world today." The art on display ranges from abstract sculpture and light installations to works with powerful political and religious themes. (Photos by Dmitry Volchek, RFE/RL's Russian Service)