Since 2012, the US government has put more than $US700 million...into supporting gay rights groups and causes globally. America's money and public diplomacy have opened conversations and opportunities in societies where the subject was taboo just a few years ago. But they have also made gay men and lesbians more visible - and more vulnerable to harassment and violence....

The theme this year is "All the World’s Futures." And in an introduction to the Biennale, the curator, Okwui Enwezor, writes, quote, "How can artists, thinkers, writers, composers, choreographers, singers, and musicians, through images, objects, words, movement, actions, lyrics, sound bring together publics in acts of looking, listening, responding, engaging, speaking in order to make sense of the current upheaval?" 

“In September, Conflict Kitchen announced it would serve Palestinian food and celebrate Palestinian culture,” The Washington Post reported, “This choice — a chance to sell familiar dishes such as hummus and falafel with the lesser known, such as ­rumaniyya, maftoul and namoura — turned into more than just a menu change.”