Manchester Pavilion

Back by popular demand, the first ever pavilion to represent a city at the Venice Biennale of Visual Art will open on 12 June 2003. Housed in a fully functioning bar in the Dorsuduro district of Venice, the Manchester Pavilion extends and develops the pavilion model by being fully licensed, open late and exhibiting no art.Building on Manchester’s enviable international reputation for a lively and distinctive nightlife, the Manchester Pavilion fills an essential role within this year’s Biennale by providing somewhere to go after 10.00pm in an otherwise early-to-bed Italian city. It also reminds people that Manchester is a centre of contemporary art production whose artists show in galleries and museums around the world (which is great).The Manchester Pavilion is all you want from an art space. It’s cool, central and free, as well as offering some respite for tired eyes. It’s the perfect meeting place to link up with friends and colleagues from around the globe. It also serves delicious ciabatta sandwiches with fresh Parma ham and does a nice house red. Visitors are welcome to drop in at any time during opening hours to join other art world revellers in the essential Biennale activities of socialising and drinking! This initiative has been continued by Pavel Büchler, Nick Crowe, Kathy Rae Huffman, Graham Parker and Martin Vincent. The Manchester Pavilion runs for the entirety of the 50th Venice Biennale, after which time it will revert back to its earlier incarnation as Osteria de Codroma.www.manchesterpavilion.org Venezia, DorsudoroFondamenta Briati, 2540Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 8.00am to midnightSunday 9.30am to 2.30pm Saturday closed (except 14 June, open 10.00am to midnight)