Venice Biennale 2013 Photo Diary: Day 2 And 3 (PHOTOS)

A lot has happened in the past 48 hours in Venice. On Wednesday, the Berlin-based artist known as Peaches performed to a packed crowd on Lido, the Russians made it rain gold coins on women holding umbrellas, Jesper Just took on immigration at the Danish Pavilion, and the Brits –- led by Jeremy Deller -- focused on war at home and abroad.

Everywhere we turned Big Ideas were on view at the Biennale. Shary Boyle’s dramatically dark installation of marginalized female forms at the Canada Pavilion entranced viewers, while Tavares Strachan’s fraught tribute to Matthew Henson, an early 20th century black explorer, made us further reconsider the idea of travel and discovery. The Pavilion that shook us the most, though, was South Africa. Zanele Muholi spent a decade photographing black lesbians in the country, and the results offer viewers a glimpse into the lives of women who are often erased in history books.

See what’s on view in the slideshow below: