Various versions of Harald Szeemann's concept of the »Plateau of Humankind« can be found in the different publications of the Biennale. Here is an excerpt from the Biennale-Guide:
The term »platea« has several meanings in Italian: a raised surface; a base and foundation; a platform. The Visual Arts Biennale as a platform of humanity. This is the idea. In the 1950s an exhibition entitled Family of Man travelled around the world. We would like to reconnect to this at the beginning of the new millennium, but the chances of all individuals constituting a family are not promising, despite the faith in globalisation and the breaking down of all kinds of walls. Each day new conflicts are born - for ethnic, religious or political reasons - which give rise to wars. Today's artists react differently to those of a decade ago: they no longer make sporadic assertions of their own identity, but appeal to what is eternal in man, on the basis of local rootedness ...