For the first time in the 110-year-long history of the Venice Biennial, the artistic direction of the international exhibition was headed by two people and for the first time ever by women in 2005. The Spaniards María de Corral and Rosa Martínez were presenting two independent exhibitions which complement one another, and artworks they showed spanning from the 1970s up to the present, including new works created especially for the Biennial.