In Venice, the myth is often the map. The curated centrepiece may command the headlines, but anyone who has drifted between the Giardini and the Arsenale knows you must sift through a lot of “crap” to discover the underlying message of the theme and its push to boundaries. Up the narrow corridors, behind the eye-catching facade, across courtyards where flags flap optimistically against the current. Pavilions appear, disappear, resurface. Some feel solid. Others look as though they’ve been negotiated into being the night before.
The national pavilions remain the Biennale’s most persistent fiction. Art never behaves according to passport, and culture can’t be staged like athletics beneath a tidy banner. Medals of sorts are handed out, in the form of the Golden Lion, yet careers are quietly made or unmade here. The comparison to the Olympics is lazy, but it lingers because it contains a grain of truth.
Stability, though, is in short supply. Since 2024, geopolitics has exerted significant pressure on the exhibition’s diplomatic choreography. Wars in Ukraine and Gaza punctured the illusion of neutrality. Withdrawals were abrupt. Silences and statements. In 2026, that hasn’t settled.
Australia briefly cancelled its own pavilion before reinstating it after a very public backlash. Israel and Russia remain unresolved, their presence hovering somewhere between absence and ambiguity. The United States managed to cut through domestic gridlock to choose a very bland entertainment. This year is a reminder that even cultural muscle depends on paperwork and politics.
The central exhibition, In Minor Keys, was conceived by the late Koyo Kouoh, whose appointment was of curatorial gravity. Her death in May 2025 cast a shadow. The Biennale has chosen to continue with her framework, guided by a team of advisers. It’s a careful decision. Respectful, but not embalmed. The tone this year is more subdued.
Only nations with formal diplomatic ties to Italy receive official pavilion status. Others operate as collateral events, adjacent but not equal. It’s a bureaucratic distinction with real consequences: visibility, legitimacy, press oxygen.
What follows isn’t set in stone but more of a living document. Announcements are still coming in. A few may yet vanish. In Venice, that’s half the story.
Venice Biennale 2026: National Pavilions Plus Collateral Events – Artlyst Guide
Selected National Highlights
Albania
Genti Korini returns to questions of Eastern Europe’s shifting identity in A Place in the Sun, blending Albanian history with echoes of Polish experimental theatre. Małgorzata Ludwisiak curates.
Argentina
Matías Duville covers the floor in charcoal and salt for Monitor Yin Yang. Visitors will tread lightly across scorched landscapes rendered underfoot. Josefina Barcia oversees.
Armenia
Dealer Tony Shafrazi co-organises a pavilion for Zadik Zadikian, once assistant to Richard Serra. Expect abstraction with political undertones — and a certain New York swagger.
Australia
After cancellation and reinstatement, Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino arrive with hard-won resolve. The controversy may prove inseparable from the work itself.
Austria
Florentina Holzinger brings choreography into the pavilion with Seaworld Venice. Given her track record, it won’t be polite.
The Bahamas
Lavar Munroe exhibits alongside a tribute to the late John Beadle—a dialogue across generations, curated by Krista Thompson.
Belgium
Miet Warlop’s IT NEVER SSST promises theatricality edged with unease. Caroline Dumalin curates.
Brazil
Rosana Paulino and Adriana Varejão anchor Comigo ninguém pode, curated by Diane Lima. History, violence, resilience — none handled quietly.
Canada
Abbas Akhavan continues his excavation of national memory through objects and materials. A measured, intelligent choice.
Chile
Norton Maza’s water-and-sound installation Inter-Reality leans into Venice’s liquidity. Marisa Caichiolo curates.
Cyprus
Marina Xenofontos offers It rests to the bones, exploring how past rituals refuse to lie still.
Czech Republic & Slovakia
The Silence of Mr Mole turns a childhood mascot into a meditation on diplomacy and identity. Peter Sit curates.
Denmark
Maja Malou Lyse, the youngest Danish representative to date, promises to inject a dose of provocation. Sex appeal included.
El Salvador
Debuting nation. J. Oscar Molina addresses migration through vivid abstraction and QR-linked testimonies.
Estonia
Merike Estna transforms her pavilion into a working studio, painting on site for the duration.
Finland
Jenna Sutela may well introduce living organisms into the pavilion. Stefanie Hessler curates.
France
Yto Barrada, spare and politically alert, represents her adopted homeland with characteristic precision.
Germany
Henrike Naumann and Sung Tieu examine historical responsibility under the curatorship of Kathleen Reinhardt.
Great Britain
Lubaina Himid takes the helm — long overdue. Painting, history, Black British narratives, all reframed.
Greece
Andreas Angelidakis riffs on Plato’s Cave and contemporary spectacle in Escape Rooms.
Hong Kong
Angel Hui and Kingsley Ng focus on daily rhythms in a collateral presentation.
Hungary
Endre Koronczi’s Pneuma Cosmic contemplates air as both metaphor and matter.
Iceland
Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir explores language, belief, and friction in a newly relocated pavilion site.
Ireland
Isabel Nolan navigates cosmology and mortality, curated by Georgina Jackson.
Israel
Selected Artist: Sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru will represent the country. Fainaru, intends for his work to offer a message of “hope and human feeling”. Exhibition Title: The pavilion is titled Rose of Nothingness.
Italy
Chiara Camoni opts for intimacy over bombast in the cavernous Italian pavilion.
Japan
Ei Arakawa-Nash draws on family life and performance, refracting painting through lived experience.
Korea
Liberation Space by Goen Choi and Hyeree Ro considers historical rupture through a contemporary lens.
Kosovo
Brilant Milazimi becomes the country’s first painter representative, probing motion and stillness.
Latvia
An archival return: Untamed Fashion Assemblies revisited as unfinished experiment.
Lebanon
Nabil Nahas offers abstraction tinged with architecture and spirituality.
Lithuania
Eglė Budvytytė’s Warmblooded and Wingless unfolds across film and sound.
Luxembourg
Aline Bouvy continues her study of bodies in space.
Macedonia
Velimir Zernovski’s scaled Pietà wrapped in emergency blankets speaks plainly.
Malta
No Need to Sparkle invites doubt rather than dazzle.
Mexico
RojoNegro Collective engages ancestral memory and decolonial cosmologies.
Morocco
After a false start in 2024, Amina Agueznay finally debuts with woven precision.
New Zealand
Fiona Pardington marks a steady return after funding turbulence.
The Netherlands
Dries Verhoeven turns unease into performance.
Nordic Countries
Kristalova, Orlow, and Wrånes blur the boundaries between folklore and contemporary myth.
Panama
Antonio José Guzmán and Iva Jankovic revisit the afterlives of the Panama Canal.
Peru
Sara Flores’s kené patterns carry Indigenous knowledge into the lagoon.
Poland
Liquid Tongues translates whale song into voice and sign language.
Saudi Arabia
Dana Awartani returns, now as national representative.
Serbia
Predrag Đaković’s appointment continues to stir local debate.
Singapore
Amanda Heng, 73, brings decades of performance history to Venice.
Spain
Oriol Vilanova’s vast postcard archive becomes an anti-museum.
Switzerland
Six artists collaborate on The Unfinished Building of Living Together.
Taiwan
Li Yi-Fan stages a satirical tech keynote as art.
Ukraine
Zhanna Kadyrova revisits a dismantled sculpture in Security Guarantees.
United States
Alma Allen’s late appointment followed administrative wrangling. His abstract forms now carry unintended political freight.
Wales
Manon Awst and Dylan Huw mark a return.
Zimbabwe
Second Nature | Manyonga gathers five artists around questions of survival.
As ever, Venice is less about who wins than who arrives — and under what circumstances. Some come with state backing and certainty. Others with doubt, argument, unfinished business. In 2026, the quieter tone may prove deceptive. Minor keys have a way of lingering.
The 2026 Venice Biennale artist list
Pio Abad (Born 1983, Manila, Philippines. Lives in London, UK)
Philip Aguirre y Otegui (Born 1961, Schoten, Belgium. Lives in Antwerp, Belgium)
Akinbode Akinbiyi (Born 1946, Oxford, UK. Lives in Berlin, Germany)
Laurie Anderson (Born 1947, Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA)
Fabrice Aragno (Born 1970, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Lives in Lausanne, Switzerland)
arms ache avid aeon: Nancy Brooks Brody (Born 1962, New York City, NY, USA, D. 2023); Joy Episalla (Born 1957, Bronxville, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA); Zoe Léonard (Born 1961 Liberty, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA); Carrie Yamaoka (Born 1957, Glen Cove, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA); fierce pussy (Founded 1991, New York City, NY, USA); Jo-ey Tang (Born 1978, Hong Kong, China. Lives in New York City, NY, USA)
Kader Attia (Born, 1970, Dugny, France. Lives in Berlin, Germany and Paris, France)
Sammy Baloji (Born 1978, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lives in Brussels, Belgium and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Ranti Bam (Born 1985, Lagos, Nigeria. Lives in Paris, France and Lagos, Nigeria)
Alvaro Barrington (Born 1983, Caracas, Venezuela. Lives in London, UK)
Éric Baudelaire (Born 1973, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Lives in Paris, France)
Sabian Baumann (Born 1962, Zug, Switzerland. Lives in Zurich, Switzerland)
blaxTARLINES KUMASI (Founded 2015, Kumasi, Ghana)
Beverly Buchanan (Born 1940, Fuquay, NC, USA. D. 2015)
Seyni Awa Camara (Born 1945, Oussouy, Senegal. D. 2026)
Nick Cave (Born 1959, Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in Chicago, IL, USA)
Carolina Caycedo (Colombian, born 1978, London, UK. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, USA and Caguas, Puerto Rico)
Annalee Davis (Born 1963, St. Michael, Barbados. Lives in St. George, Barbados)
BuBu de la Madeleine (Born 1961, Osaka, Japan. Lives in Nara, Japan)
Dawn DeDeaux (Born 1952, New Orleans, LA, USA. Lives in New Orleans, LA, USA)
Nolan Oswald Dennis (Born 1988, Lusaka, Zambia. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa)
Denniston Hill (Founded 2008, Glen Wild, NY, USA)
Bonnie Devine (Born 1952, Toronto, Canada. Lives in Toronto, Canada)
Godfried Donkor (Born 1964, Accra, Ghana. Lives in London, UK and Accra, Ghana)
Marcel Duchamp (Born 1887, Blainville-Crevon, France. D. 1968)
Edouard Duval-Carrié (Born 1954, Port-au-Prince, Haïtï. Lives in Miami, FL, USA)
Torkwase Dyson (Born 1973, Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in Beacon, NY, USA)
Rana El Nemr (Born 1974, Hannover, Germany. Lives in Cairo, Egypt)
Theo Eshetu (Born 1958, London, UK. Lives in Berlin, Germany and Rome, Italy)
Rachel Fallon (with Alice Maher) (Born 1971, Dublin, Ireland. Lives in Dublin, Ireland)
G.A.S. Foundation (Founded 2023, Lagos and Ijebu Ode, Nigeria)
Sofía Gallisá Muriente (Born 1986, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lives in Puerto Rico)
Adebunmi Gbadebo (Born 1992, Livingston, NJ, USA. Lives in Philadelphia, PA and Newark, NJ, USA)
Leonilda González (Born 1923, Minuano, Uruguay. D. 2017)
Linda Goode Bryant (Born 1949, Columbus, OH, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA)
Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige (Born 1969, Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Paris, France; Born 1969, Moussaitbeh, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Paris, France)
Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka (Born 1988, Toronto, Canada. Lives in Toronto, Canada; New York City, NY, USA; and Japan)
Ayrson Heráclito (Born 1968, Macaúbas, Bahia, Brazil. Lives in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil)
Clarissa Herbst & Dominique Rust (Born 1959, Crailsheim, Germany; Lives in Zurich, Switzerland; Born 1960, Basel, Switzerland; Lives in Zurich, Switzerland)
Nicholas Hlobo (Born 1975, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa)
Carsten Höller (Born 1961, Brussels, Belgium. Lives in Stockholm, Sweden; Biriwa, Ghana; and Tuscany, Italy)
Sohrab Hura (Born 1981, Chinsurah, India. Lives in New Delhi, India)
Alfredo Jaar (Born 1965, Santiago, Chile. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal)
Mohammed Joha (Born 1978, Gaza, Palestine. Lives in Marseille, France)
Michael Joo (Born 1966, Ithaca, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA)
Nina Katchadourian (Born 1968, Stanford, CA, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA and Berlin, Germany)
Bodys Isek Kingelez (Born 1948, Kimbembele Ihunga, former Belgian Congo, now Democratic Republic of the Congo. D. 2015)
Sandra Knecht (Born 1968, Buus, Switzerland. Lives in Buus, Switzerland)
Marcia Kur (Born 1970, Kano State, Nigeria. Lives in Princeton, NJ, USA; Abuja, and Kaduna, Nigeria)
Natalia Lassalle-Morillo (in collaboration with Gloria Morillo) (Born 1991, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Florence Lazar (Born 1966, Paris, France. Lives in Paris, France)
Dan Lie (Born 1988. Lives in Berlin, Germany)
Werewere Liking (Born 1950, Mgombas, Cameroon. Lives in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire)
lugar a dudas (Founded 2004, Cali, Colombia)
Daniel Lind-Ramos (Born 1953, Loiza, Puerto Rico. Lives in Loiza, Puerto Rico)
Alice Maher (Born 1956, Tipperary, Ireland. Lives in County Mayo, Ireland)
Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons & Kamaal Malak (Born 1959, Matanzas, Cuba; Lives in Nashville, TN, USA; Born 1962, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Lives in Nashville, TN, USA)
Senzeni Marasela (Born 1977, Thokoza, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa)
Guadalupe Maravilla (Born 1976, San Salvador, El Salvador. Lives in New York City, NY, USA)
Manuel Mathieu (Born 1986, Port-au-Prince, Haïtï. Lives in Montreal, Canada and Paris, France)
Georgina Maxim (Born 1980, Harare, Zimbabwe. Lives in Harare and Mutare, Zimbabwe)
Tiona Nekkia McClodden (Born 1981, Blytheville, AR, USA. Lives in Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Big Chief Demond Melancon (Born 1978, New Orleans, LA, USA. Lives in New Orleans, LA, USA)
Avi Mograbi (Born 1956, Tel Aviv. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal)
Wangechi Mutu (Born 1972, Nairobi, Kenya. Lives in New York City, NY, USA and Nairobi, Kenya)
Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI) (Founded 2020, Nairobi, Kenya)
Eustaquio Neves (Born 1955, Juatuba, Brazil. Lives in Diamantina, Brazil)
Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn (Born 1976, Sài Gòn, Việt Nam. Lives in Hội An, works in Hồ Chí Minh City, Việt Nam)
Tammy Nguyen (Born 1984, San Francisco, CA, USA. Lives in Easton, CT, USA)
Otobong Nkanga (Born 1974, Kano, Nigeria. Lives in Antwerp, Belgium, and Uyo, Nigeria)
Kaloki Nyamai (Born 1985, Nairobi, Kenya. Lives in Nairobi, Kenya)
Temitayo Ogunbiyi (Born 1984, Rochester, NY, USA. Lives in Lagos, Nigeria)
Pauline Oliveros (Born 1932, Houston, TX, USA. D. 2016)
Kambui Olujimi (Born 1976, Brooklyn, New York City, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA)
Hagar Ophir (Born 1983, Jerusalem. Lives in Berlin, Germany)
Uriel Orlow (Born 1973, Zurich, Switzerland. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal; London, UK; and Basel, Switzerland)
Ebony G. Patterson (Born 1981, Kingston, Jamaica. Lives in Kingston, Jamaica and Chicago, IL, USA)
Rajni Perera & Marigold Santos (Born 1985, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Lives in Toronto, Canada; Born 1981, Manila, Philippines. Lives in Calgary, Canada)
Thania Petersen (Born 1980, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa)
Alan Phelan (Born 1968, Dublin, Ireland. Lives in Dublin, Ireland)
Johannes Phokela (Born 1966, Johannesburg, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa)
Léonard Pongo (Born 1988, Liège, Belgium. Lives in Brussels, Belgium and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo)
Walid Raad (Born 1967, Chbanieh, Lebanon. Lives in Medusa, NY, USA)
Mohammed Z. Rahman (Born 1997, London, UK. Lives in London, UK)
RAW Material Company (Founded 2008, Dakar, Senegal)
Tabita Rezaire (Born 1989, Paris, France, 1989. Lives in Cayenne, French Guiana)
Guadalupe Rosales (Born 1980, Redwood City, CA, USA. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Yo-E Ryou (Born 1987, Seoul, South Korea. Lives in Seoul and Jeju Island, South Korea)
Khaled Sabsabi (Born 1965, Tripoli, Lebanon. Lives in Sydney, Australia)
Rose Salane (Born 1992, New York City, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA)
Issa Samb (Born 1945, Dakar, Senegal. D. 2017)
Amina Saoudi Aït Khay (Born 1955, Casablanca, Morocco. Lives in Sousse, Tunisia)
Carrie Schneider (Born 1979, Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA)
Hala Schoukair (Born 1957, Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon)
Berni Searle (Born 1964, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa)
Mmakgabo Mmapula Helen Sebidi (Born 1943, Marapyane, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa)
Wardha Shabbir (Born 1987, Lahore, Pakistan. Lives in Lahore, Pakistan)
Yoshiko Shimada (Born 1959, Tokyo, Japan. Lives in Chiba, Japan)
Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser (Born 1987, New Delhi, India. Lives in London, UK and New Delhi, India; Born 1985, Bonn, Germany. Lives in London, UK and New Delhi, India)
Buhlebezwe Siwani (Born 1987, Johannesburg, South Africa. Lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Cape Town, South Africa)
Cauleen Smith (Born 1967, Riverside, CA, USA. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Vera Tamari (Born 1944, Jerusalem, Palestine. 1944. Lives in Ramallah, Palestine)
Tsai Ming-liang (Born 1957, Kuching, Malaysia. Lives in New Taipei City and Taipei, Taiwan)
Victoria-Idongesit Udondian (Born 1982, Uyo, Nigeria. Lives in Lagos, Nigeria and New York City, NY, USA)
Celia Vásquez Yui (Born 1960, Pucallpa, Peru. Lives in the Peruvian Amazon, Pucallpa, Peru)
Kemang Wa Lehulere (Born 1984, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa)
Kennedy Yanko (Born 1988, St. Louis, MO, USA. Lives in Miami, FL, USA)
Raed Yassin (Born 1979, Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Berlin, Germany)
Sawangwongse Yawnghwe (Born 1971, Shan State, Burma. Lives in Zutphen, Netherlands and Chiang Mai, Thailand)
Billie Zangewa (Born 1973, Blantyre, Malawi. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa)
APPLIED ARTS PAVILION
A Special Project of La Biennale di Venezia and Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Watch for our complete list of Colladeral events coming soon.