Venice Biennale 2026: National Pavilions Plus Collateral Events – Artlyst Guide

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.

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 (Messengers of the Sun) 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 Business 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), Nancy Brooks Brody (Born 1962, New York City, NY, USA, D. 2023); Joy Episalla (Born 1957, Bronxville, 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. 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. 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

 List of Recommended Collateral Events

Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy at Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia 

Internationally acclaimed artist Marina Abramović will make history in 2026 as the first living woman artist to be honored with a major exhibition at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice. The exhibition marks the artist’s 80th birthday and establishes a profound dialogue between her pioneering performance art and the Renaissance masterpieces that have shaped the cultural identity of Venice.

Fermata: Hong Kong in Venice, referencing a musical breath held at the performer’s discretion, the exhibition engages with the Biennale’s musical theme, In Minor Keys. It brings together the work of Hong Kong artists Kingsley Ng and Angel Hui to explore the poetic rhythms of everyday life. Drawing on familiar yet fleeting moments from daily life in Hong Kong, the artists will present multisensory installations that transform the site and everyday Hong Kong objects into a poetic “concerto” of light, shadow, and sound. Both artists draw deeply from the city’s cultural context, reinterpreting the rhythms and aesthetics of everyday life through media including light, sound, and installation.

Demond Melancon – Venue: Arsenale

Demond Melancon will present new work in the Arsenale section of the 2026 Venice Biennale, a major milestone for a self-taught Black artist whose practice is grounded in the Black Masking Indian tradition of New Orleans. His monumental portraits and full-body suits are constructed entirely from hand-sewn glass beads, a medium he has pioneered in contemporary art, elevating a material long dismissed as ‘craft.’ Deeply influenced by the teachings of Kerry James Marshall, Melancon’s work reflects untold stories of the past while reimagining dominant portrayals of Black identity and presence in art history. His practice explores the possibilities of visual storytelling and aims to redefine the traditions of portraiture, deliberately repositioning historically overlooked Black subjects. A solo exhibition at Jonathan Carver Moore in San Francisco is scheduled for September 2026, his first West Coast presentation, following his international debut in Venice.

Manuel Mathieu: Location: Arsenale and Giardini

Invited by Koyo Kouoh, Manuel Mathieu will debut at the 61st La Biennale di Venezia, marking a major milestone in his career. Resonating with the theme, his work explores historical violence, erasure, and spiritual heritage, shaped by his upbringing in Haiti and migration to Canada. Across painting, sculpture, film, ceramics, mosaics, poetry, and olfactory art, he blends abstraction and figuration to examine the ties between personal memory and collective history, inviting viewers to slow down and reflect on the recurring patterns of the past.

Jenny Saville a Ca’ Pesaro

Jenny Saville a Ca’Pesaro is the first major exhibition of the artist’s work in Venice. Bringing together more than thirty canvases and works on paper from the 1990s to the present, it aims to trace the development of her practice, which is deeply rooted in the history of painting. At Ca’ Pesaro Saville’s monumental canvases will be in dialogue with the great Venetian artists of the past, creating a unique encounter between contemporary painting and the city’s artistic heritage. Ca’ Pesaro–Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, Venice Santa Croce 2076, 30135 Venezia

‘Screen Melancholy’, Li Yi-Fan, Taiwan Location: Palazzo delle Prigioni

Taipei Fine Arts Museum of Taiwan is pleased to present the Collateral Event Screen Melancholy: Li Yi-Fan at the 61st International Art Exhibition (Biennale Arte 2026) – La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition will be held at the Palazzo delle Prigioni and will feature a new work by Taiwanese artist Li Yi-Fan, curated by Raphael Fonseca, Head of the Department of Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art at the Denver Art Museum. Both from a generation that witnessed the birth of internet technology, they explore the complex relationship among imagery, technology, and human experience in a dialogue that transcends regions and cultures.

Wallace Chan: Vessels Of Other Worlds. Events at the Bovolo Tower and Pietà Chapel

Wallace Chan: Vessels of Other Worlds will take place as a dual-site exhibition in Venice and Shanghai. Birth, a 7-meter-tall titanium sculpture weighing 4.6 tons, is the first sculpture of the Vessels of Other Worlds series. Inspired by sacred oil vessels, it is a metaphor for the origin of humanity. Composed of over 5,500 titanium parts, 1,500 aluminium components, and nearly 20,000 steel screws, it contains 725 gears and 922 human figures — interlocking like fate, standing as witnesses to the endlessness of time. As light enters, materials and spirit seemingly breathe as one. It is a vessel that holds nothing; yet, it contains everything.

LAS Art Foundation and Amos Rex present Natasha Tontey – Location: Ateneo Veneto

LAS Art Foundation (Berlin) and Amos Rex (Helsinki) present a new commission by artist Natasha Tontey at Ateneo Veneto. The Phantom Combatants and the Metabolism of Disobedient Organs is Tontey’s largest and most ambitious work to date, unfolding as an immersive multimedia installation of video, sound, light, and sculptural elements. Reimagining the story of Indonesian resistance fighter Len Karamoy through camp B- movie aesthetics and advanced military imaging technologies, the work explores bodily transformation, Minahasan symbolism, and strategies of subversion under conditions of surveillance. Situated within the historic architecture of Ateneo Veneto, the installation draws connections between ancestral ritual, biological enhancement, and contemporary systems of control, addressing themes of agency, invisibility, and resistance in today’s technological landscape

Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Venice Opens – Location: Island of San Giacomo

In 2022, Italian art collector, patron and museum founder Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo embarked on a journey to transform San Giacomo, an abandoned island in the Venetian lagoon, into a cultural centre for art, music, cinema and theatre. The long-awaited new space will be unveiled on 7 May 2026 with a solo exhibition dedicated to the British artist and director Matt Copson, an exhibition of works from Patrizia’s collection, and a series of permanent outdoor installations conceived in direct dialogue with the island’s landscape, architecture, and history.

‘Shy Society’ DRIFT

Location: Mounted outdoors between the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the historic Ponte Dell’Accademia above the Grand Canal. ’ Shylights’ delicately mirror the nyctinasty of real flowers, unfolding and retreating in response to an internal choreography of movement and light. Press
The renowned Amsterdam-based art and design studio, DRIFT, founded by Dutch artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta in 2007, will present Shy Society, its most ambitious project to date: a site-specific, kinetic light installation mounted outdoors above Venice’s Grand Canal. Shy Society marks the first time the studio’s iconic ‘Shylights’ series has been suspended above water, set against the historic architecture of Venice’s palazzi and presented at an unprecedented scale. Comprising a constellation of kinetic light sculptures.

Anish Kapoor

Anish Kapoor presents an exhibition of large-scale installations and ambitious projects snapping the last 50 years at Palazzo Manfrin, the 16th-century Palazzo, which is home to the Anish Kapoor Foundation: Palazzo Manfrin Cannaregio, Venice, Italy, 6 May – 9 August 2026

Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990)

Emballage Cricotage and Madame Jarema Collateral Event of the 61st International Art Exhibition. La Biennale di Venezia First Exhibition of the Work of Polish Master Tadeusz Kantor at the Biennale Arte since 1960. The exhibition Tadeusz Kantor (1915-1990). Emballage, Cricotage and Madame Jarema, a Collateral Event of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, will be on show at the Procuratie Vecchie, Piazza San Marco, Venice from 9 May to 22 November 2026. Organised by the Starak Family Foundation, the exhibition, which is curated by Ania Muszyńska, is devoted to the relationship and work of Tadeusz Kantor and Maria Jarema. Tadeusz Kantor is a seminal figure in Polish post-war art history, one of the most important avant-garde artists of the 20th century. In the field of theatre, he remains a towering figure, one of the first interdisciplinary artists in the contemporary understanding of the term.

Amanda Heng

The Singapore Pavilion features pioneering artist Amanda Heng. The 75-year-old artist is offering a quiet exploration of the body and lived experience. Marking a major international moment for the artist who has long been under-recognised globally, the work will combine photography, moving image, and architectural design to prompt reflection on how rest leads to renewal.

Erwin Wurm. Dreamers

The Museo Fortuny presents the work of the Austrian sculptor Erwin Wurm for the first time in Italy with a major monographic exhibition. The One Minute Sculptures series begun in 1996-97 explores the idea of the human body as sculpture. Fortuny Museum San Marco 3958, 30124 Venice

Alexey Morosov

The Pavilion of the Kyrgyz Republic, featuring interdisciplinary artist Alexey Morosov, is representing the Kyrgyz Republic and transforming the historic Santa Caterina church into a massive 600-square-meter immersive installation titled BELEK (translated from English as ‘Gift’). The installation is a tribute to water as a sacred cultural heritage of the people of Kyrgyzstan.

Koen Vanmechelen

Koen Vanmechelen presents his new exhibition, We Thought We Were Alone, and unveils 40 brand-new sculptures and installations that move beyond traditional sculpture and human-centred perspectives. The works explore the dynamic interplay between living organisms, materials, and the inorganic environment, reflecting Vanmechelen’s ongoing investigation into hybridity, biocultural diversity, and the interconnection of life, culture, and nature
Barry X Ball, presenting The Shape of Time, merges advanced digital technologies with Renaissance sculptural traditions.

David Černý,

David Černý, presenting Artocalypsa, a survey of the provocative Czech artist’s 30-year career featuring satirical and absurdist works challenging authority, systems of power and society’s enduring and problematic fascination with weapons and military iconography.

Bangkok | Venice | The Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation

Bangkok | Venice | The Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation presents the Collateral Event The Spirits of Maritime Crossing 2026, an international group exhibition curated by Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Bangkok Art Biennale. Supported by Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (ThaiBev) and One Bangkok, the exhibition will be held from 9 May to 2 August 2026 at Palazzo Rocca Contarini Corfù, Venice.

The Only True Protest Is Beauty, Fondazione Dries Van Noten

Fashion designer Dries Van Noten launches his foundation in Venice with an exhibition that celebrates craftsmanship. Housed within the historic Palazzo Pisani Moretta, overlooking the Canal Grande, Fondazione Dries Van Noten celebrates craftsmanship as a vital language of cultural identity. The Fondazione will bring together established voices and emerging creators alike across art, design, fashion, architecture, food, and beyond.

Catalonia in Venice: Claudia Pagès Rabal, Paper Tears

The installation, curated by Elise  Lammer, will be open to the public from May 9th to November 22nd at the Docks Cantieri Cucchini in San Pietro di Castello. Paper Tears is an immersive installation by Claudia Pagès Rabal that investigates paper watermarks as  symbolic and political devices. Through laser projections, a sculptural LED screen, and an enveloping  soundtrack, these watermarks, which were created in the paper manufacturing process and historically  linked to origin and authenticity, are revealed and examined.

TIN MAN ART presents: No Go Elevator (not without no keycard) by Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood 

An exhibition of new work by Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood at  Castello 2432, Fondamenta dei Penini, 30122. 7 May–7 June.

Bracha L. Ettinger at the Hotel Metropole, Venice Riva degli Schiavoni 4149, Venice

During the opening week of the Venice Biennale, a room at the Hotel Metropole becomes the site of an exhibition by Bracha L. Ettinger. Bracha. The Room Is Shared transforms the room where Sigmund Freud partly wrote The Interpretation of Dreams between 1895 and 1899, into a space of painting, slow looking, psychoanalysis, resonance, and shared presence. 4-10 May 2026 Curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

Pavlina Vagioni, Oikeiōsis

This May, the Hellenic Diaspora Foundation launches its first project beyond Greece, presenting Oikeiōsis, a solo exhibition of new work by Greek artist Pavlina Vagioni at Spazio Tana in Venice. Oikeiōsis draws on Vagioni’s poetic andvisceral visual and sonic language, which reimagines myth and philosophy as lived, embodied experience. Spazio Tana, Ramo de la Tana 2127/A, 30122, Venice opposite the main entrance of the Arsenale

HOLY SEE PAVILION: The Ear is the Eye of the Soul Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, Castello (Vaporetto: Giardini Biennale) and Giardino Mistico dei Carmelitani Scalzi, Cannaregio

The Holy See Pavilion presents The Ear is the Eye of the Soul, a group exhibition curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers. The exhibition is a call to the contemplative act of listening. Presented in Venice’s ancient Giardino Mistico (Mystic Garden), a monastic green space hidden within a 17th-century convent cared for by the Discalced Carmelite community, the exhibition features new commissions by 22 contemporary musicians, composers, poets and artists inspired by the visionary life and legacy of abbess and polymath Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179). Across the city in Castello, within the Santa Maria Ausiliatrice Complex, the vision of Saint Hildegard finds expression in a living archive and a space for research and collaboration.

Chihuly: Venice 2026, Pilchuk Glass School + Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Campo Santo Stefano and various sites along the Grand Canal

Thirty years after transforming the city and its canals with his groundbreaking Chihuly Over Venice project, world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly (b. 1941) returns to the source of his inspiration with CHIHULY: Venice 2026. The exhibition will be anchored by three dramatic new sculptures installed along the Grand Canal, celebrating the artist’s enduring dialogue with the city that fundamentally shaped his career.

Lee Ufan, San Marco Art Centre (SMAC)

Developed in close partnership with the artist, coinciding with his 90th birthday, this exhibition traces the evolution of his iconic visual language, the works range from new and historical paintings to large-scale installations, highlighted by a new site-specific commission in Venice. The exhibition is staged across eight galleries of the Procuratie Vecchie in Venice’s Piazza San Marco.

TURANDOT: To the Daughters of the East, ACP–Palazzo Franchetti

Parasol unit foundation relaunches its exhibition programme during the 2026 Venice Biennale with a group exhibition by eleven significant female artists from Central Asia and the wider East whose individual and collective histories express resilience, conviction and creativity.

Georg Baselitz: Eroi d’Oro at Fondazione Giorgio Cini

The exhibition features the German artist’s most recent series of large-scale paintings, which explore the interplay between luminous gold grounds and delicately rendered figures, overlaid in some compositions with bursts of impasto colour.

In Minor Squares

In Minor Squares is a tactical camouflage game, situated across Venetian squares, focused on discovery mapping and geography of the city and devised for the 61st Venice Biennale. You are invited to probe beyond the obvious and look at what’s hidden in plain sight. 51 clues to complete with a 15,000 euro prize. Artists include Jon Baker, Alina Gavrielatos, Graham Tunnadine, Gzillion Artist, Fiona Haines, Simon Streather, Vanya Bloogh, Urban XXX, Andrea Morruchio, Marisa polin, Ian Thompson, Sarah Sparkes, Julia Maddison and Vanja Karas.

Official. Unofficial. Belarus. La Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista di Venezia, San Polo 2454, 30125 Venice

Belarus Free Theatre will present ‘Official. Unofficial. Belarus.’, curated by Daniella Kaliada with Natalia Kaliada MBE. This immersive, multi-sensory exhibition will explore how art is made, censored and experienced under authoritarian power and constant surveillance and invites visitors to encounter what it means when culture is forced to exist outside the state.

Cmyru yn Fenis / Wales in Venice, Sownd: Manon Awst + Dylan Huw Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, Calle de la Pietà, Castello 3703, 30122 Venice

Manon Awst, Dylan Huw and collaborators will represent Cymru yn Fenis / Wales in Venice 2026 with Sownd, an exhibition curated by Steffan Jones-Hughes, with the support of two galleries, Oriel Davies and Oriel Myrddin. ownd will be a collaborative sculptural environment navigating the materialities of language and landscape. Conceived as one continuous installation, it will combine organic materials, found objects, texts, and sonic and architectural interventions.

Joseph Kosuth: ‘The-exchange-value-of-language-has-fallen-to-zero’, Casa dei Tre Oci, Giudecca

Berggruen Arts & Culture presents a new exhibition by the American conceptual art pioneer Joseph Kosuth (b. 1945). Known for his celebrated neon works, a new large-scale commission A Chain of Resemblance (2026), based on a text by Michel Foucault, will be installed in the gallery’s main entrance. The exhibition will also showcase the artist’s earliest works from the 1960s, including his influential One and Three Mirrors (1965), and explores Kosuth’s radical positioning of audience, community and collaboration. This exhibition builds on Kosuth’s longstanding relationship with Venice, where he lived and worked between 2021 and 2025, and will include a re-issuing of Kosuth’s poster originally designed for the 1976 Venice Biennale.

 

 

Top Photo: PC Robinson © Artlyst 2026

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