{"id":1913815,"date":"2026-05-01T15:22:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T12:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1913815"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:22:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T12:22:44","slug":"2026-venice-biennale-national-pavilions-see-every-countrys-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1913815","title":{"rendered":"2026 Venice Biennale National Pavilions: See Every Country&#8217;s Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-2149110659.jpg?w=1024&#8243;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"a-content a-content--offset lrv-a-floated-parent lrv-u-font-family-body lrv-u-line-height-normal lrv-u-font-size-18 lrv-u-position-relative\">\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe central attraction at the Venice Biennale is its main exhibition, a curated show meant to pinpoint a dominant theme in art as it stands right now. But all around it are pavilions staged by countries, with each nation selecting one or more artists to mount their own show or installation. These national pavilions have contributed to the common conception of the Biennale as the art world\u2019s Olympics: a place where stars are born and nations flex their might. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe national pavilions often tend to remain in flux until the very end. In 2024, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza upended several nations\u2019 plans to exhibit at the Biennale. In 2026, those conflicts have once again roiled this area of the Biennale, with Australia canceling and then reinstating its selected artist and the inclusion of Israel and Russia. Uncertainty within a given country can also affect their planned participation, as was the case with the government shutdown delaying the announcement of the US Pavilion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn March, the Biennale announced the list of 100 official pavilions, as well as 31 collateral events (some of which are for countries and territories that do not official diplomatic relations with Italy), for the 2026 Venice Biennale, whose main exhibition will take the title \u201cIn Minor Keys.\u201d While not a requirement, a number of countries often align their picks to resonate with the theme of the main exhibition. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe full list, particularly Russia\u2019s inclusion, has generated controversy both within the art world and EU politics, with some politicians charging that a Russian Pavilion is a violation of EU sanctions against the country as part of its ongoing war in Ukraine. In March, in response to these claims, the Biennale has said that it cannot reject any country that submits a pavilion and has diplomatic relations with Italy, adding that \u201cLa Biennale di Venezia rejects any form of exclusion or censorship of culture and art.\u201d The Biennale has not issued any further statements regarding the matter. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHowever, shortly after the jury that was to decide the Golden Lion for Best National Participation was announced, its five members issued a statement that any countries who have been pending charges of crimes against humanity from the International Criminal Court will not be considered, which includes Russia and Israel. \u201cAs members of the jury, we also have a responsibility towards the historical role of the Biennale as a platform that connects art to the urgencies of its time,\u201d their statement reads, in part. \u201cAt this edition of the Biennale, we wish to set out our intention\u2014to express our commitment to the defense of human rights and to the spirit of Koyo Kouoh\u2019s curatorial project.\u201d On April 30, days before the previews for the Biennale are to set, the jury resigned en masse, with the Biennale later saying that no Golden Lions will be issued this year, awarding instead \u201cVisitors\u2019 Lions,\u201d decided by public vote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tKoyo Kouoh, the former executive director and chief curator of Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, was selected as the main exhibition\u2019s curator in late 2024. She died unexpectedly on May 10, 2025, just weeks before her theme was to be announced. The Biennale has made the decision to proceed with Kouoh\u2019s vision for the exhibition, \u201cwith the full support\u201d of Kouoh\u2019s family, and a team of five curatorial advisers will realize the show. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBelow, a guide to the 2026 Venice Biennale\u2019s national pavilion, as well as collateral events that act as pavilions for countries without diplomatic ties to Italy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"pmc-gallery-vertical\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-loader u-gallery-app-shell-loader\">\n<ul class=\"pmc-fallback-list-items lrv-a-unstyle-list lrv-u-margin-t-2\">\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Albania<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/582406620_18066262724419519_4652963751804852510_n.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Genti Korini.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/582406620_18066262724419519_4652963751804852510_n.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Genti Korini.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Double Q Gallery\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWhile <strong>Genti Korini<\/strong>\u2019s paintings and sculptures may sometimes resemble the fashionable kind of figurations seen in commercial galleries across the globe, his work is rooted in heady ideas about Eastern Europe\u2019s past, present, and future. He\u2019ll return to those ideas with his Albanian Pavilion, titled \u201cA Place in the Sun,\u201d which will feature pieces that draw on both Albanian history and Polish experimental theater traditions. <strong>Ma\u0142gorzata Ludwisiak<\/strong> will curate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Argentina<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/MATIAS-DUVILLE-IS-CASA-TRIANGULO-S-NEW-REPRESENTED-ARTIST_full.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A blurred man moving past a drawing of a landscape.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/MATIAS-DUVILLE-IS-CASA-TRIANGULO-S-NEW-REPRESENTED-ARTIST_full.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A blurred man moving past a drawing of a landscape.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Casa Tri\u00e2ngulo\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tYou\u2019ll want to watch your step at <strong>Mat\u00edas Duville<\/strong>\u2019s Argentine Pavilion, since the entire floor will be covered by a drawing made using charcoal and salt. Such a gesture may not be exactly unexpected for those familiar with Duville, who often works with burnt wood to create images of scorched landscapes. His latest outing will be titled \u201cMonitor Yin Yang\u201d and will be curated by <strong>Josefina Barcia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Armenia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"259\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2234315392.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man speaking in a crowd.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"259\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2234315392.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man speaking in a crowd.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Sean Drakes\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThis year\u2019s Armenian Pavilion may offer the rare case where one of its curators is better known than its artist representative. That curator is <strong>Tony Shafrazi<\/strong>, who is best known as a dealer of the 1980s New York scene; he will co-organize the pavilion with <strong>Tina Shakarian<\/strong>. Together, they are spotlighting artist <strong>Zadik Zadikian<\/strong>, who acted as an assistant to Richard Serra early in his career and has since produced an array of abstract sculptures, including a monument to Armenian soldiers killed in the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. At the Independent 20th Century fair this past fall, Shafrazi, who had not participated in an art fair since 2012, showed Pop-inflected work by Zadikian and a sculpture of gold bricks revisiting one of his pieces from the \u201970s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Fondamenta Case Nuove 2738\/C, Castello, Tesa 41, Arsenale Militare<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Australia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/052_KhaledSabsabi_MichaelDagostino_Granville_credit_AnnaKucera-e1738893218517.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man standing on a staircase next to a man leaned against a wall.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/052_KhaledSabsabi_MichaelDagostino_Granville_credit_AnnaKucera-e1738893218517.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man standing on a staircase next to a man leaned against a wall.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Anna Kucera\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAlready, no pavilion at the 2026 Biennale has proven more controversial than Australia\u2019s, which is being done by artist <strong>Khaled Sabsabi<\/strong>, who is working in tandem with curator <strong>Michael Dagostino<\/strong>. Not long after its initial announcement, in February 2025, Sabsabi\u2019s pavilion was canceled by its organizer, Creative Australia, which raised concerns over prior works by the Lebanese-born artist, including one that featured images of a Hezbollah leader. Creative Australia said that \u201ca prolonged and divisive debate\u201d would pose a \u201crisk\u201d to the pavilion; Sabsabi and Dagostino said they were being censored. But the cancelation ended up itself provoking a divisive debate that saw Creative Australia board members resign and open letters issued, and eventually, five months later, Sabsabi was reinstated as Australia\u2019s representative. He and Dagostino said the reinstatement provided them with \u201ca sense of resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Austria<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-2166297184.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A white woman in a striped orange and yellow top standing with her hands at her waist next to a podium.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-2166297184.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A white woman in a striped orange and yellow top standing with her hands at her waist next to a podium.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Alessandro Levati\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tContinuing an emphasis on dance seen at Anna Jermolaewa\u2019s 2024 pavilion, Austria\u2019s 2026 pavilion will be given over to the choreographer <strong>Florentina Holzinger<\/strong>. Holzinger has quickly risen as one of the most in-demand choreographers worldwide for pieces that are often sexually charged and sometimes tough to watch. <em>Sancta<\/em>, her opera featuring nuns who roller-skated in the nude and a lesbian priest, was bitterly critiqued in her home country upon its premiere in 2022, with religious figures condemning her. When it traveled in 2024 to Germany, it raised controversy anew after audience members complained of severe nausea while watching a scene involving a piercing. Her project for the Biennale, titled \u201cSeaworld Venice\u201d and curated by <strong>Nora-Swantje Almes<\/strong>, has the potential to be no more pleasant.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Azerbaijan<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/FAIG-AHMED_01.-Photo-by-Aslan-Alikhanov.-Image-courtesy-of-Faig-Ahmed-Studio.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Faig Ahmed.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/FAIG-AHMED_01.-Photo-by-Aslan-Alikhanov.-Image-courtesy-of-Faig-Ahmed-Studio.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Faig Ahmed.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Aslan Alikhanov\/Courtesy Faig Ahmed Studio\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBest known for his installations in which traditional Central Asian rugs hang on the wall as they dissolve into pools of melted colors, <strong>Faig Ahmed <\/strong>will represent Azerbaijan for the second time, having participated in a group show for the country\u2019s 2007 pavilion. His solo outing, curated by <strong>Gwendolyn Colla\u00e7o<\/strong>, will take the title \u201cThe Attention\u201d and aim to serve as \u201ca space where external noise and anxiety recede, with the convergence of sound, material presence, and rhythm inviting visitors into a meditative mode of perception,\u201d according to a release. Drawing on the work of the Hurufi poet Imadaddin Nasimi, he will produce a site-specific project titled <em>I Can Contain Both Worlds but I Do Not Fit Into This One<\/em> (2026), which will span all the rooms of the exhibition space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Campo della Tana, Castello 2124\/A, Castello 2125\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>The Bahamas<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/d4aaab8d-212d-43f3-97e4-ae6870e9fa5c.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Lavar Munroe.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/d4aaab8d-212d-43f3-97e4-ae6870e9fa5c.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Lavar Munroe.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Roy Cox\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tParticipating for a second time in the Venice Biennale more than a decade after its debut, The Bahamas has chosen both a living artist and a dead one as its representatives. The pavilion will serve in part as a tribute to <strong>John Beadle<\/strong>, who died in 2024, leaving behind an oeuvre that explores how traumatic histories of enslavement and colonialism linger on. His work will be shown alongside that of <strong>Lavar Munroe<\/strong>, whose paintings and installations explore how individuals are shaped by local traditions. Art historian <strong>Krista Thompson<\/strong> will curate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: San Trovaso Art Space, Dorsoduro 947<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Belarus<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Sergey-Grinevich-Daniella-Kaliada-Natalia-Kaliada-MBE-and-Olga-Podgayskaya-2026.-Photo-Francesco-Barasciutti.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of four people standing in front of a brick wall with a green door.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Sergey-Grinevich-Daniella-Kaliada-Natalia-Kaliada-MBE-and-Olga-Podgayskaya-2026.-Photo-Francesco-Barasciutti.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of four people standing in front of a brick wall with a green door.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo Francesco Barasciutti\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBelarus last participated in the Biennale in 2019, though the country won\u2019t be participating in this year\u2019s festival in an official capacity either. Instead, the Belarus Free Theatre, which has been in exile in 2020, will present a collateral event title \u201cOfficial. Unofficial. Belarus.\u201d The presentation will feature works, including site-specific paintings, large-scale sculptures, and a sound installation, that look at how art is \u201cmade, censored, and experienced under authoritarian power and constant surveillance,\u201d per a release. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201dMost of the pavilions are state pavilions that represent governments, and what governments want to represent varies enormously across nations,\u201d Daniella Kaliada, the pavilion\u2019s curator and the theater\u2019s cofounding artistic director, told <em>ARTnews<\/em>. \u201cWe position ourselves entirely outside of that. The Biennale is allowing us to make that distinction visible, allowing unofficial narratives to re-enter a space that has long been reserved only for what official governments want to say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista, San Polo 2454<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Belgium<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/belgium.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A group of people wearing all black and sprayed with white paint jump up and down dramatically.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/belgium.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A group of people wearing all black and sprayed with white paint jump up and down dramatically.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Shahrear Kabir Heemel\/Courtesy the artist, MORPHO, and KANAL-Centre Pompidou\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBelgium has selected <strong>Miet Warlop<\/strong>, who is known for her performances that combine the visual arts with theater, as its representative for the 2026 Biennale. Supported by MORPHO in Antwerp and Kanal\u2013Centre Pompidou in Brussels, her pavilion will take the title \u201cIT NEVER SSST\u201d and is to be curated by <strong>Caroline Dumalin<\/strong>. Warlop\u2019s performances have been staged at S.M.A.K. in Ghent, the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, as well as at the 2012 Baltic Triennale in Vilnius, Lithuania, and the 2024 Venice International Theatre Festival.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBosnia and Herzegovina will be represented by <strong>Mladen Bundalo<\/strong>, a Bosnian artist who is now based in Brussels. Curated by <strong>Isidora \u017divkovi\u0107<\/strong> of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Republika Srpska, the pavilion will be titled \u201cDomus Diasporica\u201d and focus on the artist\u2019s long-term concerns around the idea of home while being in diaspora, drawing on his own experience of growing up in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the \u201990s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Palazzo Malipiero, San Marco 3198<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Brazil<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Brazil.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portraits of Diane Lima, Rosana Paulino, and Adriana Varej\u00e3o.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Brazil.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portraits of Diane Lima, Rosana Paulino, and Adriana Varej\u00e3o.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Wallace Domingues, Rodrigo Ladeira and Tinko Czetwertynski\/Courtesy Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Bienal de S\u00e3o Paulo\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn Portuguese, the phrase \u201cComigo ningu\u00e9m pode\u201d can act as a saying that translates to \u201cNobody can beat me\u201d or as the colloquial name for a plant known as dumbcane. It lends its name to this year\u2019s Brazilian Pavilion, which will be done by artists <strong>Rosana Paulino<\/strong> and <strong>Adriana Varej\u00e3o<\/strong>, both of whom are well-known internationally\u2014the former for installations that attest to histories of enslavement that continue to afflict the Afro-Brazilian community, the latter for lush paintings and installations that allude to violence more obliquely. They are set to work with <strong>Diane Lima<\/strong>, who recently organized the Panorama of Brazilian Art in S\u00e3o Paulo. Can the pavilion live up to its name and win the Biennale\u2019s top honors? Time will tell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Bulgaria<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"161\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/The-Federation_Studio_Gabbro_Bianca-Koleva1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Aerial view of a room.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"161\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/The-Federation_Studio_Gabbro_Bianca-Koleva1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Aerial view of a room.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Studio Gabbro and Bianca Koleva\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe Bulgarian Pavilion will this year be known as \u201cThe Federation of Minor Practices,\u201d operating as \u201cthe headquarters of afictional research lab operating within a care oriented political imagination\u201d that is also \u201cconceived as an interactive environment based on a computer game,\u201d according to a release. Four artists\u2014<strong>Gery Georgieva<\/strong>, <strong>Maria Nalbantova<\/strong>, <strong>Rayna Teneva<\/strong>, and <strong>Veneta Androva<\/strong>\u2014have been commissioned to make new films for the pavilion. In a statement, pavilion curator <strong>Martina Yordanova <\/strong>said, \u201cThe Pavilion does not propose a future. It sustains the conditions through which futures begin to take form collectively, attentively, and through care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Sala Tiziano at the Centro Culturale Don Orione Artigianelli, Fondamenta Delle Zattere Ai Gesuiti 919<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Catalonia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/paper-tears.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A woman on a cliff overlooking a waterfall.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/paper-tears.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A woman on a cliff overlooking a waterfall.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of the artist\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tCatalonia, an autonomous region of Spain, will have a presence at the Biennale via a collateral event that will be staged at the Docks Cantieri Cucchini (between the Arsenale and Giardini). For \u201cPaper Tears,\u201d artist <strong>Claudia Pag\u00e8s Rabal<\/strong> will create work that engages with a selection of 15th-century watermarks drawn from the Museu Mol\u00ed Paperer de Capellades, as a way to think through the historic links between Venice and Catalonia, particularly via extractive colonial transit routes. The show, according to an exhibition description, is structured as a waltz, its circular steps mimicking the watermark, with performers \u201cdressed as contemporary jesters\u201d and a script that frames our present reality\u2014marked by \u201cboycotts, exclusion, exhaustion, and universal violence\u201d\u2014as a tragicomedy. Who the joke is remains to be seen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Docks Cantieri Cucchini, Castello 40\/A<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Cameroon<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tCameroon will be represented by six artists and collectives: <strong>Jail Time Records<\/strong>, <strong>Sylvie Njobati<\/strong>, <strong>Bienvenue Fotso<\/strong>, <strong>Zora<\/strong><strong>Snake<\/strong>, <strong>Neals Niat<\/strong>, and <strong>Beya Gille Gacha<\/strong>, the latter of whom will also serve as the pavilion\u2019s curator. Few details for the pavilion have been publicly revealed beside its name, \u201cNZENDA: The Path Home.\u201d A site for the pavilion bills it as \u201can experimental immersive temple for healing rooted in ancestral Cameroonian cosmologies.\u201d On Instagram, Niat, one of the participating artists, said the pavilion \u201calso honors the legacy of Cameroonian curator Koyo Kouoh, whose vision continues to resonate across the contemporary African art scene and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Palazzo Canal Dorsoduro 3121<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Canada<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"286\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Abbas_Alex-de-Brabant.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Abbas Akhavan.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"286\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Abbas_Alex-de-Brabant.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Abbas Akhavan.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo Alex de Brabant\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn Canada, <strong>Abbas Akhavan<\/strong> has steadily racked up accolades, appearing in the Toronto Biennial of Art, winning the Sobey Art Award for Canadian artists, and staging shows at well-regarded institutions. He is set to receive a new level of fame in the country he now calls home with this pavilion, which will continue his fascination with how national histories become embedded in material objects. Born in Tehran and now based between Montreal and Berlin, Akhavan has gradually gained international recognition as well. In 2026, Minneapolis\u2019s Walker Art Center will survey his work. Titled \u201cEntre chien et loup\u201d (Between dog and wolf), the pavilion will be curated by <strong>Kim Nguyen<\/strong>, director of programs at the Ruth Foundation for the Arts in Milwaukee. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Chile<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Retrato-Maza-WEB.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Norton Maza.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Retrato-Maza-WEB.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Norton Maza.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy the artist\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Norton Maza<\/strong> has kept his Chilean Pavilion, titled \u201cInter-Reality,\u201d cloaked in mystery. He has teased the immersive installation, which will involve water and sound, as being akin to a \u201ccanal of life; you travel through different levels of water and their intensities\u201d\u2014a fitting gesture for Venice. <strong>Marisa Caichiolo<\/strong> will organize the installation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>China<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/YMG_3563.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Yang Fudong.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/YMG_3563.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Yang Fudong.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy UCCA Center for Contemporary Art\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tTitled \u201cDream Stream,\u201d China\u2019s participation at the 2026 Venice Biennale will be curated by <strong>Yu Xuhong <\/strong>and feature more than three dozen participants, including <strong>Yang Fudong<\/strong>, <strong>Method Scenography Group<\/strong>, and <strong>Crude_Castin<\/strong>. The full list of participants is as follows: Game Science, Feng Ji, Yang Qi, Liu Chenglong, Wang Yixin + Wang Yu, Weng Jie, Lin Zhe, Zhou Haosong, Fei Si, Huang Chengxi, Yang Tingmu + Yang Hancheng + Xie Xianhui, Team of China Academy of Art and Zhejiang Lab,\u00a0Xu Jiang, Wang Dongling, Yang Fudong, Lining Yao+Guanyun Wang+Danli Luo, Method Scenography Group (Mou Sen, Ma Yuanchi, Xin Ge, Mei Yuezi, Zhao Da), Wu Ziyang + Crude_Castin (Xu Jing, Zou Nan, Ye Qi, Yan Zhenghao), Nie Shichang, Jiang Suxuan + Yu Jiangfan, Hu Yueming + Lin Yuxin + Ji Huanhuan, Zhang Zhoujie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Croatia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/croatia.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A woman lays in a pile of bunched up pieces of plastic that have been smeared with pink paint.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/croatia.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A woman lays in a pile of bunched up pieces of plastic that have been smeared with pink paint.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Veronica Arevalo\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Dubravka Lo\u0161i\u0107<\/strong> will take over the Croatian Pavilion with an exhibition titled \u201cCompelled by Fright and Beauty.\u201d <strong>Branko Franceschi<\/strong>, the director of the National Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb, will serve as the pavilion\u2019s curator. Featuring paintings and sculptures from several different bodies of work, Lo\u0161i\u0107\u2019s exhibition will evoke \u201cthe interplay between containment and flow: the works are wrapped, compressed, protected \u2014 yet something always escapes,\u201d per a description.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Palazzo Zorzi, Salizada Zorzi, 4930<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Cuba<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"277\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01_Pavilion-of-Cuba_Roberto-Diago.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"View of several wood-and-metal sculptures that are larger than life in scale and of human busts.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"277\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01_Pavilion-of-Cuba_Roberto-Diago.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"View of several wood-and-metal sculptures that are larger than life in scale and of human busts.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Estudio Diago\/Courtesy the artist\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFor the Cuban Pavilion, <strong>Juan Roberto Diago Durruthy <\/strong>will present works from \u201cHombres Libres \/ Free Men,\u201d his series of large-scale busts made from wood, metal, plastic, and other salvaged materials. The Havana-based artist previously represented his home country at the Biennale in 1997 and 2017. His forthcoming pavilion is curated by <strong>Nelson Ramirez de Arellano<\/strong>, the director of the Centro de Arte Contempor\u00e1neo Wifredo Lam, which organizes the Havana Biennial. According to a release, \u201cRoberto Diago\u2019s work stands as a perpetual reminder that freedom is not given, it is conquered; it is not a passive state, but a continuous practice\u2014a constant tension that demands keeping memory sharp and dignity intact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Il Giardino Bianco \u2013 Art Space, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, Castello 1814<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Cyprus<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Marina-Xenofontos-Mirror-Room-2014.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An image of a dead bird on a window sill; the window looks out to a parking lot.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Marina-Xenofontos-Mirror-Room-2014.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An image of a dead bird on a window sill; the window looks out to a parking lot.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy the artist and Hot Wheels, Athens and London\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSculptor <strong>Marina Xenofontos<\/strong> will represent Cyprus at this Biennale, and she\u2019s given her pavilion the lush name of \u201cIt rests to the bones\u201d\u2014a poetic evocation of her interest in traditions of the past that are not so dead after all. <strong>Kyle Dancewicz<\/strong>, who formerly showed Xenofontos\u2019s work at SculptureCenter, the New York art space where he is deputy director, will organize her pavilion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Associazione Culturale Spiazzi Castello 3865<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Czech Republic and Slovakia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/9d72962c-6c88-46f4-a2c1-fd682754a877.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Four people standing in a gray atrium.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/9d72962c-6c88-46f4-a2c1-fd682754a877.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Four people standing in a gray atrium.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Shotby.Us\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWhereas in 2024 the Czech Republic and Slovakia mounted separate presentations, they will, in 2026, stage a combined pavilion entitled \u201cThe Silence of Mr. Mole.\u201d <strong>Jakub Jansa<\/strong> and <strong>Selmeci Kocka Jusko<\/strong> (a duo composed of Alex Selmeci and Tom\u00e1\u0161 Kocka Jusko) will work together on the pavilion, whose titular protagonist \u201chas turned into a mascot of cultural diplomacy, a licensed commodity, and a nostalgic myth, a symbol of stolen fantasy,\u201d according to the pavilion\u2019s description. \u201cSent to represent the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic as a diplomatically acceptable, politically neutral figure, the mole also embodies reproach, silence, and a confused identity.\u201d <strong>Peter Sit<\/strong>, a curator who serves as art director of <em>e-flux<\/em>, will organize their presentation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Democratic Republic of Congo<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/drc.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An installation featuring three sculptures of humans whose figures are latticed. They each have a pair of shorts on.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/drc.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An installation featuring three sculptures of humans whose figures are latticed. They each have a pair of shorts on.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Agnes Kena\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe three-part title of this pavilion, \u201cSimba Moto! Seize the Fire! Saisis le feu!,\u201d recasts the same phrase in Lingala, English, and French, a gesture meant to highlight the diversity of the Congo and its diaspora. Loosely themed around fire\u2019s ability to bring about change\u2014sometimes for the positive, sometimes for the worse\u2014this pavilion features artist based in the DRC and beyond the nation, which has never before had a pavilion in Venice. Two of the participants are in Koyo Kouoh\u2019s main exhibition as well:<strong> Sammy Baloji <\/strong>and <strong>L\u00e9onard Pongo<\/strong>. Alongside them are <strong>Arlette Bashizi<\/strong>, <strong>Patrick Bongoy, Damso<\/strong>, <strong>Gosette Lubondo<\/strong>, <strong>Nelson Makengo<\/strong>, <strong>Aim\u00e9 Mpan\u00e9<\/strong>, and <strong>G\u00e9raldine Tob\u00e9<\/strong>, with <strong>Nadia Yala Kisukidi<\/strong>serving as curator.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Denmark<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"265\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/HOLLYWOOD-1-scaled-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A woman in a white T-shirt holding a star-shaped paddle.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"265\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/HOLLYWOOD-1-scaled-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A woman in a white T-shirt holding a star-shaped paddle.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Art Hub Copenhagen\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tDenmark has its youngest Venice Biennale representative ever in <strong>Maja Malou Lyse<\/strong>, whose photography, installations, sculptures, and more consider how media consumptions shapes one\u2019s desires. Billed as \u201cDanish art\u2019s fourth-wave feminist,\u201d  Lyse\u2019s Danish Pavilion will take the title \u201cThings to Come\u201d and explore \u201cwhether an image could be powerful enough to alter humanity\u2019s fertility potential \u2013 and whether pornography can rescue the human species,\u201d according to a release. \u201cI\u2019m ready to give the biennale some sex appeal,\u201d the artist, who was born in 1993, said in a statement at the time of her announcement. <strong>Chus Mart\u00ednez<\/strong> will serve as curator. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Ecuador<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BIENAL-2026-1080-x-1920.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A group of six people pose for a photo.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BIENAL-2026-1080-x-1920.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A group of six people pose for a photo.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Joffre Cruz\/Courtesy MAAC\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tTitled \u201cTawna &amp; Oscar\u201d after its participating artists, the Ecuadorian Pavilion this year will be done by <strong>Oscar Santill\u00e1n<\/strong> and <strong>Tawna<\/strong>, a collective of S\u00e1para, Kichwa, and mestizx artists that consists of Sani Montahuano, Enoc Merino, Boloh Miranda, Mukutsawa Montahuano, Luc\u00eda Ferr\u00e9, Ipiak Ushigua, and Tatiana Lopez. The pavilion is curated by <strong>Manuela Moscoso, <\/strong>executive and artistic director of the Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA) in New York, with Ecuador\u2019s Museum of Anthropology and Contemporary Art (MAAC) in Guayaquil serving as commissioner. Bringing together two practices that have been shaped by the Amazonian and Andean territories of Ecuador, the pavilion \u201cdoes not propose a single narrative or a unified image of Ecuador,\u201d a release notes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Castello 1636\/A<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>El Salvador<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/El-Salvador-Official-Press-Release-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of J. Oscar Molina in 2022.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/El-Salvador-Official-Press-Release-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of J. Oscar Molina in 2022.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a92022 Studio Marsin Mogielski\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMaking its debut at the Venice Biennale, El Salvador will be represented by <strong>J. Oscar Molina<\/strong>, a Salvadoran American artist who was born in the country. His pavilion, titled \u201cCartographies of the Displaced,\u201d will feature at least 15 works from his \u201cChildren of the World,\u201d which explores the concept of migration via rising splashes of color. In Venice, each work will be exhibited alongside a QR code that links out to a message from a member of a displaced community. <strong>Alejandra Cabezas<\/strong>, a Salvadoran poet and art historian, will curate his pavilion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Palazzo Mora, Cannaregio 3659<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Egypt<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Armen-Agop-portrait.-Photo-by-Karim-Kaddal-HIRES.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Armen Agop.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Armen-Agop-portrait.-Photo-by-Karim-Kaddal-HIRES.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Armen Agop.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Karim Kaddal\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThere are few places of quietude in Venice during the Biennale, but <strong>Armen Agop<\/strong> plans to provide one with his Egyptian Pavilion, titled \u201cSilence Pavilion: Between the Intangible and the Tangible.\u201d Agop, who was born in Cairo and is based in Italy, hasn\u2019t provided too many details about his pavilion, teasing it only with a cryptic text whose language recalls phrases in Koyo Kouoh\u2019s statement about her main exhibition. \u201cThe Egypt Pavilion is an invitation to slowness and to listen, to attune oneself to the imperceptible\u2014to the silences between gestures, to the vibrations of stone, and to the quiet murmurs of being,\u201d Agop\u2019s text says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Equatorial Guinea<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOne of the seven countries with a debut Biennale pavilion this year, Equatorial Guinea\u2019s Venice premiere is a forest-themed group show that\u2019s aptly called \u201cThe Forest\/The Undergrowth.\u201d Curator <strong>Joan Abell\u00f3<\/strong> has assembled a wide-ranging group of artists comprised of Fernando Nguema Madja, Modest Gen\u00e9 Roig, Rani Bruchstein, Barbara Cammarata, Florin Codre, Jianqi Du, Martin Emschermann, Alessia Forconi, Fulvio Merolli, Alfred Mirashi Milot, Mfochive Oumarou, Hannou Palosuo, Valeria P\u00e9rez Fuchs, Andrea Roggi, Sonia Ros, Carlotta Flora Saavedra Gonz\u00e1lez, Sandro Sanna, Giuseppe Saporito, Ingrid Seall, Michele Stanzione, Vassilis Vassiliades, Liu Youju, and William Marc Zanghi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Palazzo Don\u00e0 dalle Rose Cannaregio 5038 \/ 5101<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Estonia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/unnamed-3.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A black-and-white photograph of a white woman smiling in front of an abstract painting.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"290\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/unnamed-3.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A black-and-white photograph of a white woman smiling in front of an abstract painting.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Marta Vaarik\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWithin Estonia, <strong>Merike Estna<\/strong> is well-known for her attempts to expand painting beyond the tried and true oil-on-canvas format. While she has regularly created abstractions that hang on walls, she has applied craft techniques in certain works, extended motifs shown on her canvases by repeating them throughout galleries, and added sculptural elements. Her pavilion will take the title \u201cThe House of Leaking Sky\u201d and be organized by <strong>Natalia Sielewicz<\/strong>, the chief curator of the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. According to a release by the pavilion\u2019s commissioner, the <strong>Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art<\/strong>, Estna will transform the Patronato Salesiano Leone XIII into her studio for the entirety of the Biennale\u2019s run, during which time she create a monumental painting on-site by \u201cgradually saturat[ing it] with colour and form.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Calle S. Domenico, 1285<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Ethiopia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Tegene-Kunbi-Dale-Grant-Photography-Dale-Grant-Courtesy-the-artist.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Tegene Kunbi in paint-covered overalls standing in front of one of his paintings.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Tegene-Kunbi-Dale-Grant-Photography-Dale-Grant-Courtesy-the-artist.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Tegene Kunbi in paint-covered overalls standing in front of one of his paintings.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Dale Grant Photography\/\u00a9 Dale Grant\/Courtesy the artist<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Tegene Kunbi<\/strong>, who was born in Addis Ababa and is now based in Berlin, will represent his home country of Ethiopia at the Biennale this year. Curated by <strong>Abebaw Ayalew<\/strong>, his exhibition will take the title \u201cShapes of Silence\u201d and present a new series of work that combines abstract painting, textiles, and assemblage into large-scale canvases. Per a release, the exhibition looks at \u201csilence as a social and political condition,\u201d particularly through how it is embodied in Ethiopia\u2019s folkloric traditions, in which noiselessness is \u201cpraised as a virtue while simultaneously regarded as a potential misdeed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Palazzo Bollani, Castello 3647<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Finland<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Sutela_Hessler-portrait-2-Matteo-de-Mayda.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Two white woman standing in front of a gate.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Sutela_Hessler-portrait-2-Matteo-de-Mayda.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Two white woman standing in front of a gate.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo Matteo de Mayda\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Jenna Sutela<\/strong>, an artist known for boundary-pushing sculptures that utilize biological matter, AI, and digital technologies, has been picked to do Finland\u2019s pavilion for the 2026 Biennale. Taking the \u201cAeolian Suite,\u201d the pavilion will become a multisensory \u201cwindscape of sound and movement,\u201d featuring an artwork \u201ccomposed using meteorological data, musical instruments, and the winds from Venice, Helsinki, and beyond,\u201d according to a release. Collaborators include hair artist <strong>Sara Mathiasson<\/strong> and set designer <strong>Celeste Burlina<\/strong>, whose scenography is \u201cset in the spirit of Commedia dell\u2019arte traveling theatre.\u201d <strong>Stefanie Hessler<\/strong>, the director of New York\u2019s Swiss Institute, will curate Sutela\u2019s pavilion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>France<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/GettyImages-914897786.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt='Yto Barrada standing in her exhibition \"Agadir\" at the Curve Barbican Centre, London, 2018.'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/GettyImages-914897786.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt='Yto Barrada standing in her exhibition \"Agadir\" at the Curve Barbican Centre, London, 2018.'><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Tristan Fewings\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Yto Barrada<\/strong>, one of France\u2019s most famous living artists, will represent her home country in 2026. Barrada, who is of Moroccan descent, makes sculptures, installations, and conceptual artworks touching on a variety of interests, from the ways that ideas traverse the world to the means by which political movements are historicized. Barrada\u2019s work has appeared in the main exhibitions of two Venice Biennales, though this is the first time she is doing a national pavilion. <strong>Myriam Ben Salah<\/strong>, director and chief curator of Chicago\u2019s Renaissance Society, will organizer her pavilion. Referencing \u201ca well-known phrase from the French Revolution,\u201d the pavilion takes the title \u201cComme Saturn\u201d and draws inspiration from the Renaissance belief that \u201cartists were believed to be born under Saturn, the planet of melancholy, withdrawal, and slow thought,\u201d per a release. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Georgia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn ancient Greek mythology, Georgia holds significance, since an island off its shore is said to have held the Golden Fleece. Curators <strong>Shalva Khakhanashvili <\/strong>and<strong>Nino Metreveli <\/strong>have used that narrative as the basis for their Georgian Pavilion, which will feature the work of Tatia Darchiashvili, Konstantin Mindadze, Guram Nikoladze, Nestan Mikeladze, Manuchar Okrostsvaridze, Guela Patiachvili, Mamuka Tsetskhladze, Merab Buliskiria, Karim Borjas, Jean-Dominique Ferrucci, Aliska Lahusen, Eve Ramboz, Annette Turrillo, Pedro Morales, Eizo Sakata, Mauro Marcenaro, and Silvano Rubino.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue:<\/em><em>Palazzo Querini \u2013 Calle Lunga San Barnaba 2691<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Germany<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ifa-2025-deutscher-pavillon-henrike-naumann-und-sung-tieu-foto-victoria-tomaschko-quer.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of, from left, Henrike Naumann and Sung Tieu.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/ifa-2025-deutscher-pavillon-henrike-naumann-und-sung-tieu-foto-victoria-tomaschko-quer.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of, from left, Henrike Naumann and Sung Tieu.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Victoria Tomaschko\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn April 2025, the commissioner of the German Pavilion, ifa \u2013 Institut f\u00fcr Auslandsbeziehungen, announced that its pavilion would be curated by <strong>Kathleen Reinhardt<\/strong>, director of the Georg Kolbe Museum in Berlin, where she has organized acclaimed shows for Lin May Saeed and Noa Eshkol. A month later, Reinhardt selected <strong>Henrike Naumann<\/strong> and <strong>Sung Tieu <\/strong>as its representative artists for the 2026 Biennale, who will develop site-specific works for the pavilion. Both artists are known for creating large-scale installations that look at various political systems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cWith their conceptual and sculptural work, Sung Tieu and Henrike Naumann pose questions about historical responsibility,\u201d Reinhardt said in a statement at the time. \u201cThey examine the role of individual and collective agency from the perspective of a young generation that situates the major themes of the German Pavilion in a completely different coordinate system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tNaumann passed away on February 14, 2026, of cancer, according to her studio. A statement from her partner Clemens Villinger, and their one-year-old daughter Nina, said that Naumann\u2019s contributions to the German pavilion will be \u201crealized in the same way that her career began: as a Gemeinschaftswerk, a collaborative effort, guided by Henrike\u2019s artistic vision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Great Britain<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"309\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Lubaina-Himid-Photographer-credit_-Adama-Jalloh.jpg.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A smiling Black woman in a park.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"309\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Lubaina-Himid-Photographer-credit_-Adama-Jalloh.jpg.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A smiling Black woman in a park.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo Adama Jalloh\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Lubaina Himid<\/strong>, the 2017 winner of the Turner Prize, will represent the Great Britain this time around, making her the second Black woman ever to receive the honor. A key figure of the British Black Arts Movement of the 1980s, she is known for paintings and installations about Black liberation, often with a special focus on women. In addition to her art practice, she has also organized a string of key art shows in the UK centered around Black artists, in particular Black women artists. Titled \u201cPredicting History: Testing Translation,\u201d the pavilion will be curated by <strong>Ese Onojeruo<\/strong>, who previously worked with Himid on the artist\u2019s yearlong community project Creative Space, tied to her 2021 Tate Modern show. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Greece<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/5.-Andreas-Angelidakis-c-VASILIS-KARYDIS.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Andreas Angelidakis seated in a chair resembling a column with a dog in his lap.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/5.-Andreas-Angelidakis-c-VASILIS-KARYDIS.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Andreas Angelidakis seated in a chair resembling a column with a dog in his lap.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Vasilis Karydis\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAs has become common at the Venice Biennale, <strong>Andreas Angelidakis<\/strong>\u2019s Greek Pavilion will be a meditation on nationhood itself. Titled \u201cEscape Rooms\u201d and curated by <strong>George Bekirakis<\/strong>, his pavilion will feature an installation rooted in Plato\u2019s Cave and allude to the Nazis\u2019 rise to power, focusing specifically on 1934, a pivotal year in the party\u2019s ascent. (That year, as Angelidakis pointed out in a description for his exhibitions, was also when Greece and Austria opened their dedicated Biennale pavilions.) But more than merely gazing backward, Angelidakis will also chart how a fascination with illusions continues into the present. \u201cReplace Cave with Screen,\u201d he said in a statement, \u201cand it is every MAGA Variant staging Fascism in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Grenada<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tTaking its cues from Koyo Kouoh\u2019s curatorial text, Grenada\u2019s pavilion will this year be focused on islands. Under the title \u201cThe Poetics of Correspondence,\u201d curator <strong>Daniele Radini Tedeschi<\/strong> has assembled a group of artists that includes <strong>Edward Bowen<\/strong>, <strong>Arthur Daniel<\/strong>, <strong>Josine Dupont<\/strong>, <strong>Alexandra Kordas<\/strong>, <strong>Lilo Nido and Chris Mast<\/strong>, <strong>Jeverson Ramirez<\/strong>, <strong>the Holzwege Group<\/strong>, and <strong>Russell Watson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Spazio Berlendis, Cannaregio 6301\/A<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Guatemala<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tGuatemala\u2019s pavilion this year called \u201cLas Invisibles,\u201d a reference, curators <strong>Stefania Pieralice<\/strong> and <strong>Elsie Wunderlich<\/strong> have said, to \u201cMayan women who offer their lives to the community daily, using mill, stone, and clay slabs to process corn, the source of everything and a tool for the appropriation of a people\u2019s identity.\u201d Paying homage to those women\u2019s ancient traditions and the earth they tend daily, the exhibition will feature work by <strong>ARKEO<\/strong>, <strong>Luana Bottallo<\/strong>, <strong>Jorge Chavarr\u00eda<\/strong>, <strong>Manuel Navichoc<\/strong>, <strong>Ana Lorena N\u00fa\u00f1ez<\/strong>, <strong>SOY artistic group<\/strong>, and <strong>Wunderlich<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Spazio Berlendis, Cannaregio 6301<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Guinea<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tGuinea is making its Venice Biennale debut with a pavilion that includes not just one or even a few artists, but more than 60 of them. Curator <strong>Bilia Bah<\/strong> has organized the pavilion, which is titled \u201cLe Son de l\u2019Art: L\u2019\u00c9cho de la Mati\u00e8re\u201d and features the following artists: Francesco Tullio Altan, Paola Arrigoni, Bella Bah, Nino Barone, Stefania Basso, Emiliano Bazzanella, Giuliana Bellini, Milena Bellomo, Bluer (Lorenzo Viscidi), Alda B\u00f2scaro, Alessandro Cadamuro, Carmine Calvanese, Carmela Candido, Giancarlo Caneva, Tommaso Cascella, Giancarlo Cazzaniga, Bruno Ceccobelli, Giorgio Celiberti, Giorgio Celiberti Jr., Maurizio Cervellati, Marco Ciani, Massimo Clemente, Bachir DiaIlo, Bruno Donzelli, Mauro Filigheddu, Mirko Filipuzzi, Pasquale Fraccalvieri, Ferruccio Franz, Carla Galli Morandi, Omar Galliani, Andrea Marco Ghia, King Emmanuel, Gianni Maglio, Paolo Marazzi, Rossella Marchesin, Marvin, Enzo Migneco (Togo), Zdravko Mili\u0107, Giampaolo Muliari, Lucia Paese, Bruno Paladin, Giorgio Pastres, Ottavio Pinarello, Giuseppina Pioli, Manuela Pittana, Adriano Piu, Stefano Pizzi, Claudia Raza, Rosaspina, Andrea Rossi Andrea, Marco Nereo Rotelli, Gernot Schmerlaib (BIX), Cesare e Noah Serafino, Alessio Serpetti, Leo Strozzieri, S\u00e9kou Oumar Thiam, Lucia Tomasi, Angelo Toppazzini, Maurizio Valdemarin, Andrea Vizzini, Luciana Zabarella, Marina Zambon, Tono Zancanaro, Leonardo Zanin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue:<\/em><em>Isola di San Servolo<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Haiti<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tArtist <strong>Enock Placide<\/strong> will represent Haiti this year with a presentation entitled \u201cYelena\u2019s Garden.\u201d Curated by <strong>Mario Savini<\/strong>, that exhibition will feature a glass sphere, a video, and paintings that evoke \u201can open and processual system,\u201d per the press materials. Some of the paintings will depict sunsets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello Cannaregio 4118<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Holy See<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"255\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fd9f8b65-89bc-4f10-b740-015687c6e1b0.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A garden with purple flowers and the inside of an old Italian building with columns and a patterned marble floor.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"255\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/fd9f8b65-89bc-4f10-b740-015687c6e1b0.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A garden with purple flowers and the inside of an old Italian building with columns and a patterned marble floor.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy\u00a0Dicastero\u00a0per la Cultura e\u00a0l\u2019Educazione\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe pavilion for the Vatican, or the Holy See as the city-state\u2019s government is officially called, was among the most talked-about national presentations out of 2024\u2019s Biennale, and the 2026 edition looks to continue the attention-grabbing spirit of the last one. Serpentine Galleries artistic director <strong>Hans Ulrich Obrist <\/strong>and chief technology officer <strong>Ben Vickers<\/strong> will serve as curators, working in collaboration with <strong>Soundwalk Collective<\/strong> for a show called \u201cThe Ear Is the Eye of the Soul\u201d that will feature 24 artists and collectives and be spread across two venues: the Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelites and the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, in Castello.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe participating artists are Caterina Barbieri, Tatiana Bilbao Estudio, Carminho, Suzanne Ciani, Ilda David\u2019, Benedictine Nuns of the Abbey of St. Hildegard Eibingen, Brian Eno, Holly Herndon &amp; Mat Dryhurst, Devont\u00e9 Hynes, Jim Jarmusch, Bhanu Kapil, Alexander Kluge, Laraaji, Kazu Makino, Kali Malone, Meredith Monk, Moor Mother, Otobong Nkanga, Precious Okoyomon, Terry Rile, Patti Smith, FKA Twigs, and Ra\u00fal Zurita. A quote by Pope Leo XIV guides the pavilion: \u201cThe logic of algorithms tends to repeat what \u2018works,\u2019 but art opens up what is possible. Not everything has to be immediate or predictable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venues: <em>Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, Fondamenta S. Gioacchin, Castello 450<\/em><\/em>; <em>and<\/em><em>Giardino Mistico dei Carmelitani Scalzi, Cannaregio<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Hong Kong<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/hong-kong-venice-biennale-Kingsley-Ng-Angel-Hui.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Two Hong Kong artists, Kingsley Ng and Angel Hui, dressed all in black, pose for the camera seated on a bench at the side of a canal in Venice, with the city's distinctive skyline in the distance\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/hong-kong-venice-biennale-Kingsley-Ng-Angel-Hui.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Two Hong Kong artists, Kingsley Ng and Angel Hui, dressed all in black, pose for the camera seated on a bench at the side of a canal in Venice, with the city's distinctive skyline in the distance\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Hong Kong Arts Development Council\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHong Kong does not have an official pavilion at the Biennale because it is not recognized as a state in Italy, but, as a special administrative region of China, it has staged a national presentation as a collateral event since 2001. During the making of its 2026 outing, Hong Kong changed things up, dropping M+ as its longtime organizer and bringing on two artists instead of one. Those artists are <strong>Angel Hui<\/strong> and <strong>Kingsley Ng<\/strong>, whose presentation will focus on \u201cthe poetic rhythms of daily life,\u201d according to its description. Titled \u201cFermata: Hong Kong in Venice,\u201d the pavilion\u2019s new organizer is the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Campo della Tana, Castello 2126<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Hungary<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/hungary.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of the artistic team for the Hungary Pavilion (from left): curator Luca Cserhalmi, artist Endre Koronczi, and commissioner Julia Fab\u00e9nyi, director of the Ludwig Museum.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/hungary.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of the artistic team for the Hungary Pavilion (from left): curator Luca Cserhalmi, artist Endre Koronczi, and commissioner Julia Fab\u00e9nyi, director of the Ludwig Museum.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo Zs\u00f3fia Szab\u00f3\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBudapest-based artist <strong>Endre Koronczi <\/strong>will represent Hungary with a project titled \u201cPneuma Cosmic,\u201d which will continue his long-term studies into \u201cthe movement of air\u201d via \u201cfictional research revealing the forms of the cosmic breath that fills the entire world and manifests as air movement,\u201d according to a release. Koronczi was selected through an open-call process administered by the pavilion\u2019s commissioner, Julia Fab\u00e9nyi, the director of the Ludwig Museum in Budapest; <strong>Luca Cserhalmi<\/strong> will serve as the pavilion\u2019s curator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<br \/><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Iceland<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/asta-fanney-sigurdardottir-photo-hallvar-bugge-johnsen-2000x3000-copy.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A smiling white woman in a pink baseball cap with her hands in her red vest's pockets.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/asta-fanney-sigurdardottir-photo-hallvar-bugge-johnsen-2000x3000-copy.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A smiling white woman in a pink baseball cap with her hands in her red vest's pockets.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Hallvar Bugge Johnson\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMany artists work in multiple mediums, but even by those standards, <strong>\u00c1sta Fanney Sigur\u00f0ard\u00f3ttir<\/strong>\u2019s oeuvre is pretty diverse. In addition to writing poems and making music, she has also produced what are commonly described as experimental operas. Guiding much of her work is a fascination with words, which she often tries to communicate in ways that exceed traditional forms of writing and speaking. Organized by independent curator <strong>Margr\u00e9t \u00c1skelsd\u00f3ttir<\/strong> and artist <strong>Unnar \u00d6rn<\/strong>, Iceland\u2019s 2026 pavilion sees the exhibition move to a new location, the Docks Cantieri Cucchini, which will inform the experience of the exhibition. For the pavilion, according to a release,Sigur\u00f0ard\u00f3ttir will consider \u201cwhere faith is placed, and on the friction between imagination and reality\u2014moments where the two overlap, blur, and create new possibilities for belief.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Docks Cantieri Cucchini, San Pietro di Castello<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>India<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"303\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Sumakshi-Singh-3-c-Tanya-Singh.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An artist working on a textile work, seen from through the work.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"303\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Sumakshi-Singh-3-c-Tanya-Singh.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An artist working on a textile work, seen from through the work.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Tanya Singh\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tReturning to the Biennale for the first time since 2019, the Indian Pavilion this year take the title \u201cGeographies of Distance: remembering home,\u201d with work by five artists: <strong>Alwar Balasubramaniam (Bala)<\/strong>, <strong>Sumakshi Singh<\/strong>, <strong>Ranjani Shettar<\/strong>, <strong>Asim Waqif<\/strong>, and <strong>Skarma Sonam Tashi<\/strong>. Per a release, the pavilion will look at how the concept of home \u201cbecomes less a fixed place and more a portable condition: part memory, part material, part ritual, part personal mythology.\u201d The exhibition will be curated by <strong>Amin Jaffer<\/strong>, director of the Al Thani Collection, and it is being presented by the Indian Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai and Serendipity Arts Foundation in New Delhi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Indonesia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIt\u2019s been seven years since Indonesia has shown at the Venice Biennale, but now the nation is back with a pavilion called \u201cPrinting the Unprinted.\u201d <strong>Aminudin TH Siregar<\/strong>, a curator at the National Gallery of Indonesia, will organize the presentation, which will features artists such as <strong>Agus Suwage<\/strong>, <strong>Syahrizal Pahlevi<\/strong>, <strong>R. E. Hartanto<\/strong>, <strong>Nurdian Ichsan<\/strong>, <strong>Theresia Agustina Sitompul (Terre)<\/strong>, <strong>Mariam Sofrina<\/strong>, and <strong>Rusyan Yasin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Cannaregio 1798<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Iran<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFew details for Iran\u2019s pavilion were available when the Venice Biennale announced every national exhibition this past March. That remains the case as of late April, leaving it uncertain what form this pavilion will take\u2014especially considering that Iran is still locked in a war led by the US and Israel (both of whom are participating in the Biennale). All that is known about the pavilion is that <strong>Aydin Mahdizadeh Tehrani<\/strong> is the pavilion\u2019s commissioner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Not listed on the Biennale website<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Ireland<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ireland.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Six people stand in front of a white false wall.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/ireland.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Six people stand in front of a white false wall.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Ste Murray\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tDublin-based artist <strong>Isabel Nolan<\/strong> will represent Ireland, with <strong>Georgia Jackson<\/strong>, director of the Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art at Trinity College, serving as curator. Nolan works in a variety of mediums, and her practice often explores themes of cosmology, mythology, history, and mortality. For the pavilion, she will present hand-tufted tapestry, drawing, and sculpture. Its title, \u201cDreamshook,\u201d according to a release, \u201cdescribes the feeling of waking from a\u00a0dream, when\u00a0reality is\u00a0destabilized\u00a0and realms of possibility linger and dissipate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Israel<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"339\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_3473.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Belu-Simion Fainaru.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"339\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_3473.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Belu-Simion Fainaru.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo Mark Niedirmann\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAt the 2024 Biennale, the Israeli Pavilion never opened, as artist Ruth Patir said she would keep it closed until Hamas released Israeli hostages and Israel agreed to a ceasefire. (Neither happened before that Biennale ended, so the pavilion remained shuttered to the public.) But that is not likely to happen with the 2026 edition, by the Romanian-born, Haifa-based sculptor <strong>Belu-Simion Fainaru<\/strong>, which looks to be moving forward as planned\u2014even as artists in the Biennale\u2019s main exhibition have protested the pavilion, claiming it is inappropriate to \u201cplatform the Israeli state as it commits genocide.\u201d (The Biennale has said it won\u2019t remove that pavilion\u2014or Russia\u2019s\u2014from the show.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFainaru\u2019s pavilion will take the title \u201cRose of Nothingness,\u201d with <strong>Avital Bar-Shay <\/strong>and<strong> Sorin Heller <\/strong>serving as curators. Drawing inspiration from poet Paul Celan, Fainaru will create an installation involving 16 pipes that will drip black water into a pool. It will be staged in the Arsenale rather than in the Giardini\u2019s permanent pavilion for Israel, which the nation has said is under renovation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Italy<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cecilia-canziani-chiara-camoni-ph-lorenzo-palmieri.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Cecilia Canziani and Chiara Camoni.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cecilia-canziani-chiara-camoni-ph-lorenzo-palmieri.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Cecilia Canziani and Chiara Camoni.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Lorenzo Palmieri\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tItaly has one of the biggest Venice Biennale pavilions, and the nation has historically filled its walls with extravagant, grand, and showy installations. Italy\u2019s 2026 representative, <strong>Chiara Camoni<\/strong>, seems likely to buck that trend because she works in a more understated manner. Her sculptures are often composed of terracotta, ceramic, and fabric elements that are combined to create forms similar to ones seen in nature. Sometimes, Camoni also sculpts mysterious images of women that seem one step removed from the days of antiquity. Her Venice pavilion, titled \u201cCon te con tutto\u201d (With you, with everything), will be curated by <strong>Cecilia Canziani<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Japan<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/arakawanash.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A Japanese man with long hair holds twin babies.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/arakawanash.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A Japanese man with long hair holds twin babies.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Ricardo Nagaoka\/Courtesy of the Japan Foundation\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tEven though <strong>Ei Arakawa-Nash<\/strong> gave up his Japanese nationality several years ago, he has gained a wide audience in the country where he was born, with a sprawling survey for him staged by the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in 2024. Known for imaginative works in which he stretches the possibilities of painting, turning activities typically done behind closed doors in a studio into public-facing performances, the Los Angeles\u2013based artist will now take on a personal topic: his journey as the queer father of two baby twins. His pavilion, titled \u201cGrass Babies, Moon Babies,\u201d will take as its jumping-off point the 1962 Japanese film <em>Being Two Isn\u2019t Easy<\/em>, about the trials and tribulations of a family unit as observed by a little kid. <strong>Lisa Horikawa<\/strong> and <strong>Mizuki Takahashi <\/strong>will curate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Kazakhstan<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"256\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Catalogue_Asel-Kadyrkhanova_The-Machine-Courtesy-of-the-artist.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An installation composed of a typewriter on the floor with long red threads coming out of that extend up to the walls.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"256\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Catalogue_Asel-Kadyrkhanova_The-Machine-Courtesy-of-the-artist.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An installation composed of a typewriter on the floor with long red threads coming out of that extend up to the walls.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy the artist\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Qo\u00f1yr<\/em>, the Kazakh term that lends this pavilion its title, refers both to a shade of brown and a certain kind of sound that is shot through with nostalgia. The works in this show organized by artist and curator Syrlybek Bekbota are thus muted and typically sound-oriented. Artists showing here include <strong>Ardak Mukanova<\/strong>, <strong>Assel Kadyrkhanova<\/strong>, <strong>ADYR\u2011ASPAN<\/strong> (Gulmaral Tattibayeva and Natalia Ligay), <strong>Anar Aubakir<\/strong>, <strong>Smail Bayaliyev<\/strong>, <strong>Nurbol Nurakhmet<\/strong>, <strong>Mansur Smagambetov<\/strong>, and <strong>Oralbek Kaboke.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Museo Storico Navale, Castello 2148 (Riva S. Biasio)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Korea<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"278\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/e-flux_1014.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Binna Choi, Goen Choi, and Hyeree Ro sitting on a bed.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"278\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/e-flux_1014.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Binna Choi, Goen Choi, and Hyeree Ro sitting on a bed.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Donghwan Kam, artist at SeMA Nanji Residency\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe Arts Council Korea selected <strong>Binna Choi <\/strong>as the curator for its upcoming pavilion, from a list of 18 candidates. Choi is a fixture on the biennale circuit, having curated the 2016 Gwagnju Biennale, served as co\u2013artistic director of the 2022 Singapore Biennale, and co-curating the Hawaii Triennial 2025. Choi has selected Seoul-based artist <strong>Goen Choi<\/strong> and New York\u2013based artist <strong>Hyeree Ro<\/strong> as the country\u2019s representatives for a pavilion entitled \u201cLiberation Space,\u201d a nod to the three-year period following Japan\u2019s defeat in World War II and Korea\u2019s subsequent liberation from colonial rule. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn a statement, Choi recalled this moment recently when the country \u201cexperienced an abrupt declaration of martial law by our sitting president, followed by over four months of nationwide impeachment rallies despite a deeply divided polity.\u201d The \u201cLiberation Space,\u201d for which the artists will create a \u201cliving monument,\u201d will offer a site to consider that postwar moment\u2019s \u201cevolution, continuity, and transnational potential amidst today\u2019s geopolitics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Kosovo<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/523935246_1249325843655441_2647937815408456970_n.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A smiling man in a chair.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/523935246_1249325843655441_2647937815408456970_n.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A smiling man in a chair.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo Mrine Godanca\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFor the first time, Kosovo will be represented by a painter: <strong>Brilant Milazimi<\/strong>, whose figurative canvases often feature people with elongated bodies. According to the pavilion\u2019s jury, the new works produced by Milazimi will ask: \u201cwhat happens to a person, a body, a nation, when it is endlessly in motion? What habits are formed in stillness? What tensions accumulate during pause?\u201d <strong>Jos\u00e9 Esparza Chong Cuy<\/strong>, director and chief curator of New York\u2019s Storefront for Art and Architecture, will curate the pavilion, titled \u201cHard Teeth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Chiesa di Santa Maria del Pianto<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Kyrgyzstan<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Alexey-Morosov-video-projection-featuring-Kyrgyz-dams-and-sequences-of-kok-boru-detail-frame-with-a-horse-and-a-centaur-kok-boru-player.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man standing next to a horse.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Alexey-Morosov-video-projection-featuring-Kyrgyz-dams-and-sequences-of-kok-boru-detail-frame-with-a-horse-and-a-centaur-kok-boru-player.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man standing next to a horse.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy the artist\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Alexey Morosov<\/strong> will represent Kyrgyzstan this year with a pavilion titled \u201cBELEK,\u201d its name translating from the Kyrgyz to \u201cgift.\u201d The titular installation will center around bodies of water and will invoke Brutalist architecture and <em>Kok Boru<\/em>, a game played on horseback by people belonging to Central Asian cultures. Curated by art historian <strong>Geraldine Leardi<\/strong>, the pavilion will mark \u201cnot a return to the past, but a movement through it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Ex Chiesa di Santa Caterina, Convitto Foscarini, Cannaregio 4941<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Latvia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/78d6d6f0-2724-f058-a6d3-fda30afc7692.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"MAREUNROL\u2019S and Bruno Birmanis.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/78d6d6f0-2724-f058-a6d3-fda30afc7692.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"MAREUNROL\u2019S and Bruno Birmanis.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Ralfs Cimmermanis\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWhereas most pavilions tend to highlight artists still working, Lativa\u2019s 2026 representative will be a collective that disbanded more than two decades ago. <strong>Untamed Fashion Assemblies<\/strong>, which was active between 1990 and 1999, will be the subject of the Latvian Pavilion, which approaches the collective as an \u201cunfinished project, one that speaks to urgent conversations around artistic experimentation, gender self-performance, anti-consumerist production, and collective imagination,\u201d per a release. Founded by artist <strong>Bruno Birmanis<\/strong>, the collective\u2019s output bridged the gap between art, fashion, and other fields, and sought to divine connections between disparate countries in the Baltic region, Central Europe, Western Europe, and elsewhere. <strong>Inga L\u0101ce<\/strong> and <strong>Adomas Narkevi\u010dius<\/strong>, the pavilion\u2019s curators, described the group not as \u201can attempt to mirror the West, but something stranger, and radically its own.\u201d The duo <strong>MAREUNROL\u2019S<\/strong> will also contribute to the pavilion, titled \u201cUntamed Assembly: Backstage of Utopia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Lebanon<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-591567070.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Nabil Nahas.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-591567070.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Nabil Nahas.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Patrick McMullan via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Nabil Nahas<\/strong>, a painter known for abstractions inspired by natural phenomena and architecture, will represent Lebanon at the Biennale. His pavilion, titled \u201cDon\u2019t Get Me Wrong,\u201d will be curated by <strong>Nada Ghandour<\/strong> and is being organized by the Lebanese Visual Art Association, which praised Nahas for making art that \u201cresonates with contemporary concerns while evoking both the spiritual and the material, the intimate and the cosmic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Lithuania<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1948994-796075-756x425-1.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A film still showing a woman crouched down with her ams up in a desert landscape with two people behind her leaning on rocks.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1948994-796075-756x425-1.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A film still showing a woman crouched down with her ams up in a desert landscape with two people behind her leaning on rocks.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Egl\u0117 Budvytyt\u0117\/Courtesy the artist\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tCommissioned by the Lithuanian National Museum of Art and curated by independent curator <strong>Louise O\u2019Kelly<\/strong>, Lithuania\u2019s pavilion will be done by <strong>Egl\u0117 Budvytyt\u0117<\/strong>, who has titled it \u201canimism sings anarchy.\u201d The artist is no stranger to Venice, having shown in the main exhibition of the 2022 Biennale, organized by Cecilia Alemani. Based in Amsterdam and the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, Budvytyt\u0117 is known for performances and video art. For this Biennale, she will show <em>Warmblooded and Wingless<\/em>, an ongoing work begun in 2024 that encompasses a multichannel film as well as sound and spatial components. \u201cHaving worked with Egle for several years, I am particularly attracted to her authentic approach to embodiment, social relations and our symbiotic relationship with the environment,\u201d O\u2019Kelly told <em>LRT<\/em>. \u201cHaving grown up in Lithuania, she opens up a unique worldview in her works, showing the importance of lost belief and other systems of knowledge and ways of coexistence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Fucina del Futuro, Castello 5063\/B<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Luxembourg<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"247\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/lux.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Aline Bouvy.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"247\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/lux.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Aline Bouvy.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Aline Bouvy\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBorn in Brussels, <strong>Aline Bouvy<\/strong> is now based between Luxembourg and Belgium. The multidisciplinary artist often looks at the relationship between bodies and the spaces that they inhabit. Her work has taken the form of sculptures, paintings, photography, and more. Titled \u201cLa Merde,\u201d the pavilion takes its name from Bouvy\u2019s first film; in this presentation it will take \u201cthe form of an immersive audiovisual installation combining cinema, sound, and sculpture\u201d and be \u201c[c]entered around an anthropomorphic excrement figure,\u201d per a release. It is curated by <strong>Stilb\u00e9 Schroeder<\/strong>, curator and head of department for exhibitions and programme at Casino Luxembourg \u2013 Forum d\u2019art contemporain, which serves as its commissioner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Macao<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"299\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/l.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An image of a person looking through a folding screen with holes cut into it.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"299\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/l.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An image of a person looking through a folding screen with holes cut into it.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Macao Cultural Affairs Bureau\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Fok Hoi Seng<\/strong>, <strong>O Chi Wai<\/strong>, and <strong>Lei Fung Ieng<\/strong> will work together for this pavilion, titled \u201cJacone\u2019s Polyphony\u201d in reference to the Portuguese name for Chinese painter Wu Li, who spent time in Macao. Their pavilion will take up the notion of cultural fusion and will be curated by <strong>Feng Yan<\/strong> and <strong>Ng Sio<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale, Campo della Tana, Castello 2126\/A<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Malta<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/malta.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A large piece of chocolate rests on a stone plinth overlooking a body of water.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/malta.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A large piece of chocolate rests on a stone plinth overlooking a body of water.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Alexandra Pace \t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThree artists\u2014<strong>Adrian MM Abela<\/strong>, <strong>Charlie Cauchi<\/strong>, and <strong>Raphael Vella<\/strong>\u2014will represent Malta under a project titled \u201cNo Need to Sparkle; Experiments in Love and Revolution.\u201dAccording to a press release the pavilion\u2019s theme is \u201can invitation to surrender to uncertainty and to embrace \u2018doubting well\u2019 as a philosophy of our unstable times.\u201d Abela is a Los Angeles\u2013based artist who studied architecture and civil engineering in Malta and Milan before receiving an MFA in sculpture at the University of California, Los Angeles. Cauchi is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Malta. Vella is a professor of art education and socially engaged art at the University of Malta. The pavilion will be organized by <strong>Margerita Pul\u00e8<\/strong>, an independent curator and the founder-director of Malta\u2019s Unfinished Art Space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Mexico<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ColectivoRojonegroRetratodeSombraI2024.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A painting of small figurines falling through a light blue void with the outlines of leaves visible in it.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ColectivoRojonegroRetratodeSombraI2024.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A painting of small figurines falling through a light blue void with the outlines of leaves visible in it.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy the artist\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>RojoNegro Collective<\/strong>, a Mexico City\u2013based duo composed of Mar\u00eda Sosa and No\u00e9 Mart\u00ednez, will represent Mexico with a pavilion entitled \u201cActos invisibles para sostener el universo\u201d (Invisible Acts to Sustain the Universe). Per its description, the pavilion will contend with topics such as \u201cancestral memory, epistemic justice, decolonization, and relational ecology, drawing on indigenous, Afro-descendant, and peasant cosmogonies not as external references, but as living matrices of thought that shape their forms of creation, connection, and imagination.\u201d <strong>Jessica Berlanga Taylor<\/strong> will curate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Moldova<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1.-Pavel-Braila_Photo-credit_-Sorin-Florea-SRN07312.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Pavel Br\u0103ila.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1.-Pavel-Braila_Photo-credit_-Sorin-Florea-SRN07312.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Pavel Br\u0103ila.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Sorin Florea\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Pavel Br\u0103ila<\/strong>, an artist based between Chi\u0219in\u0103u and Berlin, will be the first artist to represent Moldova at the Biennale, with Bucharest-based <strong>Adelina Luft<\/strong> serving as curator. Taking the title \u201cOn the Thousand and Second Night,\u201d his installation will present \u201can ensemble of carpets hover[ing] between floor and vault, suspended by drones\u201d within an church, according to a release. As with several other pavilions, Br\u0103ila\u2019s will respond to \u201cIn Minor Keys,\u201d unfolding \u201cwithin a register of low frequencies: murmur, attention, and proximity,\u201d per the release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Spazio Santa Veneranda, Chiesa dei Santi Geremia e Lucia\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Mongolia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/572795786_790468693800042_5325187834646127173_n-2-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Four men and women posed together.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/572795786_790468693800042_5325187834646127173_n-2-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Four men and women posed together.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Contemporary Art Center of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tNotions of togetherness and enmeshment will guide Mongolia\u2019s pavilion this year, which will be called \u201cEntanglements: Connectivites Across Borders\u201d and curated by <strong>Uranchimeg Tsultem<\/strong> and <strong>Thomas Eller<\/strong>. Mining the relationship between humans and nonhumans and the earthly and spiritual realms, this pavilion \u201creconsiders Mongolia not as a fixed geography but as a dynamic field of exchange,\u201d per its description. It will include work by <strong>Nomin Bold<\/strong>, <strong>Gerelkhuu Ganbold<\/strong>,<strong>Tuguldur Yondonjamts<\/strong>, and <strong>Dorjderem Davaa.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Squero Castello, Salizada Streta 368<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Montenegro<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFor this pavilion, artist <strong>Sini\u0161a Radulovi\u0107 <\/strong>is debuting an installation called <em>Out of the Blue, I\u2019m Swept Away<\/em>, which is loosely based on his own living space. With its glass flooring and its walls projected with abstract videos, the installation is meant to resemble \u201ca demonstrative micro-laboratory,\u201d per the pavilion\u2019s description. At stake in the work, that description notes, is a fascination with image culture and all that it has wrought upon humanity. <strong>Svetlana Racanovi\u0107<\/strong> will curate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Artenova, Castello 5063<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Morocco<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"277\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-108206576.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Amina Aguenzay standing beside a mannequin with a weaving slung around its shoulders.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"277\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-108206576.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Amina Aguenzay standing beside a mannequin with a weaving slung around its shoulders.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: WireImage via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMorocco had plans to make its premiere at the Venice Biennale in 2024, though the pavilion ended up being disbanded amid what one of the country\u2019s representatives called a \u201cnightmare\u201d situation behind the scenes. Now, Morocco is trying once more, this time with <strong>Amina Agueznay<\/strong>, an artist known for elegant weavings made with the assistance of local artisans. <strong>Meriem Berrada<\/strong>, artistic director of Marrakesh\u2019s MACAAL museum, will curate the pavilion, entitled \u201cAs\u01dd\u1e6d\u1e6da,\u201d an Amazigh word for ritual weaving, according to a release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Nauru<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/videoframe_21797.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man holds an aersol can whose spray is ignited in an icy terrain.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/videoframe_21797.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man holds an aersol can whose spray is ignited in an icy terrain.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: \u00a9Stefano Cagol\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe island republic of Nauru will present its first-ever pavilion at the Biennale this year. Titled \u201cAIM Inundated: Imagining Life After Land,\u201d the group presentation will present \u201cNauru\u2014the world\u2019s smallest island nation\u2014as an early and universal example of loss, adaptation, and resilience, a warning and guide for a shared future\u201d that is impacted by \u201crising sea levels, environmental exhaustion, and the enduring legacies of colonial extractivism,\u201d per a release. \u201cAIM Inundate\u201d will feature the work of 10 artists working in a range of mediums, painting and installation to video and photography.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tA centerpiece of the presentation will be a video work entitled <em>We Are All Nauru<\/em> by artist <strong>Stefano Cagol<\/strong>, who also serves as an associate curator of the project. The chief curator of the pavilion is <strong>Khaled Ramadan<\/strong>, who makes up one-half of the duo, <strong>CPS Chamber of Public Secrets<\/strong>, with Alfredo Cramerotti; they will show a selection of objects from their archive into ecological distress. (<strong>Camilla Boemio <\/strong>will also serves as associate curator of the pavilion.) The other participating artists are <strong>Kauw Tsitsi<\/strong>, <strong>Patricia Jacomella Bonola<\/strong>, <strong>Tedo Rekhviashvili<\/strong>, <strong>Sylvia Grace Borda<\/strong>, <strong>Ron Laboray<\/strong>, <strong>Dorian Batycka<\/strong>, <strong>Khaled\u00a0Hafez<\/strong>, and <strong>Iv Toshain<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Spazio Castello 3683, Calle Bosello 3683, Castello\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>New Zealand<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"287\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-526763952.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An Indigenous woman with flowers i her hair and a wrap across her shoulders.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"287\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-526763952.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"An Indigenous woman with flowers i her hair and a wrap across her shoulders.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Fiona Goodall\/AFP via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe 2024 Biennale was a notable one for New Zealand in two ways. Ahead of the show, the country said it couldn\u2019t host its pavilion that year after a report revealed that there were \u201cinadequate\u201d resources to do so. Then, at the exhibition itself, the M\u0101ori artists\u2019 group Mataaho Collective took the top honors. With all that in the background, New Zealand has now officially plotted its return to the Biennale, and has even promised pavilions through the 2030 edition. In 2026, photographer <strong>Fiona Pardington<\/strong> (K\u0101i Tahu, K\u0101ti Mamoe, Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu, Clan Cameron of Erracht) will do the New Zealand Pavilion, which takes the title \u201cTaharaki Skyside\u201d and is being billed as \u201can atmospheric exhibition.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Istituto Provinciale per I\u2019Infanzia Santa Maria della Piet\u00e0 di Venezia, Riva degli Schiavoni, Castello 3702<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>The Netherlands<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"273\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/250312_Dries-Verhoeven-en-Rieke-Vos8134cRdePuy-768x1024-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Dries Verhoeven and Rieke Vos.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"273\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/250312_Dries-Verhoeven-en-Rieke-Vos8134cRdePuy-768x1024-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Dries Verhoeven and Rieke Vos.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo Robin de Puy\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFor the first time ever, performance art will fill the Dutch Pavilion, courtesy of artist <strong>Dries Verhoeven<\/strong>, who will work on the presentation in collaboration with curator <strong>Rieke Vos<\/strong>. On Verhoeven\u2019s mind are some pretty bleak topics. \u201cGeopolitical tensions are grave, and that\u2019s putting it mildly,\u201d he said in a statement about the project, titled <em>The Fortress<\/em>. \u201cIt has been many years since our future felt this uncertain. I want to attempt to make this unease tangible, within the \u2018safe space\u2019 of the Biennale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Nordic Countries<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"289\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GROUP_photoFNG_PirjeMykkanen005.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A group portrait of artists Benjamin Orlow, Tori Wr\u00e5nes, Klara Kristalova against three black backdrops.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"289\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GROUP_photoFNG_PirjeMykkanen005.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A group portrait of artists Benjamin Orlow, Tori Wr\u00e5nes, Klara Kristalova against three black backdrops.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Pirje Mykk\u00e4nen\/Finnish National Gallery\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe Nordic Countries Pavilion, a collaboration between Finland, Norway, and Sweden, has selected three artists for its 2026 Biennale presentation, which will be curated by <strong>Anna Mustonen<\/strong>, chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki. They are <strong>Klara Kristalova<\/strong>, <strong>Benjamin Orlow<\/strong>, and <strong>Tori Wr\u00e5nes<\/strong>. With the \u201cHow Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?,\u201d the exhibition, according to Mustonen, \u201cinvites visitors to journey through a dynamic interplay of imagination and reality that bridges Nordic cultural heritage with broader global contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>North Macedonia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/photo-credit-Zarko-Culic.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man seated beneath two golden wings.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/photo-credit-Zarko-Culic.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man seated beneath two golden wings.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo Zarko Culic\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFor this pavilion, <strong>Velimir Zernovski<\/strong> will remake Michelangelo\u2019s <em>Piet\u00e0<\/em> at one-third of its actual size, adorning its surfaces with the golden emergency blankets frequently used to safeguard refugees. The title of his pavilion is \u201cPiet\u00e0 in the Emergency Blankets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Ex Cappella Buon Pastore, Castello 77<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Oman<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/oman.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Haitham Al Busafi.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/oman.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Haitham Al Busafi.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Oman Pavilion\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tServing as both artist and curator, <strong>Haitham Al Busafi<\/strong> represents Oman with \u201cZinah,\u201d an immersive installation rooted in the practice of <em>Al-zaanah<\/em>, the traditional Omani silver adornment used for horses. A key element of Omani cultural heritage, Al-zaanah functions both as craft and as a visual language articulating the bond between rider and horse. For the Biennale, Al Busafi reimagines this symbolic system as a participatory environment in which silver forms are suspended above a sand-covered floor continually reshaped by visitors\u2019 movement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAs Al Busafi explains in a statement, \u201cThe Al-zaanah taught me that adornment is not about possession or display, it is about recognition. A culture that adorns its horses is a culture that refuses to treat any companion as mere instrument, but as an extension of the self.\u201d The pavilion is commissioned be Sayyd Saeed bin Sultan bin Yarub Al Busaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth for Culture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Pakistan<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pakistan.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/pakistan.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Pakistan Pavilion\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tLahore-born artist <strong>Faiza Butt<\/strong> will represent Pakistan in \u201cPunjAB \u2013 A Sublime Terrain,\u201d marking the country\u2019s second participation following its inaugural pavilion in 2019. Working across drawing, painting, and sculpture, Butt\u2019s presentation surveys recent cultural memory in Pakistan while situating it within broader global conversations in contemporary art.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tPavilion curator <strong>Cifuentes Feliciano<\/strong> said in a statement: \u201cMy curatorial approach foregrounds plural art histories, positioning contemporary art from Pakistan in dialogue with inherited traditions of making.\u201d The pavilion is commissioned by <strong>Yaqoob Khan Bangash<\/strong>, a historian of modern South Asia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Ex Farmacia Solveni, Dorsoduro 993-994<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Palestine<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"262\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/palestine.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A cross-stitch tapestry showing the figure of a little girl in a fiery landscape.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"262\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/palestine.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A cross-stitch tapestry showing the figure of a little girl in a fiery landscape.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Faisal Saleh\/Courtesy Palestine Museum US\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tItaly is one of the 11 EU countries that currently does not recognize Palestine as a nation-state, though as recently as September 2025, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her country would recognize Palestine once all of the Israeli hostages had been released and Hamas was excluded from any government, according to <em>Reuters<\/em>. (The hostages were released in October 2025.) As such, Palestine does not have an official national participation at the Biennale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tTo circumvent this reality, the Palestine Museum US, located in Woodbridge, Connecticut, has mounted a collateral event highlighting the work of Palestinian artists at the 2022 and 2024 Biennales. The museum will once again stage a collateral event for the 2026 edition, carrying the title: <em>\u201c _____________\u201d *: * Gaza \u2013 No Words \u2013 See the Exhibit<\/em>. The pavilion will feature 100 pieces of Palestinian <em>tatreez<\/em> (hand embroidery) that document Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza. Several of the works were made by Palestinian women in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan, and the West Bank. Each piece measures 50 by 80 centimeters (about 20 by 31.5 inches) and has 55,000 stitches, totaling 5.5 million stitches, according to a release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAccording to the release, the exhibition \u201cserves as an indelible record of the atrocities in Gaza, preserving evidence and bearing witness to the experiences of those affected. The exhibit aims to raise global awareness and urge the international community toward accountability and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: <em>Palazzo Mora, Strada Nova, Cannaregio 3659<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Panama<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"271\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_Panama-Pavilion.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"271\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_Panama-Pavilion.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Jacob Gesink at Framer Framed Amsterdam\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tTwo years after showing in the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale, <strong>Antonio Jos\u00e9 Guzm\u00e1n<\/strong> and <strong>Iva Jankovic<\/strong>, a duo who also go by the name <strong>Messengers of the Sun<\/strong>, are returning to the lagoon city, this time as the national representatives for Guzm\u00e1n\u2019s home country, Panama. (Jankovic was born in the former Yugoslavia.) Together, they will present a large-scale installation and performance that explores communities that were displaced\u2014and largely scrubbed from the annals of history\u2014during the construction of the Panama Canal. Titled \u201cTropical Hyperstition,\u201d the artists\u2019 project looks at Panama \u201cnot only as a global place of passage, but as a territory deeply marked by imperial ambition, logistical power, and the social engineering of colonial modernity,\u201d according to release. <strong>M\u00f3nica K\u00fapfer<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>Ana Elizabeth Gonz\u00e1lez<\/strong> will curate the pavilion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Tesa 42 Arsenale, Fondamenta Case Nuove, 2738c<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Peru<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PREFERRED-SF_Berm_Quick-Portrait_02.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Sara Flores.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/PREFERRED-SF_Berm_Quick-Portrait_02.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Sara Flores.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Theo Christelis\/\u00a9White Cube\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Sara Flores<\/strong>, a Shipibo artist whose abstractions have captured global attention and made her one of the few Indigenous artists with blue-chip gallery representation, will represent Peru. Her pavilion will feature more of her works on fabric, which she produces using dyes and feature patterns known <em>ken\u00e9<\/em>. These patterns map Shipibo knowledge and immortalize it. Titled \u201cDe otros mundos\u201d (From Other Worlds), her pavilion will be curated by <strong>Issela Ccoyllo<\/strong> and <strong>Matteo Norzi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>The Philippines<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cce00943-ab04-4645-83dc-155d53f42969.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Jon Cuyson and Mara Gladstone in front of a crate.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cce00943-ab04-4645-83dc-155d53f42969.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Jon Cuyson and Mara Gladstone in front of a crate.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Kieran Punay\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Jon Cuyson<\/strong>, an artist and filmmaker known for work that explores Filipino history via waterways and the labor involved in maintaining them as market byways, will represent the Philippines this time around. His pavilion will be curated by <strong>Mara Gladstone<\/strong>, who will work with Cuyson as he collaborates with mussel farmers, experts in aquaculture, and others based in the Philippines. Titled \u201cSea of Love \/ Dagat ng Pag-ibig,\u201d the presentation will include painting, sculpture, and video, including his \u201cKerel Triology,\u201d which focuses on a gay Filipino seafarer, and the debut of <em>Sea of Echoes<\/em>, drawing on what the artist classes \u201cmussel thinking,\u201d or how mussels are able to survive within even the most unstable of conditions. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Poland<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Autorzy-projektu-Jezyki-z-wody.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Four people standing on a staircase.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Autorzy-projektu-Jezyki-z-wody.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Four people standing on a staircase.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Filip Preis\/Courtesy Zach\u0119ta \u2013 National Gallery of Art\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tPoland\u2019s 2024 pavilion, a video installation about the war in Ukraine, was a searing statement about all that could and could not be communicated. The nation\u2019s 2026 pavilion, by <strong>Bogna Burska<\/strong> and <strong>Daniel Kotowski<\/strong>, will take up a similar theme with a much different focus: the songs of humpback whales. The artists will work with Ch\u00f3r w Ruchu (Choir in Motion), composed of both hearing and Deaf participants, for a video installation that translates those songs into English and sign language. <strong>Ewa Chomicka<\/strong> and <strong>Jolanta Woszczenko<\/strong> will curate the pavilion, titled \u201cLiquid Tongues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Portugal<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Alexandre-Estrela-Fondation-Vasarely-Aix-en-Provence-2015.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man holds a DSLR camera in front of him in a series of mirrors that shows his face repeated.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Alexandre-Estrela-Fondation-Vasarely-Aix-en-Provence-2015.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A man holds a DSLR camera in front of him in a series of mirrors that shows his face repeated.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy the artist\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Alexandre Estrela<\/strong>, who recently showed a mind-bending installation at the Museum of Modern Art that featured video of printing plates with a trippy accompanying soundtrack, will stage Portugal\u2019s 2026 pavilion. The exhibition will be curated by <strong>Ana Baliza<\/strong> and <strong>Ricardo Nicolau<\/strong>; Baliza previously designed Estrela\u2019s MoMA installation. For his pavilion, titled \u201cRedSkyFalls,\u201d Estrela will present a new iteration of a 2019 work that is being billed as \u201can operating system that integrates new digital beings.\u201d A release states that that the project was selected because its \u201cquieter registers\u201d resonate with Kouoh\u2019s \u201cIn Minor Keys.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn a statement, Portuguese culture minister Margarida Balseiro Lopes said, \u201cAt a time when the world seems to be living in a permanent state of urgency \u2014 between overlapping crises, technological accelerations, and political and environmental unrest \u2014 the International Art Exhibition reminds us that there is another way of being. A more attentive, more sensitive, more human way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Fondaco Marcello, Calle del Traghetto \/ Ca\u2019 Garzoni, San Marco 3415<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Qatar<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/qatar.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/qatar.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo: Brigitte Lacombe.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThai artist <strong>Rirkrit Tiravanija<\/strong> has convened a group of musicians, poets, chefs, and artists from across the Arabic-speaking world for the Qatar National Pavilion. Titled \u201cUntitled (a gathering of remarkable people),\u201d the exhibition is co-curated by <strong>Tom Eccles<\/strong>, executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies and the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, and <strong>Ruba Katrib<\/strong>, chief curator and director of curatorial affairs at MoMA PS1.\u00a0The show will unfold in a tent in the Giardini, on the future site of the country\u2019s permanent pavilion currently under construction by Lebanese-born architect Lina Ghotmeh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tExtending Tiravanija\u2019s years-long practice of bringing collaborators together to share space and meals, the presentation features a film by Qatari American artist <strong>Sophia Al-Maria<\/strong>, performances organized by Lebanese artist <strong>Tarek Atoui<\/strong>, and a monumental sculpture by Kuwaiti Puerto Rican artist <strong>Alia Farid<\/strong>. These contributions are anchored by a culinary program developed by Palestinian chef <strong>Fadi Kattan<\/strong>, drawing on the diverse flavors of the SWANA region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Romania<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"226\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/romania.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"View of a woman encased in fabric that resembles an island in a sea.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"226\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/romania.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"View of a woman encased in fabric that resembles an island in a sea.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy the artists\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tArtist duo <strong>Anca Benera &amp; Arnold Estef\u00e1n <\/strong>will represent Romania at the Biennale this year, with an ambitious presentation that will extend beyond the country\u2019s permanent structure in the Giardini to the Romanian Institute for Humanistic Research (Palazzo Correr) in Venice\u2019s Cannaregio. Titled \u201cBlack Seas\u2014Scores for the Sonic Eye,\u201d the pavilion will take the form of a large-scale, audiovisual and sculptural installation that \u201creimagines the Black Sea as a site of acoustic memory and geoecological fracture,\u201d per a release. <strong>Corina Oprea<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>Diana Marincu<\/strong> will serve as curators.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venues: Giardini; New Gallery of the Romanian lnstitute for Culture and Humanistic Research Palazzo Correr, Campo Santa Fosca, Cannareggio 2214<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Russia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Russia-Venice-Pavilion.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"VENICE, ITALY - APRIL 16: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Russia's pavilion this year has been loaned to Bolivia during the 60th Biennale Art 2024 on April 16, 2024 in Venice, Italy.The 60th Venice International Art Exhibition will be open to the public from April 20 to Nov. 24 and will be titled &quot;Strangers Everywhere&quot;. (Photo by Stefano Mazzola\/Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Russia-Venice-Pavilion.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"VENICE, ITALY - APRIL 16: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Russia's pavilion this year has been loaned to Bolivia during the 60th Biennale Art 2024 on April 16, 2024 in Venice, Italy.The 60th Venice International Art Exhibition will be open to the public from April 20 to Nov. 24 and will be titled &quot;Strangers Everywhere&quot;. (Photo by Stefano Mazzola\/Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tRussia is participating in the Biennale for the first time since the nation\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022\u2014a fact that has already generated intense controversy. As of late April, even as the EU threatened to defund the Biennale and national leaders said they wouldn\u2019t come to the show, the Russian Pavilion was moving forward, anyway, with an exhibition titled \u201cThe tree is rooted in the sky\u201d and curated by <strong>Anastasiia Karneeva<\/strong>, who also serves as commissioner. The exhibition will feature more than three musicians from Russia and abroad, per its organizers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe full list of participants is as follows: Antonio Buonuario, DJ Diaki, Marco Dinelli, Timofey Dudarenko, Faina, Oleg Gudachev, Atosigado, H\u00e9rica, Jaijiu, JLZ, Tatiana Khalbaeva, Alexey Khovalyg, Roman Malyavkin, Petr Musoev, Valerie Oleynik, Alexey Retinsky, Mikhail Spasskii, Lukas Sukharev, Alexey Sysoev, Maria Vinogradova, Alexey Retinsky, Intrada Ensemble (Ekaterina Antonenko, Daria Khrisanova, Oksana Kuznetsova, Olga Talysheva, Veronika Okuneva, Serafim Chaikin, Artem Nikolaev, Bogdan Petrenko, Ilya Tatakov), Toloka Ensemble (Ekaterina Rostovtseva, Lizaveta Anshina, Antonina Sergeeva, Zhanna Gefling, Yaroslav Paradovsky, Vera Bazilevskikh, Sofya Ivanishkina), giorgino, Phurpa (Alexey Tegin, Nikita Korolev, Georgy Orlov-Davydovsky), Selfish \u201cS.r.l.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>San Marino<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Mark-Francis-Crediti-fotografici-Erin-Francis-2-scaled-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Mark Francis.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Mark-Francis-Crediti-fotografici-Erin-Francis-2-scaled-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Mark Francis.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Erin Francis\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIn a former timber and coal warehouse, <strong>Mark Francis<\/strong> will stage San Marino\u2019s pavilion, which he\u2019s titled \u201cSea of Sound.\u201d The Northern Irish artist is best known for his abstract paintings about phenomenological concepts and natural matter, though in a statement about his pavilion, he teased a recent interest in film and video. His Venice pavilion, curated by <strong>Luca Tommasi<\/strong>, will feature a projection called <em>Listening Field<\/em> and a series of new paintings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Tana Art Space, Fondamenta de la Tana 2111<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Saudi Arabia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"304\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/202510_VAC_VB25_SM_V4-32.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Dana Awartani.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"304\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/202510_VAC_VB25_SM_V4-32.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Dana Awartani.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Anastasia Tikhonova\/Courtesy Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Dana Awartani<\/strong>, a Saudi artist who is of Palestinian descent, was a star of the 2024 Venice Biennale, where she showed an installation featuring darned silk textiles that she intended as a homage to violence and healing in Gaza. Now, Awartani is back at Venice, this time as Saudi Arabia\u2019s representative. Titled \u201cMay your tears never dry, you who weep over stones,\u201d her pavilion is being billed as the artist\u2019s \u201cmost ambitious project to date.\u201d <strong>Antonia Carver<\/strong>, the director of Art Jameel since 2016, will serve as the pavilion\u2019s curator, with <strong>Hafsa Alkhudairi<\/strong> as assistant curator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Scotland<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"357\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Davide-Bugarin-Angel-Cohn-Castle-and-Morven-Gregor-at-Mount-Stuart.-Photo-by-Charlotte-Cullen-courtesy-Scotland-Venice-scaled-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Two standing people and one sitting person amid plants.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"357\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Davide-Bugarin-Angel-Cohn-Castle-and-Morven-Gregor-at-Mount-Stuart.-Photo-by-Charlotte-Cullen-courtesy-Scotland-Venice-scaled-1.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Two standing people and one sitting person amid plants.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Charlotte Cullen\/Courtesy Scotland + Venice\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAfter sitting out the 2024 due to funding concerns, Scotland, which participates via a collateral event, will return to Venice with a presentation by <strong>Burgarin + Castle<\/strong>, a duo composed of artists Davide Bugarin and Angel Cohn Castle. \u201cDrawing on queer histories, Scottish archives and Filipino cultural heritage, Bugarin + Castle\u2019s project will examine how sound and costume shape social control,\u201d an announcement for the pavilion reads. The exhibition be organized by the curatorial team of the <strong>Mount Stuart Trust<\/strong>, which includes curator <strong>Morven Gregor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Olivolo, Castello 59\/C<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Senegal<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/senegal.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Caroline Gueye holds a brass abstract sculpture.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/senegal.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Caroline Gueye holds a brass abstract sculpture.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy the artist\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSenegalese artist <strong>Caroline Gueye<\/strong>, who lives between Dakar and Europe, will take over her home country\u2019s pavilion with a new installation, titled <em>WURUS<\/em>, which means \u201cgold\u201d in Wolof. Curated by critic <strong>Massamba Mbaye<\/strong>, who also organized the 2024 Senegalese Pavilion, Gueye\u2019s presentation will bring together elements in brass, polymer bronze, mirrors, and light-based devices. \u201cGold is a starting point, not a subject,\u201d Gueye said in a Q&amp;A about the project. \u201cIt opens up a reflection on value, but the project is about the conditions through which something becomes perceptible and acquires value. Value does not reside in objects, but emerges from conditions of perception.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Palazzo Navagero Riva degli Schiavoni 4145<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Serbia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"224\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Predrag-Dakovic-portrait.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A photograph shows the artist Predrag \u0110akovi\u0107 in his studio, seated, in jeans, leather jacket, and sunglasses. Behind him are a number of artworks, mostly paintings with some three-dimensional elements including human figures, some playing musical instruments.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"224\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Predrag-Dakovic-portrait.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A photograph shows the artist Predrag \u0110akovi\u0107 in his studio, seated, in jeans, leather jacket, and sunglasses. Behind him are a number of artworks, mostly paintings with some three-dimensional elements including human figures, some playing musical instruments.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Zvonimir Segi\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWhen <strong>Predrag \u0110akovi\u0107<\/strong> was named as Serbia\u2019s representative in 2025, his selection was treated by many members of the local art community as both a surprise and an offense. (<strong>Toma\u0161 Koudela <\/strong>was named curator of his pavilion at the time.) The Prague-based artist has made work about the former Yugoslavia, the Holocaust, and other topics, but none of his art was well-known in Serbia, where artists have claimed that someone more famous than \u0110akovi\u0107 actually deserved the honor. More than 600 people subsequently called for the artist\u2019s ejection, calling the process for his appointment \u201cunprofessional and non-transparent\u201d in a petition that is still circulating. Titled \u201cThrough Golgotha to Resurrection,\u201d \u0110akovi\u0107\u2019s pavilion, however, seems to be proceeding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Sierra Leone<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/venicecity.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A seagull stands on the 16th-century Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, Monday, April 13, 2026. (Photo by Danil Shamkin\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tEchoing an emphasis on subdued art that runs through Koyo Kouoh\u2019s main exhibition, this pavilion curated by <strong>Sandro Orlandi<\/strong> and <strong>Willy Montini<\/strong> brings together a range of artists under the name \u201cWorlds of Today.\u201d While it technically marks Sierra Leone\u2019s Venice Biennale debut, it also includes artists from Italy, Mexico, Senegal, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. Those artists are Hawa-Jane Bangura, Ayesha Feisal, Hickmatu Bintu Leigh, Abu Bakarr Mansaray, Eros Bonamini, Piergiorgio Colombara, Jacopo Di Cera, Fernando Garbellotto, Gianfranco Gentile, Margherita Levo Rosenberg, Alberto Salvetti, Seyni Awa Camara, Abdoul Ganiou Dermani, Eloy Lokossou, M\u00f3y\u00f2s\u00f3r\u00e9 Martins, and Armando Amaya Romero.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Liceo Guggenheim Sestiere Dorsoduro, 2613<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Singapore<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"332\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/singapore.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Amanda Heng.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"332\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/singapore.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Amanda Heng.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Singapore Art Museum\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Amanda Heng <\/strong>will represent Singapore at the Biennale. At 73, she is the oldest artist and only the second woman to take over the city-state\u2019s pavilion, which this year will be titled \u201cA Pause.\u201d After a career as an income tax officer, Heng dedicated herself to art making in 1986. She cofounded the Artist\u2019s Village, an art colony, and Women in the Arts, an artist-run women collective, in 1988 and 1999, respectively. She is best known for durational performances, like <em>Walking The Stool<\/em> (1999), a work that doubled as a performance and a protest against Singapore\u2019s ban on art in that medium. The pavilion will be curated by <strong>Selene Yap<\/strong>, a curator at the Singapore Art Museum, which collaborates with the county\u2019s National Arts Council, the pavilion\u2019s commissioner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Slovenia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Nonument-Group.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Nonument-Group.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo: Peter Giodani.\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cSoundtrack for an Invisible House,\u201d the title of the Slovenian Pavilion, turns to craftsmanship in an era shaped by rapidly evolving\u2014and at times unsettling\u2014forms of automation, from artificial intelligence to 3D printing and large-scale machine labor. Curator <strong>Nata\u0161a Petre\u0161in-Bachelez<\/strong> has commissioned <strong>Nonument Group<\/strong> (Neja Tom\u0161i\u010d, Martin Bricelj Baraga, Nika Grabar, Milo\u0161 Kosec) to consider how human agency might persist within a future increasingly defined by uniform systems. The exhibition will reportedly feature a series of totems symbolizing the knowledge, improvisation, and spirit carried forward by makers\u2014whether or not machines are present.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Somalia<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"289\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Somalia.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A basket-like structure resting atop a rug.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"289\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Somalia.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A basket-like structure resting atop a rug.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Somali Pavilion\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe inaugural Somali Pavilion, titled \u201cSADDEXLEEY\u201d\u2014a reference to a form of Somali poetry\u2014is jointly curated by <strong>Mohamed Mire<\/strong>, a curator at the Fotografiska photography museum in Stockholm, and Venice-based project manager <strong>Fabio Scrivanti<\/strong>. <strong>Abdirahman Yusuf<\/strong> serves as the pavilion\u2019s commissioner.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHowever, the project has sparked controversy in the weeks leading up to its May opening, as the organizers did not include any artists currently based in Somalia. The three participating artists\u2014<strong>Ayan Farah<\/strong>, <strong>Asmaa Jama<\/strong>, and <strong>Warsan Shire<\/strong>\u2014all have ties to Somalia, but each works outside the country: Farah is based in Stockholm, Jama in Bristol, and Shire in Los Angeles. Farah and Jama were born in Somalia, while Shire, who is of Somali descent, was born in Kenya.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tEarlier this month, four Somali art spaces\u2014the Somali Arts Foundation, Arlo Artspace, Shaneema Banaadir, and Baciid Center\u2014issued a critical statement, saying the organizers had \u201cneither meaningfully consulted nor included\u201d representatives of Somalia\u2019s art scene. The statement described the pavilion as a \u201cprivate opportunity\u201d and raised questions about its funding source. \u201cThis pavilion does not speak for us,\u201d it reads. The statement was signed by nine Somalia-based artists, including poet and photographer Bushra Mohamed, artist Shamso Mohamed Jeylaani, and writer and filmmaker Ifraax Aden, among others.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Palazzo Caboto, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, 1645, Castello<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>South Africa<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Gabrielle-Goliath_photo-by-Anthea-Pokroy_2-landscape.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A person in a grey suit and pink spectacles sits on a backless chair.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Gabrielle-Goliath_photo-by-Anthea-Pokroy_2-landscape.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A person in a grey suit and pink spectacles sits on a backless chair.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo by Anthea Pokroy\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tTechnically, this year, South Africa will not have an official pavilion at this year\u2019s Biennale. Ahead of the deadline for countries to submit their pavilions to the Biennale in January, South African culture minister <strong>Gayton McKenzie<\/strong> rescinded the selection of artist <strong>Gabrielle Goliath<\/strong>, whose work had featured in the main exhibition of the 2024 Biennale. Goliath had planned to exhibit a work entitled <em>Elegy<\/em>, a multichannel video that the artist has described as \u201ca call to mourn.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAccording to multiple reports, the work would feature sections about historical and contemporary moments of femicide and genocide in places like South Africa, Namibia, and Gaza. It was the reference to Gaza which McKenzie took issue with, calling it \u201chighly divisive in nature and relates to an ongoing international conflict that is widely polarizing\u201d in a letter to the pavilion\u2019s selection committee ahead of the cancelation. McKenzie threatened to pull the pavilion if changes were not made. He eventually did so, which Goliath and the selection committee labeled as censorship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMcKenzie has denied this charge, claiming instead that he was informed that an unnamed foreign country was planning to buy the work after the Biennale, and that he believed \u201cSouth Africa\u2019s platform was being used as a proxy by a foreign power to endorse a geopolitical message about the actions of Israel in Gaza.\u201d (The Israeli publication <em>Ynetnews<\/em> has reported that South African officials had reportedly named Qatar as the country in question.) Goliath took McKenzie to court, seeking to reinstate the pavilion, but South Africa\u2019s highest court dismissed the matter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tStill, Goliath is determined to present <em>Elegy<\/em> in Venice, organizing an independent exhibition at the Chiesa di Sant\u2019Antonin to do so. (This presentation is not an official collateral event of the Biennale.) The Bertha Foundation, a family foundation founded in Cape Town, with offices in Geneva and London, is providing major support for the exhibition, with other funding coming from Golitah\u2019s gallery Galleria Raffaella Cortese; the Fondazione ICA Milano; the London-based arts charity Ibraaz; and a newly formed group called Friends of Elegy. (Following its run in Venice, <em>Elegy <\/em>will travel to Ibraaz in 2026 and the ICA Milano in 2027.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tA description for this iteration of Golitah\u2019s presentation describes the work as \u201c[a]ddressing conditions that render Black, brown, feminine, and queer lives precarious.\u201d It will be accompanied by a publication, <em>Elegy Reader<\/em>, that will feature poetry and texts that respond to \u201chistories of displacement, colonialism, and genocide, the publication gathers voices from South Africa, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan, Namibia, Haiti, and beyond,\u201d with a public reading taking place on May 7.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale (Empty)<br \/>Venue: Chiesa di Sant\u2019Antonin, Salizada S. Antonin (Independent Exhibition)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Spain<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Oriol-Vilanova.-Photo-Ingrid-Sala.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Oriol Vilanova.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Oriol-Vilanova.-Photo-Ingrid-Sala.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Oriol Vilanova.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Ingrid Sala\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Oriol Vilanova<\/strong> will represent Spain with a project called \u201cLos Restos\u201d that draws from the artist\u2019s collection of postcards amassed over the past 20 years from flea markets and second-hand shops and now numbering in the tens of thousands. <strong>Carles Guerra<\/strong>, an artist, critic, and curator, will organize Vilanova\u2019s pavilion. Per a release, \u201cThe Spanish Pavilion will present this collection as an evolving \u2018anti-museum\u2019, where modest yet sustained gestures of gathering become a powerful response to our present concerns about preservation, accumulation, and the economies associated to cultural value.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Switzerland<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/605b8d1d-209e-30f2-9346-1275cf98fe95.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A building with a glowing 'ON AIR' symbol visible through its roof.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/605b8d1d-209e-30f2-9346-1275cf98fe95.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"A building with a glowing 'ON AIR' symbol visible through its roof.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy the artists\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThis time around, Switzerland will have not by one but six representatives: <strong>Gianmaria Andreetta<\/strong>, <strong>Luca Beeler<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Nina Wakeford<\/strong>, <strong>Miriam Laura Leonardi<\/strong>, <strong>Lithic Alliance<\/strong>, and <strong>Yul Tomatala<\/strong>, all of whom will work collectively on a project called \u201cThe Unfinished Building of Living Together.\u201d Per its description, that project will focus on a 1978 episode of the Swiss television program <em>Telearena<\/em> that featured queer people bitterly debating their sexual orientation with conservative audience members. The pavilion \u201cseeks to examine the conditions and possibilities of tolerance and belonging as well as forms of social division,\u201d per its description. Andreetta and Beeler, who are curators, and Wakeford, an artist, initiated the project together, and serve as its curators; together, they brought on the remaining three members. It\u2019s the first time Switzerland\u2019s pavilion was chosen through an open call.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Giardini<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Syria<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"273\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/syria.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"273\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/syria.png?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo: Mohammad Azaat<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tCurated by <strong>Yuko Hasegawa<\/strong>, \u201cThe Tower Tomb of Palmyra\u201d marks Syria\u2019s first national pavilion since the end of its civil war (2011\u201324), and explores the nation\u2019s cultural heritage\u2014frequently targeted by militant groups throughout the protracted conflict. <strong>Sara Shamma<\/strong>\u2019s solo presentation centers on Palmyra, the archaeological site that has come to symbolize Syrian resilience. As the artist has stated, \u201cPalmyra\u2019s towers, though destroyed, continue to speak to the strength and diversity of our history. This exhibition is not only a reflection on loss, but a message of hope, unity, and the importance of protecting and restoring our shared heritage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe large-scale installation combines painting, architecture, light, sound, and scent to evoke the monumental family mausoleums that once rose above the desert landscape before their destruction. In the years of conflict, hundreds of funerary portraits were looted and trafficked out of Syria, positioning \u201cThe Tower Tomb of Palmyra\u201d as both a lament for lost heritage and a declaration that such works may one day be recovered.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Universit\u00e0 IUAV Venezia, Cotonificio, Dorsoduro 2196<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Taiwan<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"258\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/LI_YiFan.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Li Yi-Fan in his studio in front of several computer monitors.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"258\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/LI_YiFan.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Li Yi-Fan in his studio in front of several computer monitors.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy the artist and Taipei Fine Arts Museum\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOfficially a collateral event, Taiwan\u2019s national presentation will be given over to <strong>Li Yi-Fan<\/strong>, an emerging artist who has gained acclaim in his home country over the past several years. He won the 8th Tung Chung Prize, given by the Taipei-based Hong Foundation, in 2024, which comes with 1 million NTD (around $31,000) and the opportunity to create a new work and support for a residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. His 30-minute film <em>What Is Your Favorite Primitive\u00a0<\/em>(2023), made for that year\u2019s Taipei Biennial, takes the form of a parody of tech keynote speech in which the protagonist grapples with the ethical issues of the field, particularly when it comes to image-based software. <strong><strong>Raphael Fonseca<\/strong><\/strong>, curator at large at the Denver Art Museum and a cocurator of the 2027 Bienal de S\u00e3o Paulo, will organize the pavilion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Palazzo delle Prigioni, Castello 4209<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Timor-Leste<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"171\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image002-timor.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portraits of Veronica Pereira Maia, Etson Caminha, Juventino Madeira, and Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"171\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/image002-timor.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portraits of Veronica Pereira Maia, Etson Caminha, Juventino Madeira, and Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Sim\u00e3o Cardoso Pereira\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFollowing its debut at the 2024 Biennale, Timor-Leste is returning to Venice with an intergenerational trio of artists: <strong>Veronica Pereira Maia<\/strong>, <strong>Etson Caminha<\/strong>, and <strong>Juventino Madeira<\/strong>. Curator <strong>Loredana Pazzini-Paracciani<\/strong> is on tap to organize their pavilion, titled \u201cAcross Words.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>T\u00fcrkiye<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"361\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Nilbar_Gures.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"361\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Nilbar_Gures.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Luca Gioacchino Di Bernardo\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><strong>Nilbar G\u00fcre\u015f<\/strong> has gained a following in Turkey for painted textiles that are sometimes made with local artisans and often broach issues related to gender and sexuality in the country. Having recently held a show at Arter, one of the most highly esteemed contemporary art museums in Istanbul, G\u00fcre\u015f will now represent her country in Venice in a pavilion titled \u201cA KISS ON THE EYES\u201d and organized by <strong>Ba\u015fak Do\u011fa Tem\u00fcr<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Uganda<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Installation-View-Stacey-Gillian-Abe-Garden-of-Blue-Whispers-Unit-2025-1.webp?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Installation-View-Stacey-Gillian-Abe-Garden-of-Blue-Whispers-Unit-2025-1.webp?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Unit\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe Ugandan Pavilion brings together <strong>Joseph Ntensibe<\/strong>, <strong>Lilian Mary Nabulime<\/strong>, <strong>Ronex Ahimbisibwe<\/strong>, <strong>Lakwena Maciver<\/strong>, <strong>Sheila Nakitende<\/strong>, <strong>Stacey Gillian Abe<\/strong>, and <strong>Aloka Trevor<\/strong> in a presentation titled \u201cKAMPALA,\u201d after the capital city. It is dedicated to \u201cmaterial culture, spirituality, and social memory\u201d across East African creative traditions, according to a statement. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tVisitors can expect new work by Abe, continuing her long-running exploration of personal and social ancestry across painting, sculpture, and textile\u2014often rendered in rich shades of indigo; research-driven sculpture by Nabulime, incorporating found materials tied to her ongoing engagement with women\u2019s healthcare; and near-abstract multimedia paintings by Ahimbisibwe, among others.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Palazzo Navagero Gallery, Riva degli Schiavoni 4147<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Ukraine<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-1252309890.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Zhanna Kadyrova.\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-1252309890.jpg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Portrait of Zhanna Kadyrova.\"><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Sergie Supinsky\/AFP via Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSeven years after appearing in the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale, <strong>Zhanna Kadyrova<\/strong> will now represent her home country with a project called \u201cSecurity Guarantees.\u201d Featured in the pavilion will be a sculpture called <em>Deer<\/em>, which she originally installed in 2019 in Yuvileynyy Park in Pokrovsk and crafted from a dismantled Soviet military plane. When Pokrovsk was evacuated in 2024, Kadyrova had to deinstall the work. <strong>Leonid Marushchak<\/strong>, a cocurator of the pavilion alongside <strong>Kseniya Malykh<\/strong>, called the work \u201ca symbol of the modern tribulations of symbols of the past against the backdrop of contemporary challenges.\u201d Alongside the work itself, Kadyrova will show <em>IDP<\/em>, a film made with Natalka Dyachenko, who served as cinematographer, that documents the work\u2019s removal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue:\u00a0Arsenale, Riva Ca\u2019 di Dio<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>United Arab Emirates<\/h2>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/national-pavilion-uae.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/national-pavilion-uae.jpeg?w=400\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: National Pavilion UAE\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cWashwasha\u201d\u2014meaning \u201cwhispering\u201d in Arabic\u2014forms the basis of this year\u2019s United Arab Emirates presentation. The six participating artists\u2014<strong>Mays Albaik<\/strong>, <strong>Jawad Al Malhi<\/strong>, <strong>Farah Al Qasimi<\/strong>, <strong>Alaa Edris<\/strong>, <strong>Lamya Gargash<\/strong>, <strong>Taus Makhacheva<\/strong>\u2014map the evolving soundscape of the Persian Gulf nation, one rapidly transformed in recent decades by migration and modernization. Drawing on both historical and contemporary sources, the works draw from animal calls, oral histories, and the metallic hum of machines. The exhibition is curated by <strong>Bana Kattan<\/strong>, curator and associate head of exhibitions at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project, with assistance from curator <strong>Tala Nassar<\/strong>. Together, they have shaped a series of sonic chambers that range from ghostly to fully immersive cacophony. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \"><em>Venue: Arsenale<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/list\/art-news\/news\/2026-venice-biennale-national-pavilions-1234729939\/&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GettyImages-2149110659.jpg?w=1024&#8243;] The central attraction at the Venice Biennale is its main exhibition, a curated show meant to pinpoint a dominant theme in art as it stands right now. But all around it are pavilions staged by countries, with each nation selecting one or more artists to mount their own show or installation. These [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1913815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1913815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1913815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1913815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1913815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}