The Türkiye Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia

 

Nilbar Güreş, MAYZU: A Tree with Coconuts and Bananas, 2022, mixed media, 400 x 640 x 200 cm. Ph: Kayhan Kaygusuz 

The Türkiye Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia presents A Kiss on the Eyes by Nilbar Güreş, celebrated for her poetic, critical, and witty engagement with cultural symbols, social inequalities, and questions of identity across a diverse array of media.  

Curated by Başak Doğa Temür, the exhibition brings together existing works and new productions spanning sculpture, installation, painting and mixed-media works on paper and fabric. A Kiss on the Eyes takes its cue from the Turkish phrase Gözlerinizden öperim, a traditional closing remark often used at the end of a letter or conversation.

The Türkiye Pavilion exhibition is coordinated by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye, the support of co-sponsor Trendyol Art, airline partner Turkish Airlines and production support of SAHA Association. The Vehbi Koç Foundation is also providing publishing support for the preparation of the exhibition catalogue.

Nilbar Güreş, MAYZU: A Tree with Coconuts and Bananas, 2022, mixed media, 400 x 640 x 200 cm. Ph: Kayhan Kaygusuz


A Kiss on the Eyes, Nilbar Güreş’s exhibition at the Türkiye Pavilion, brings together different strands of the artist’s dynamic and diverse practice. Celebrated for her poetic, critical, and witty engagement with cultural symbols, social inequalities, and questions of identity, Güreş has built a substantial body of work spanning photography, video, collage, and textiles. In recent years, her practice has increasingly expanded into three-dimensional forms, leading to this exhibition conceived for the Venice Biennale which will showcase a series of large-scale sculptures and installations. Created through an intensive, collaborative process in Istanbul, these works were produced between December 2025 and March 2026 with sculptors, metalworkers, tailors, and craftspeople. Treating material not only as a formal element but also as a carrier of memory and labour, these new works will be presented alongside selected pieces from earlier periods of the artist's practice.

Nilbar Güreş, Nilbar Güreş, 2025, pencil and lipstick on paper


In her curatorial statement, Başak Doğa Temür introduces the exhibition with the following words:

“The exhibition unfolds through spatial relationships rather than a linear narrative. Works remain close to the ground, lean, hang, or hover. Instead of guiding the viewer from one work to the next, the exhibition invites them to slow down and become aware of their own bodily position in relation to the space and to others. Moving through the exhibition becomes a negotiation between distance and proximity, vulnerability and resistance.
Such an approach characterises Nilbar Güreş’s work across multiple media, drawing on lived experience to address questions of gender, migration, and belonging. Her practice is shaped by situations marked by displacement, racism, xenophobia, and discrimination based on religion and belief, not as distant subjects but as conditions that structure everyday life. She often focuses on moments where social norms and power relations become visible through bodies, relationships, and acts of looking.
Materials such as textiles, garments, domestic objects, and organic forms play a central role in her work. These materials carry personal and collective histories and are altered through gestures of care, humour, and resistance. Intimacy and political tension exist side by side, allowing vulnerability to appear without connotations of passivity.”

The curatorial statement by Başak Doğa Temür is available at turkiyepavilion26.iksv.org.
from left: Nilbar Gunes, ph: Luca Gioacchino Di Bernardo; Başak Doğa Temür



A bilingual (Turkish and English) publication will accompany the exhibition, co-published by İKSV and Mousse Publishing, with the support of the Vehbi Koç Foundation. Alongside texts that closely engage with the artist’s practice and the exhibition, the book also includes a selection of poems, which address the concepts of subtlety and care at the heart of the exhibition’s conceptual framework across different contexts. Offering layered readings of Nilbar Güreş’s imagery, the texts in the book situate A Kiss on the Eyes within the continuity of the artist’s practice. The poems in the selection, in turn, foreground concepts such as displacement, memory, fragility, discrimination, plurality, and relationality, in line with the themes of gender, migration, and belonging, which are central to the artist’s practice.

In addition to being available to biennial visitors at La Biennale bookshops, the publication can also be found at selected art-focused bookshops worldwide. Online sales will be available via moussemagazine.it/shop/. 

The graphic design of the project and the book is undertaken by İpek Erdöl, with editorial work by Hazal Yonca Birincioğlu.

Turandot a Palazzo Franchetti

Siamo lieti di presentare TURANDOT: Alle figlie dell'Oriente, un evento collaterale della 61. Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Biennale di Venezia, che si terrà presso l'ACP-Palazzo Franchetti.

Ispirata alla personalità intransigente di Turandot nell'omonima opera di Giacomo Puccini, che deriva da "Turandokht", che in persiano significa "figlia di Turan", la mostra rende omaggio alle artiste dell'Asia centrale e occidentale. Dalla letteratura persiana all'opera di Puccini, Turandot è certamente una delle figure più complesse ed enigmatiche al mondo, intrecciata con l'interpretazione occidentale dell'Oriente.

Riunendo undici artiste di diverse generazioni, la mostra mette in luce le artiste le cui storie e opere, individuali e collettive, rivelano la loro forza, le loro convinzioni e la loro creatività. Insieme, rendono omaggio alla voce di Turandot, donne straordinarie, intelligenti e sicure di sé.

La mostra è curata dal Dott. Ziba Ardalan, fondatore e direttore della fondazione per l'arte contemporanea Parasol Unit. Parasol Unit si avvale del supporto della Fondazione Bareva, della Fondazione Fahrang, della Galleria Edward Nahem, della Galleria Leila Heller, della Fondazione Mohammed Afkhami, di Pro Helvetia e della Fondazione Puccini.

Padiglione Bulgari, sponsor unico della Biennale fino al 2030

 

Lotus L. Kang has been selected by Bvlgari as the inaugural artist for its pavilion in the Giardini della Biennale at the 61st Venice Biennale.

Known for her complexly layered environments that meld organic, structural and metabolic languages, Lotus L. Kang’s works give poetic form to reflections on themes spanning inheritance, impermanence, memory, and translation. Working fluidly between sculpture, photography and site-responsive installation, she frequently draws on unfixed, unstable materials and forms in her practice, giving evocative, often expansive shape to questions of “becoming.”

Kang has been commissioned to produce a major new installation for the Bvlgari Pavilion, one that continues her enduring engagement with time as multiplicitous and non-linear. Matthew Hyland, Executive Director of the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, has been appointed curator of the project.

This presentation is a centerpiece of Bvlgari’s role as Exclusive Partner of La Biennale di Venezia, a partnership that will continue across three editions of La Biennale through 2030. 

Lotus L. Kang was born 1985 in Toronto. Kang studied fine arts at Concordia University in Montreal (2004-2008), and completed an MFA at the Milton Avery School of the Arts at Bard College, New York, in 2015. The artist lives and works in New York. Lotus L. Kang’s practice unfolds across sculpture, photography and site-responsive installation. Using an acute sensitivity towards process and space, her works explore self and environment as contingent, continuous and inseparable, with her materially dense, non-linear installations metabolizing and translating themes drawn from industrial and architectural forms, familial and social histories, poetry, and non-human figures, among others.

Selected solo exhibitions: Already, 52 Walker, New York (2025); In Cascades, CAG Vancouver, Vancouver (2023); In Cascades, Chisenhale Gallery, London (2023); Molt, MCA Chicago, Chicago (2023). Selected institutional group exhibitions include: Does the flower hear the bee?, 15th Shanghai Biennial, Shanghai (2025); Key Operators, Kunstverein Munich (2024); After Images, Julia Stoschek Foundation, Berlin (2024); A Woman You Thought You Knew, Kadist, San Francisco (2024); Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2024); GTA Triennial 2024, Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto (2024); New Museum Triennial: Soft Water Hard Stone, New Museum, New York (2021); In Practice: Total Disbelief, SculptureCenter, New York (2020); If I have a body, Remai Modern, Saskatoon, Canada (2019).

61 Biennale di Arti Visive Venezia

Ecco il recente comunicato dallo staff di curatori della Biennale, molto interessante, ma rimango perplesso che non sia stato invitato nessun artista del nostro paese, veramente siamo messi così male ?

Sono 111 i partecipanti – tra artisti, artiste, duo, collettivi e organizzazioni – provenienti da contesti geografici differenti, selezionati da Koyo Kouoh privilegiando soprattutto risonanze, affinità e possibili convergenze tra pratiche anche lontane. Osservando realtà attive a Salvador, Dakar, San Juan, Beirut, Parigi e Nashville, la Curatrice ha immaginato come l’ingegnosità e la tensione sperimentale di ciascuno possa incontrarsi con quelle di altri artisti e movimenti, anche senza relazioni dirette. In Minor Keys si propone così di restituire e ampliare questa geografia relazionale, intessuta nel corso di una vita e fondata sull’incontro.

Gli artisti
Pio Abad
Born 1983, Manila, Philippines. Lives in London, UK.
 
Philip Aguirre y Otegui
Born 1961, Schoten, Belgium. Lives in Antwerp, Belgium.
 
Akinbode Akinbiyi
Born 1946, Oxford, UK. Lives in Berlin, Germany.
 
Laurie Anderson
Born 1947, Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
 
Fabrice Aragno
Born 1970, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Lives in Lausanne, Switzerland.
 
arms ache avid aeon:
Nancy Brooks Brody
                 Born 1962, New York City, NY, USA, D. 2023.
 
Joy Episalla
Born 1957, Bronxville, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
 
Zoe Leonard
Born 1961 Liberty, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
 
Carrie Yamaoka
Born 1957, Glen Cove, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
 
fierce pussy
                 Founded 1991, New York City, NY, USA.
 
Jo-ey Tang
Born 1978, Hong Kong, China. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
 
Kader Attia
Born, 1970, Dugny, France. Lives in Berlin, Germany and Paris, France.
 
Sammy Baloji
Born 1978, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lives in Brussels, Belgium and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
 
Ranti Bam
Born 1985, Lagos, Nigeria. Lives in Paris, France and Lagos, Nigeria.
 
Alvaro Barrington
Born 1983, Caracas, Venezuela. Lives in London, UK.
 
Éric Baudelaire
Born 1973, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Lives in Paris, France.
 
Sabian Baumann
Born 1962, Zug, Switzerland. Lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
 
blaxTARLINES KUMASI
Founded 2015, Kumasi, Ghana.
 
Beverly Buchanan
Born 1940, Fuquay, NC, USA. D. 2015.
 
Seyni Awa Camara
Born 1945, Oussouy, Senegal. D. 2026.
 
Nick Cave
Born 1959, Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in Chicago, IL, USA.
 
Carolina Caycedo
Colombian, born 1978, London, UK. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, USA and Caguas, Puerto Rico.
 
Annalee Davis
Born 1963, St. Michael, Barbados. Lives in St. George, Barbados.
 
BuBu de la Madeleine
Born 1961, Osaka, Japan. Lives in Nara, Japan.
 
Dawn DeDeaux
Born 1952, New Orleans, LA, USA. Lives in New Orleans, LA, USA.
 
Nolan Oswald Dennis
Born 1988, Lusaka, Zambia. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
 
Denniston Hill
Founded 2008, Glen Wild, NY, USA.
 
Bonnie Devine
Born 1952, Toronto, Canada. Lives in Toronto, Canada.
 
Godfried Donkor
Born 1964, Accra, Ghana. Lives in London, UK and Accra, Ghana.
 
Marcel Duchamp
Born 1887, Blainville-Crevon, France. D. 1968.
 
Edouard Duval-Carrié
Born 1954, Port-au-Prince, Haïtï. Lives in Miami, FL, USA.
 
Torkwase Dyson
Born 1973, Chicago, IL, USA. Lives in Beacon, NY, USA.
 
rana elnemr
Born 1974, Hannover, Germany. Lives in Cairo, Egypt.
 
Theo Eshetu
Born 1958, London, UK. Lives in Berlin, Germany and Rome, Italy.
 
Rachel Fallon (with Alice Maher)
Born 1971, Dublin, Ireland. Lives in Dublin, Ireland.
 
G.A.S. Foundation
Founded 2023, Lagos and Ijebu Ode, Nigeria.
 
Sofía Gallisá Muriente
Born 1986, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lives in Puerto Rico.
 
Adebunmi Gbadebo
Born 1992, Livingston, NJ, USA. Lives in Philadelphia, PA and Newark, NJ, USA.
 
Leonilda González
Born 1923, Minuano, Uruguay. D. 2017.
 
Linda Goode Bryant
Born 1949, Columbus, OH, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
 
Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige
Born 1969, Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Paris, France.
Born 1969, Moussaitbeh, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Paris, France.
 
Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka
Born 1988, Toronto, Canada. Lives in Toronto, Canada; New York City, NY, USA; and Japan.
 
Ayrson Heráclito
Born 1968, Macaúbas, Bahia, Brazil. Lives in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
 
Clarissa Herbst & Dominique Rust
Born 1959, Crailsheim, Germany. Lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
Born 1960, Basel, Switzerland. Lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
 
Nicholas Hlobo
Born 1975, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
 
Carsten Höller
Born 1961, Brussels, Belgium. Lives in Stockholm, Sweden; Biriwa, Ghana; and Tuscany, Italy.
 
Sohrab Hura
Born 1981, Chinsurah, India. Lives in New Delhi, India.
 
Alfredo Jaar
Born 1965, Santiago, Chile. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal.
 
Mohammed Joha
Born 1978, Gaza, Palestine. Lives in Marseille, France.
 
Michael Joo
Born 1966, Ithaca, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
 
Nina Katchadourian
Born 1968, Stanford, CA, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA and Berlin, Germany.
 
Bodys Isek Kingelez
Born 1948, Kimbembele Ihunga, former Belgian Congo, now Democratic Republic of the Congo. D. 2015.
 
Sandra Knecht
Born 1968, Buus, Switzerland. Lives in Buus, Switzerland.
 
Marcia Kure
Born 1970, Kano State, Nigeria. Lives in Princeton, NJ, USA; Abuja, and Kaduna, Nigeria.
 
Natalia Lassalle-Morillo (in collaboration with Gloria Morillo)
Born 1991, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
 
Florence Lazar
Born 1966, Paris, France. Lives in Paris, France.
 
Dan Lie
Born 1988. Lives in Berlin, Germany.
 
Werewere Liking
Born 1950, Mgombas, Cameroon. Lives in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
 
lugar a dudas
Founded 2004, Cali, Colombia.
 
Daniel Lind-Ramos
Born 1953, Loiza, Puerto Rico. Lives in Loiza, Puerto Rico.
 
Alice Maher
Born 1956, Tipperary, Ireland. Lives in County Mayo, Ireland.
 
Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons & Kamaal Malak
Born 1959, Matanzas, Cuba Lives in Nashville, TN, USA.
Born 1962, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Lives in Nashville, TN, USA.
 
Senzeni Marasela
Born 1977, Thokoza, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
 
Guadalupe Maravilla
Born 1976, San Salvador, El Salvador. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
 
Manuel Mathieu
Born 1986, Port-au-Prince, Haïtï. Lives in Montreal, Canada and Paris, France.
 
Georgina Maxim
Born 1980, Harare, Zimbabwe. Lives in Harare and Mutare, Zimbabwe.
 
Tiona Nekkia McClodden
Born 1981, Blytheville, AR, USA. Lives in Philadelphia, PA, USA.
 
Big Chief Demond Melancon
Born 1978, New Orleans, LA, USA. Lives in New Orleans, LA, USA.
 
Avi Mograbi
Born 1956, Tel Aviv. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal.
 
Wangechi Mutu
Born 1972, Nairobi, Kenya. Lives in New York City, NY, USA and Nairobi, Kenya.
 
 Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI)
Founded 2020, Nairobi, Kenya.
 
Eustaquio Neves
Born 1955, Juatuba, Brazil. Lives in Diamantina, Brazil.
 
Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn
Born 1976, Sài Gòn, Việt Nam. Lives in Hội An, works in Hồ Chí Minh City, Việt Nam.
 
Tammy Nguyen
Born 1984, San Francisco, CA, USA. Lives in Easton, CT, USA.
 
Otobong Nkanga
Born 1974, Kano, Nigeria. Lives in Antwerp, Belgium, and Uyo, Nigeria.
 
Kaloki Nyamai
Born 1985, Nairobi, Kenya. Lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
 
Temitayo Ogunbiyi
Born 1984, Rochester, NY, USA. Lives in Lagos, Nigeria.
 
Pauline Oliveros
Born 1932, Houston, TX, USA. D. 2016.
 
Kambui Olujimi
Born 1976, Brooklyn, New York City, NY, USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
 
Hagar Ophir
Born 1983, Jerusalem. Lives in Berlin, Germany.
 
Uriel Orlow
Born 1973, Zurich, Switzerland. Lives in Lisbon, Portugal; London, UK; and Basel, Switzerland.
 
Ebony G. Patterson
Born 1981, Kingston, Jamaica. Lives in Kingston, Jamaica and Chicago, IL, USA.
 
Rajni Perera & Marigold Santos
Born 1985, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Lives in Toronto, Canada.
Born 1981, Manila, Phillipines. Lives in Calgary, Canada.
 
Thania Petersen
Born 1980, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
 
Alan Phelan
Born 1968, Dublin, Ireland. Lives in Dublin, Ireland.
 
 Johannes Phokela
 Born 1966, Johannesburg, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
 
Léonard Pongo
Born 1988, Liège, Belgium. Lives in Brussels, Belgium and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
 
Walid Raad
Born 1967, Chbanieh, Lebanon. Lives in Medusa, NY, USA.
 
Mohammed Z. Rahman
Born 1997, London, UK. Lives in London, UK.
 
RAW Material Company
Founded 2008, Dakar, Senegal.
 
Tabita Rezaire
Born 1989, Paris, France, 1989. Lives in Cayenne, French Guiana.
 
Guadalupe Rosales
Born 1980, Redwood City, CA, USA. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
 
Yo-E Ryou
Born 1987, Seoul, South Korea. Lives in Seoul and Jeju Island, South Korea.
 
Khaled Sabsabi
Born 1965, Tripoli, Lebanon. Lives in Sydney, Australia.
 
Rose Salane
Born 1992, New York City, NY, USA.  Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
 
Issa Samb
Born 1945, Dakar, Senegal. D. 2017.
 
Amina Saoudi Aït Khay
Born 1955, Casablanca, Morocco. Lives in Sousse, Tunisia.
 
Carrie Schneider
Born 1979, Chicago, IL USA. Lives in New York City, NY, USA.
 
Hala Schoukair
Born 1957, Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon.
 
Berni Searle
Born 1964, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
 
Mmakgabo Mmapula Helen Sebidi
Born 1943, Marapyane, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
 
Wardha Shabbir
Born 1987, Lahore, Pakistan. Lives in Lahore, Pakistan.
 
Yoshiko Shimada
Born 1959, Tokyo, Japan. Lives in Chiba, Japan.
 
Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser
Born 1987, New Delhi, India. Lives in London, UK and New Delhi, India.
Born 1985, Bonn, Germany. Lives in London, UK and New Delhi, India.
 
Buhlebezwe Siwani
Born 1987, Johannesburg, South Africa. Lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Cape Town, South Africa.
 
Cauleen Smith
 Born 1967, Riverside, CA, USA. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, USA.
 
Vera Tamari
Born 1944, Jerusalem, Palestine.  1944. Lives in Ramallah, Palestine.
 
Tsai Ming-liang
Born 1957, Kuching, Malaysia. Lives in New Taipei City and Taipei, Taiwan.
 
Victoria-Idongesit Udondian
Born 1982, Uyo, Nigeria. Lives in Lagos, Nigeria and New York City, NY, USA.
 
Celia Vásquez Yui
Born 1960, Pucallpa, Peru. Lives in the Peruvian Amazon, Pucallpa, Peru.
 
Kemang Wa Lehulere
Born 1984, Cape Town, South Africa. Lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
 
Kennedy Yanko
Born 1988, St. Louis, MO, USA. Lives in Miami, FL, USA.
 
Raed Yassin
Born 1979, Beirut, Lebanon. Lives in Beirut, Lebanon and Berlin, Germany.
 
Sawangwongse Yawnghwe
Born 1971, Shan State Burma. Lives in Zutphen, Netherlands and Chiang Mai, Thailand.
 
Billie Zangewa
Born 1973, Blantyre, Malawi. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.
 
 
PADIGLIONE DELLE ARTI APPLICATE
Progetto Speciale della Biennale di Venezia e Victoria and Albert Museum, London
 
Gala Porras-Kim*
Born 1984, Bogotá, Colombia. Lives in Los Angeles, CA, USA and London, UK. 
 
* Nella sezione non competitiva

Notizie varie

Dopo una serie di polemiche il Padiglione dell'Australia vede di nuovo la partecipazione dell'artista Khaled Sabsabi col curatore  Michael Dagostino.

Il padiglione della Serbia vedrà l'intervento dell'artista Predrag Đaković, che però viene contestato da alcune associazioni. 

L'Ecuador avrà il suo primo padiglione con l'intervento di Oscar Santillán, in collaborazione con Tawna Collective, e la curatela di Manuela Moscoso.

El Salvador partecipa per la prima volta e sarà presente presso Palazzo Mora con l'artista J. Oscar Molina.

Sono intanto in corso nei Giardini i lavori per il padiglione del Qatar, progettato da Lina Ghotmeh.

Ritornano il padiglione delle Bahamas e quello dell'India.

News dal Padiglione Polonia

 Authors of the ‘Liquid Tongues’ (from left to right: Ewa Chomicka, Bogna Burska, Jolanta Woszczenko, Daniel Kotowski), 
photo by Filip Preis / Zachęta Archive 

Il progetto Liquid Tongues, curato da Ewa Chomicka e Jolanta Woszczenko, è stato selezionato per rappresentare la Polonia alla 61ª Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte della Biennale di Venezia nel 2026. Realizzato dagli artisti Bogna Burska e Daniel Kotowski, con la partecipazione del Choir in Motion (Chór w Ruchu), il progetto è stato scelto dalla giuria del concorso per il Padiglione Polacco e approvato dal Ministero della Cultura e del Patrimonio Nazionale della Polonia.

 Bogna Burska è una rinomata artista visiva e drammaturga polacca, il cui lavoro è stato presentato in importanti istituzioni in Polonia e a livello internazionale. Daniel Kotowski è un artista e performer di primo piano, noto per le sue ricerche innovative sull’esperienza e sul linguaggio delle persone sorde, con mostre nei principali centri d’arte europei.

 Liquid Tongues è un’installazione audio-video in cui il Choir in Motion (Chór w Ruchu), un gruppo composto da performer udenti e sordi, interpreta i codici di comunicazione e i canti delle balene sia in inglese parlato sia nella Lingua dei Segni Internazionale (International Sign – IS). Il progetto esplora modalità alternative di comunicazione, ispirate alle forme di vita “più-che-umane”. L’asse narrativo del lavoro è costituito da storie di perdita e ricostruzione: dalla rinascita delle culture delle balene ai tentativi contemporanei di recuperare lingue marginalizzate e narrazioni dei sistemi di comunicazione.

 L’installazione opera su più livelli: immagine (cinematografia di Magda Mosiewicz e Bogna Burska), suono (composizione di Aleksandra Gryka) ed esperienza fisica, attraverso onde acustiche che corrispondono alle impressioni delle vocalizzazioni e delle ecolocalizzazioni delle balene “franche”. La coreografia collettiva dei corpi del coro si ispira al movimento dei banchi di pesci (Alicja Czyczel).

Video sketches - Bogna Burska, video sketches for the ‘Liquid Tongues’, photos by: Magda Mosiewicz, performers: Bogna Burska, Daniel Kotowski, courtesy of the artists

Liquid Tongues veicola il concetto di Deaf Gain, secondo cui la sordità non è considerata una disabilità, ma una cultura e un’identità distinte, capaci di offrire nuove prospettive e forme di espressione. Il team del padiglione realizza una parte significativa delle riprese audio e video sott’acqua: un ambiente in cui le persone sorde possono comunicare liberamente attraverso la lingua dei segni, mentre le persone udenti producono suoni distorti. Il confine tra aria e acqua diventa uno spazio di sperimentazione comunicativa: una sorta di specchio in cui si incontrano lingue, corpi e modi di sentire differenti.

 Nel concetto curatoriale della Biennale Arte 2026, basato sulla metafora musicale delle Minor Keys (“tonalità minori”), Koyo Kouoh ha invitato a un incontro contemplativo con ciò che è delicato e generalmente trascurato: le voci più deboli, le narrazioni dimenticate, le micro-memorie. Un incoraggiamento a sviluppare forme sottili di resistenza, a creare nuove relazioni e sperimentazioni sensibili, a costruire partiture polifoniche di società fondate sull’ascolto reciproco, sul sentire e sul risuonare insieme.

Liquid Tongues sviluppa questa visione tentando di superare quelli che immaginiamo essere i limiti della comunicazione e di creare comunità soggettive che tengano conto di molteplici punti di vista: questa proposta di futuro include anche una prospettiva animale.

 Zachęta – Galleria Nazionale d’Arte è il produttore di Liquid Tongues. Da oltre settant’anni è responsabile dell’organizzazione delle mostre polacche sia all’Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte – La Biennale di Venezia sia alla Mostra Internazionale di Architettura – La Biennale di Venezia ed è inoltre il custode del Padiglione Polacco. I progetti che rappresentano la Polonia alle due biennali sono selezionati tramite un concorso pubblico in due fasi, da una giuria di esperti nei campi dell’arte e dell’architettura.

 

Padiglione della Polonia

61ª Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte – La Biennale di Venezia

  Liquid Tongues

Artisti: Bogna Burska, Daniel Kotowski con la partecipazione di Choir in Motion (Chór w Ruchu), Alicja Czyczel, Aleksandra Gryka, Magda Mosiewicz

Curatrici: Ewa Chomicka, Jolanta Woszczenko

Commissaria: Agnieszka Pindera, direttrice di Zachęta – Galleria Nazionale d’Arte

Ufficio Padiglione Polacco: Michał Kubiak (vice-commissario), Anna Kowalska

 La partecipazione della Polonia alla 61ª Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte – La Biennale di Venezia è finanziata dal Ministero della Cultura e del Patrimonio Nazionale della Repubblica di Polonia.

Patrocinio della Zachęta: ORLEN

Main Partner espositivo: Adam Mickiewicz Institute

Partner espositivo: LAZNIA Centro d’Arte Contemporanea, Polish Institute of Linguistic Diversity, Università di Educazione Fisica di Varsavia

Con il supporto di: Istituto Polacco di Roma, Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts

Sara Shamma per la Siria

 

La Siria ha scelto Sara Shamma per il suo padiglione. Presenterà l'opera "La Tomba della Torre di Palmira"  col supporto curatoriale di Yuko Hasegawa.

Sarà un lavoro di carattere pittorico e immersivo con cui esplorerà gli aspetti della della memoria, della perdita e sulla trasformazione della culturale della Siria.

News dal Swiss Pavilion

Pavilion of Switzerland at the Biennale Arte 2026 “The Unfinished Business of Living Together”, nominated team, from left to right: Gianmaria Andreetta, Luca Beeler, Yul Tomatala, Miriam Laura Leonardi, Lithic Alliance, Nina Wakeford. Photo: Del LaGrace Volcano.  

The Swiss Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia presents The Unfinished Business of Living Together—an exhibition conceived by curators Gianmaria Andreetta, Luca Beeler, together with artist Nina Wakeford, and developed in collaboration with artists Miriam Laura Leonardi, Lithic Alliance, and Yul Tomatala.  

The Unfinished Business of Living Together takes coexistence as both a social promise and a contested form. The project mobilises art to reopen the archive as a site of active dispute and engagement.

The project begins with voices featured in an April 1978 episode of the Swiss public television programme Telearena, in which the so-called ‘problem of homosexuality’ was debated publicly and controversially on live television. This broadcast marked one of the first occasions when individuals identifying as homosexual gained a mainstream public voice beyond subcultural groups, catalysing and building coalitions between lesbian and gay communities across Switzerland. This theme was revisited six years later by the francophone talk show Agora (1984), bringing together Swiss, French, and Canadian audiences via satellite. Both programmes used live sketches written by the TV drama department to stimulate debate in the studio and encourage the audience to respond based on their own experience.

For the artistic team of the 2026 Swiss Pavilion, the challenges of living together remain unresolved, and can be addressed in wildly different forms. Attempts at social change continue to compete against established norms and institutionalised systems of exclusion and silence. Within this framework, homosexuality serves as one historically specific entry point into examining how social norms determine who can speak and be heard. These debates reveal broader patterns: from state security requiring surveillance to moral panics around the nuclear family, showing how various forms of difference become perceived as threats to social order.

The exhibition stages both the possibilities and the frictions of ‘living together’. At its centre, a spatialised video production mixes archival footage with new images and sound. Extending into the Pavilion’s garden, the exhibition looks at the risks of intimacy in public space, how memory is anchored in place and how the archive can be reactivated as a living resource for different narratives.

By revisiting and re-enacting the formal mechanisms of these TV talk-shows the exhibition operates through montage and installation and opens up broader questions about media infrastructures.

As the group note:
‘We come from different language regions of Switzerland and beyond. Representing different generations and sharing international perspectives, we hope for a Pavilion that invites visitors to consider: When and where is this happening? Does the archive hold authority here? To whom does the past belong? Will viewers take a strong position?’

The exhibition is the result of collaborative artistic and curatorial work. Each member of the group contributes their own expertise, and layers of complexity. The Unfinished Business of Living Together ultimately experiments with how voices, spaces, and perspectives can be shared and need to be continuously reconfigured.

Agora – Homosexualité, 1984, still image, Coproductions RTS RadioTélévision Suisse, Courtesy RTS / SRG SSR (Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft) .


Project team
Gianmaria Andreetta (Berlin)
Gianmaria Andreetta is a writer and curator from Lugano, living in Berlin. He is currently co-directing The Wig in Berlin and has curated widely across Europe. A Swiss Art Award laureate, he teaches regularly and publishes on contemporary art.

Luca Beeler (Zurich)
Luca Maria Beeler (born 1985) is a curator based in Zurich. As Director of Stadtgalerie Bern, he developed a research-driven, artist-centred programme and has curated shows at major Swiss institutions. He has taught at HEAD Genève and the F+F School of Art and Design Zurich.

Nina Wakeford (London)
Nina Wakeford (born 1968) is an artist, sociologist, and Professor of Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her work has been exhibited at ICA London, Barbican, and Glasgow International, among others. She recently completed major oral-history research in Switzerland for her exhibition Concrete Comeback ⚣⚢ Arms Are For Linking.

Miriam Laura Leonardi (Zurich)
Miriam Laura Leonardi (born 1985) is an artist and Professor in the Bachelor of Fine Arts at ECAL, University of Art and Design in Lausanne. Her multimedia practice is articulated through site-specific installations, sculptures and videos and has been extensively exhibited internationally. She has led several curatorial projects and runs the Photography Exhibit! project space in her studio in Zurich.

Lithic Alliance (Zurich/Brussels)
Lithic Alliance is a more-than-human collective initiated in 2020 by Dani V. Keller (born 1987). Working across lithology, they explore mineral energies, vibrations, and queer resonances. Their work has been shown internationally, including at ICA London, Kunsthalle Bern, and Radvilas Art Palace.

Yul Tomatala (Geneva)
Yul Tomatala (born 1993) is an artist based in Geneva with degrees from ECAL and HEAD Genève. His installations weave sculpture, photography, and video to explore spatial and visual entanglements. His work probes the entropy of modernity and the role of memory in contemporary societies.  

Alexandre Estrella per il Portogallo

 

La Galería Travesía Cuatro ha annunciato che il progetto RedSkyFalls dell'artista portoghese Alexandre Estrella è stato eletto per rappresentare ufficialmente il Portogallo alla prossima 61a Biennale di Venezia, nel 2026.

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We are thrilled to announce that the project RedSkyFalls by Portuguese artist Alexandre Estrella has been elected to officially represent Portugal at the upcoming 61st Venice Biennale, in 2026.

Ana Baliza and Ricardo Nicolau will be in charge of curating the exhibition, and Marco Bene will be the curator of the public program.

The next Venice Biennial will be held under the theme “In Minor Keys,” curated by Koyo Kouoh, who passed away in May this year. The biennial will present a transformative vision of art as resistance, introspection, and joy in the face of the environmental crisis and will be held from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with a preview on May 7 and 8 in the Giardini, the Arsenale, and other venues in central Venice.

Jon Cuyson per le Filippine

 Saranno Jon Cuyson e Mara Gladstone a rappresentare le Filippine alla 61a Biennale Internazionale di Venezia con la mostra intitolata Sea of ​​Love / Dagat ng Pag-ibig, 

Il Padiglione delle Filippine è commissionato dalla Commissione Nazionale per la Cultura e le Arti (NCCA) in collaborazione con il Dipartimento degli Affari Esteri (DFA) e l'Ufficio del Senatore Loren Legarda.

Sea of ​​Love / Dagat ng Pag-ibig presenta opere dell'artista e regista Jon Cuyson, residente a Manila. Forme essenziali tratte dalla sua trentennale pratica, tra cui dipinti, video e sculture, rendono omaggio ai filippini che popolano le nostre vie d'acqua globali. La mostra canalizza le nozioni del marinaio, della sua famiglia, delle navi e dei molluschi per centralizzare il lavoro filippino che alimenta il monumentale movimento del commercio globale. La mostra è curata da Mara Gladstone, studiosa e docente residente in California.

"Sono onorato di rappresentare le Filippine sul palcoscenico più prestigioso al mondo per l'arte contemporanea", afferma Cuyson. "I miei progetti sono stati plasmati attraverso moduli di memoria: una pratica di opere interconnesse che fungono da archivi parziali per storie sommerse, lavoro marittimo e frammenti di appartenenza. La nostra mostra prosegue questa indagine esplorando le cozze come motivo e metafora per comprendere la parentela tra terra e mare".

"Siamo grati al PAVB e al NCCA per l'opportunità di condividere il lavoro di Jon con un pubblico internazionale", afferma Gladstone. "Sviluppare questo progetto con i nostri collaboratori filippini, dagli allevatori di cozze agli esperti di acquacoltura, conferma la nostra comprensione delle vie d'acqua come qualcosa di più di semplici percorsi verso altre terre. L'acqua è anche un luogo in cui trovare un senso di casa. La storia filippina si è sempre basata sul contesto del viaggio. La nostra proposta postula le forze umanizzanti dell'amore nel flusso e riflusso della globalizzazione, in sincronia con i nostri oceani ondulati".

La mostra è stata selezionata da un invito a presentare proposte il 5 ottobre 2025. La giuria era composta da Mayumi Hirano (direttore del Centro Purita Kalaw-Ledesma, facoltà dell'Università delle Filippine Diliman), Manny Montelibano (artista multimediale, regista e professore presso l'Università di St. La Salle, Bacolod City) e l'On. Victorino Mapa Manalo (Presidente della NCCA e Commissario del Padiglione delle Filippine).

Sea of ​​Love / Dagat ng Pag-ibig sarà la sesta partecipazione delle Filippine alla Biennale Arte da quando è tornata nel 2015 con il sostegno del senatore Loren Legarda per affermare la presenza dell'arte e della cultura filippina a livello internazionale.

Jon Cuyson (nato a Manila, Filippine, 1969) è un artista interdisciplinare filippino la cui pratica spazia tra installazione, pittura, scultura, libri e immagini in movimento. Radicato in ecologie queer e postcoloniali, il suo lavoro esplora il mare come un archivio vivente, un luogo instabile dove memoria, lavoro, migrazione e desiderio cambiano e si ricombinano continuamente. Everyday Productions è la sua piattaforma di sperimentazione tra arte, cinema e scenografia. Le sue opere sono state esposte in Asia, Europa e Stati Uniti, tra cui alla Brunei Gallery, SOAS (Londra); al Times Museum (Cina); e al Bronx Museum (New York). Cuyson ha studiato presso l'Università delle Filippine, Baguio City e Skowhegan nel Maine. Ha conseguito un MFA in Pittura alla Columbia e ha ricoperto incarichi accademici presso istituzioni a Manila. Cuyson vive e lavora nelle Filippine.

Mara Gladstone (nata a New York, USA, 1977) è una curatrice e docente impegnata nella creazione di spazi transdisciplinari e accoglienti per l'arte che coltivino le connessioni tra le persone e l'ambiente. Ha organizzato mostre, arte pubblica, programmi e pubblicazioni presso Desert X, Palm Springs Art Museum e J. Paul Getty Museum in collaborazione con leader della comunità e agenzie civiche. Tra i suoi progetti precedenti figurano quelli con Kelly Akashi, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Gerald Clarke, Gisela Colon, Victoria Fu, Nicholas Galanin, Todd Gray, Pat Lasch, Hung Liu, Karen Lofgren, Wang Qingsong, Adee Roberson, Jono Rotman e Wang Wei. Gladstone ha conseguito lauree presso l'Università di Rochester (MA, PhD) e la Brown University (BA) ed è cittadina statunitense e filippina.

Alma Allen per gli USA

 Alma Allen (foto di Ana Hop, per gentile concessione di American Arts Conservancy)

L'artista, autodidatta,  Alma Allen rappresenterà gli Stati Uniti alla prossima Biennale di Venezia del 2026

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Today, the Department of State announced the selection of The American Arts Conservancy (AAC) to represent the United States at the 61st Venice Art Biennale.  The 2026 U.S. Pavilion exhibition ‘Alma Allen: Call Me the Breeze’ was organized by Commissioner Jenni Parido, founder of the American Arts Conservancy, and curator Jeffrey Uslip.  It will present artworks that highlight Allen’s alchemical transformation of matter and explore the concept of “elevation,” both as a physical manifestation of form and as a symbol of collective optimism and self-realization, furthering the Trump Administration’s focus on showcasing American excellence.  The artist, Alma Allen, will create several new site-responsive sculptures, including one for the U.S. Pavilion’s outdoor forecourt.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs supports and manages the official U.S. participation at Venice Arts and Architecture Biennales to showcase the excellence of American art and culture on the world stage.

Padiglione olandese il titolo The Fortress

Dutch Pavilion, Venice. Photo by Andrea Avezzù

Title of the Dutch Entry to the 2026 La Biennale di Venezia Announced
 
‘The Fortress’ is the title of the new work to be presented by artist Dries Verhoeven and curator Rieke Vos for the 61st edition of La Biennale di Venezia
Dries Verhoeven and Rieke Vos are currently developing a performance and architectural intervention for the Rietveld Pavilion, marking the first time that performance will be presented in the Dutch Pavilion. La Biennale di Venezia will take place from May 9 to November 22, 2026.
 
With The Fortress, Verhoeven and Vos examine the human instinct for self-protection – the urge to safeguard one’s boundaries, peace of mind and way of life. In an age of uncertainty, the duo reflects on how Western society grapples with the tension between its enlightened self-image and an increasingly bleak outlook on the future. Through this work, Verhoeven draws visitors directly into this contradiction. The Rietveld Pavilion, built amid the progressive optimism of the postwar era, not only serves as the setting for the presentation but also becomes an integral part of the work itself.
 
Dries Verhoeven: “The Biennale's design perpetuates an old-world order, which fascinates me. Many former Western powers have a prominent place there. The Netherlands, with its modernist pavilion, can present itself as a model of openness, progress, and internationalism. But do we still recognise ourselves in this image?"

India

 Dopo sei anni l'India torna a partecipare alla Biennale di Venezia, con la Fondazione no-profit Sankala di Nuova Delhi. 

Dana Awartani

 L'Arabia Saudita parteciperà alla 61a Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Biennale di Venezia 2026, che si terrà dal 9 maggio al 22 novembre 2026 a Venezia, in Italia, riflettendo la fiorente e in continua evoluzione scena creativa del Regno.

La partecipazione del Regno sarà rappresentata attraverso il Padiglione Nazionale dell'Arabia Saudita, organizzato dalla Commissione per le Arti Visive del Ministero della Cultura.

L'artista saudita Dana Awartani è stata selezionata per partecipare a questo evento artistico globale, presentando opere che valorizzano il patrimonio culturale e fanno rivivere l'artigianato tradizionale. È la quarta artista a rappresentare l'Arabia Saudita nella storia della Biennale, sottolineando il ruolo pionieristico e influente delle donne saudite nelle arti visive.

Il padiglione sarà curato dalla Direttrice d'Arte Jameel Antonia Carver, con il supporto della Curatrice Assistente Hafsa Al-Khudairi, per sviluppare il contenuto artistico nazionale del padiglione.

Questa è la quinta partecipazione dell'Arabia Saudita all'Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte e la quarta volta che un'artista saudita rappresenta il Regno attraverso il suo Padiglione Nazionale. I dettagli dell'opera che sarà presentata da Awartani saranno annunciati nel 2026.