All posts tagged: Biennale

Gaza at the Venice Biennale: Where language falls short, threads take over | Gaza

Gaza at the Venice Biennale: Where language falls short, threads take over | Gaza

Published by Sam Flores

I am a journalist; storytelling is my craft. Words are the tools I turn to, again and again, to make sense of events and shape them into narratives that do them justice. And yet, when it comes to the genocide in Gaza, my birthplace, language feels wholly inadequate. There is a limit to what words can say. At a certain point, the instinct to describe, to explain and to make sense of what has unfolded begins to break down under the sheer scale of devastation and pain. One scene from the start of the war has lingered in my mind: A bulldozer burying 111 unidentified bodies, wrapped in bright blue bags, in a mass grave. It appeared briefly in the endless scroll of social media before it disappeared again, replaced by yet another shocking scene. And another. A hundred and eleven souls about whom we knew nothing; not their names, not their dreams or what their final moments were. A New York Times headline read: More Than 100 Bodies Are Delivered to a Mass Grave …

It’s the Most Controversial Venice Biennale in Years. Can the Art Stand Up to the Noise?

It’s the Most Controversial Venice Biennale in Years. Can the Art Stand Up to the Noise?

Published by Sam Flores

There are highlights of the curated sector. The Austrian Pavilion is probably the talk of the Biennale, featuring Florentina Holzinger’s batshit crazy, borderline unsafe performances. Upside-down performers hang from a gigantic bell, clanging their torsos against the metal. Some are zooming around on jet skis in a water tank that’s impressively built into the pavilion building that’s stood in the Giardini since the 1930s. The curated sector is a bit forgettable, all grays and browns and yellows, as one curator put it. I loved Otobong Nkanga’s installation on the exterior of the central pavilion, plus a thrilling display from Alvaro Barrington, who drove a gigantic truck from London and installed new paintings on the side of it. If this Biennale mints any art stars, there you have them. The mood in Venice is still borderline ecstatic, full of gossip, parties, and people chatting about art in their respective cities, trading business cards, discovering new talent, eating, drinking, and stumbling around, running into old friends. There’s a critical mass of incredible shows—but they’re almost all at …

Venice Biennale Pavilions and Artists Strike Over Israel Participation

Venice Biennale Pavilions and Artists Strike Over Israel Participation

Published by José Betancourt

Thousands of demonstrators marched in the streets of Venice on the eve of the public opening of the Venice Biennale on Saturday in protest of Israel’s presence in the show. The protest was organized by Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA), an international group of artists, curators, writers, and cultural workers. By the afternoon, the organizers had secured a lengthy list of national pavilions that would be shut down completely or in part for a 24-hour strike, including Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Korea, Lebanon, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine. They said it was the largest action of its kind in the history of the Biennale.  Related Articles “Israel has killed over 73,000 people in Gaza, with a further 10,000 missing,” said the organizers in a press release. “It has systematically destroyed hospitals, schools, refugee camps, cultural institutions, and civilian infrastructure. Its leadership faces ICC arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Biennale knows this and it chooses to accommodate Israel anyway.” “From …

Who Owns the Mega Yachts Parked Outside the Venice Biennale?

Who Owns the Mega Yachts Parked Outside the Venice Biennale?

Published by Jenni Sidey

The Private GG is not a subtle vessel—but then again, neither is the man it is named after. Built in 2022 by Italian shipyard CRN and measuring 170 feet long, the yacht was designed by Omega Architects, with a sleek interior by Massari Design, according to Yacht Buyer. She accommodates up to 10 guests across five staterooms, along with nine crew members, and comes equipped with a jacuzzi on the sun deck, an upper-deck cinema saloon, and a beach club with a steam room at water level. The boat belongs to Giancarlo Giammetti, the cofounder of the Valentino fashion house and the decades-long business and romantic partner of Valentino Garavani, the iconic Italian couturier who died in January at age 93. (The yacht shares his Instagram handle.) Giammetti was in Venice for the Biennale opening, posting to Instagram a collection of photos of artworks, and a shot of him, actress Salma Hayek, and her husband François-Henri Pinault, the owner of luxury firm Kering and one of the most famous art collectors in the world, at dinner. Perhaps …

As the Venice Biennale Opens, Koyo Kouoh Foundation Launches in Her Memory

As the Venice Biennale Opens, Koyo Kouoh Foundation Launches in Her Memory

Published by Jenni Sidey

With the 2026 Venice Biennale wrapping up its professional previews and officially opening to the public on Saturday, a new foundation dedicated to Koyo Kouoh—the curator of the Biennale’s main exhibition who passed away a year ago—has been announced. Based in Basel, Switzerland, where Kouoh lived for part of her life, the Koyo Kouoh Foundation “continues and structures the work initiated by Koyo Kouoh” with the goal of keeping “a tradition alive, rather than turning it into a still image,” according to the foundation’s website. “It is based on the idea that art is not neutral and that history, power, access, and the conditions in which artists and curators can think, make, and share their work all shape cultural production.” Related Articles The site adds, “It’s important to know that culture isn’t secondary. It’s structural.” As part of its work, the foundation will support emerging and established organizations and curators in both Africa and internationally, including RAW Material Company, the Dakar-based arts and research organization Kouoh founded in 2008. Per the website, the foundation “functions …

The Best National Pavilions at the 2026 Venice Biennale

The Best National Pavilions at the 2026 Venice Biennale

Published by José Betancourt

A sense of ruin permeates this Venice Biennale, though we already knew that it would going in. And pointedly, several standout national pavilions in the show are steeped in decay—bodily, infrastructural, archaeological. They’re about the broken, bloody political machines pumping the present full of its own reek. Rubble and stone line the Slovenian Pavilion, where the Nonument Group repurposes materials from previous Biennales into a ruin of a mosque built for Bosnian Muslim soldiers during World War I. Meanwhile, Sara Shamma, representing Syria in its first national pavilion since the Civil War, invokes Palmyra, the ancient site whose tower tombs were obliterated by ISIS during its campaign of cultural erasure. Germany’s presentation, titled “Ruin,” treats the pavilion’s architecture as a lens through which to question the exhibition’s siloed structure. Is nationalist residue ever erased, or does it continue to metastasize? The work of its artists—Henrike Naumann, who died in February, and Sung Tieu ask that question. Their response would surely merit award consideration—if the Venice Biennale still had a jury. (Its five members resigned abruptly …

Baltic Pavilions Support for Ukraine During Venice Biennale Preview

Baltic Pavilions Support for Ukraine During Venice Biennale Preview

Published by José Betancourt

Three Baltic pavilions at the 2026 Venice Biennale—Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia—organized a walk in solidarity with Ukraine on May 6, one of the exhibition’s preview days. A statement from the Lithuanian Pavilion explains that the procession was dedicated to cultural workers from Ukraine “who continue to create and represent their country in conditions of war, as well as to those who have lost their lives because of ongoing violence.” Ukraine has its own pavilion at the Biennale, and this year’s show, “Security Guarantees,” features work by Zhanna Kadyrova. Related Articles The walk began at the Lithuanian Pavilion in the Fucina del Futuro, progressed to the Latvian Pavilion in the Arsenale, and ended at the Estonian pavilion at Patronato Salesiano Leone XIII, a church–turned–community center. The total distance was about a mile and a half. The action is one of many political statements that have already taken place at the highly contentious 2026 Biennale, which doesn’t open to the public until May 9. On Wednesday morning, Pussy Riot and FEMEN protested at the Russian pavilion, and …

Israeli Artist Pressured Venice Biennale Before Jury Resigned: Report

Israeli Artist Pressured Venice Biennale Before Jury Resigned: Report

Published by José Betancourt

According to multiple media reports, artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, Israel’s representative at the recently opened Venice Biennale, put pressure on the exhibition’s organizers before the show’s jury abruptly resigned last week. When that five-person jury quit, it did not state its reason for doing so. But prior to departing the Biennale, the jury, which been charged with selecting the winners of the Biennale’s Golden Lions, said that it would not consider nations who were charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. That would have applied to Israel and Russia, both of which are showing at the Biennale. Related Articles Last week, the Italian news agency Adnkronos ran two reports about what it said precipitated the jury resignation, one of which featured news that Fainaru had reportedly alleged “racial discrimination” and “antisemitism” and threatened to take his claims to the European Court of Human Rights. The Biennale then told the jury that its members could “be held personally liable for damages in the event of a dispute,” according to Adnkronos. Hyperallergic reported on Wednesday …

Israeli Artist Pressured Venice Biennale Before Jury Resigned: Report

Israeli Artist Pressured Venice Biennale Before Jury Resigned: Report

Published by José Betancourt

According to multiple media reports, artist Belu-Simion Fainaru, Israel’s representative at the recently opened Venice Biennale, put pressure on the exhibition’s organizers before the show’s jury abruptly resigned last week. When that five-person jury quit, it did not state its reason for doing so. But prior to departing the Biennale, the jury, which been charged with selecting the winners of the Biennale’s Golden Lions, said that it would not consider nations who were charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. That would have applied to Israel and Russia, both of which are showing at the Biennale. Related Articles Last week, the Italian news agency Adnkronos ran two reports about what it said precipitated the jury resignation, one of which featured news that Fainaru had reportedly alleged “racial discrimination” and “antisemitism” and threatened to take his claims to the European Court of Human Rights. The Biennale then told the jury that its members could “be held personally liable for damages in the event of a dispute,” according to Adnkronos. Hyperallergic reported on Wednesday …

Why the Venice Biennale Main Show Lost an Artist During Planning

Why the Venice Biennale Main Show Lost an Artist During Planning

Published by Jenni Sidey

When the Venice Biennale first announced the artist list for Koyo Kouoh’s main exhibition in February, the show included 111 participants. But when you visit the Biennale’s website now, you’ll find that Kouoh’s exhibition, titled “In Minor Keys,” now features 110 artists. ARTnews can reveal that the artist who was struck from the list was Bodys Isek Kingelez, a Congolese artist known for his vast, colorful cardboard sculptures of opulent cities. Kingelez, who termed these works “extreme maquettes,” died in 2015, by which point he had already appeared in Okwui Enwezor’s Documenta XI in 2002 and was celebrated widely. Related Articles Despite Kingelez appearing on that initial artist list, a Biennale spokesperson told ARTnews, “His works initially considered for inclusion were ultimately no longer available.” It isn’t clear which works by him Kouoh’s curatorial advisers had sought to include. Kingelez was to be one of the few dead artists in the exhibition, alongside figures such as Marcel Duchamp, Issa Samb, Pauline Oliveros, and Seyni Awa Camara. His works are held by institutions across the globe, …