Czech‑Slovak Biennale return
For the Venice Biennale this year, the Czech and Slovak pavilions are teaming up for the first time in 20 years with an exhibition called “The Silence of the Mole,” which makes this edition notable for Central European collaboration. That pairing signals a curatorial emphasis on cross-border perspectives rather than solo national statements, and it fits reports that the 2026 Biennale is leaning toward quieter, lateral narratives under curator Koyo Kouoh. If you follow contemporary biennials, this is one of the discreet shows likely to generate conversation about regional dialogue. (newsnow.tasr.sk) (arts-in-the-city.com)
The Czech Republic and Slovakia are sending one show to Venice instead of two, and it is the first joint project from the two countries at the Biennale in 20 years. The exhibition is called “The Silence of the Mole,” and it will open in the Czech and Slovak Pavilion on May 9, 2026. (tasr.sk) (labiennale.org) That matters in Venice because national pavilions usually work like separate embassies for art, with each country using its rooms to make its own case. This time the Czech and Slovak side is treating one building with a shared history as a shared stage again. (labiennale.org) (artrabbit.com) The building itself was opened in 1926 as the Czechoslovak Pavilion, so 2026 is its 100th anniversary. A joint presentation lands differently in that setting because the pavilion was built for one country long before Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. (e-flux.com) (artrabbit.com) The team behind the show is also built across borders. The project brings together artists Jakub Jansa and Selmeci Kocka Jusko with curator Peter Sit, and commissioner Michal Novotný is coordinating the pavilion for the National Gallery Prague and the Slovak National Gallery. (e-flux.com) (artdaily.cc) “The Silence of the Mole” is not just a title pulled from nowhere. The project centers on a character called Mr. M., described by the organizers as an exhausted actor who has spent decades playing the mole, which turns the pavilion into something closer to a staged environment than a standard wall-of-paintings national display. (e-flux.com) (artrabbit.com) The format is interdisciplinary, which is Biennale language for mixing mediums inside one installation instead of separating film, sculpture, and architecture into neat boxes. ArtRabbit says the pavilion will combine film, objects, and architecture as one whole environment. (artrabbit.com) The wider Venice exhibition around it is also set up for quieter work this year. The 61st International Art Exhibition is titled “In Minor Keys,” a concept developed by curator Koyo Kouoh before her death in May 2025, and La Biennale says the 2026 edition will still be realized from her plan with the support of her family. (labiennale.org) (euronews.com) That curatorial frame helps explain why a Czech-Slovak reunion is likely to draw attention even without a giant spectacle. Trade coverage of the 2026 Biennale has described Kouoh’s exhibition as favoring subtle, intimate, low-volume forms over grand national chest-thumping, which gives a shared pavilion extra resonance. (designboom.com) (theartnewspaper.com) The calendar is now fixed: preview days run from May 6 to May 8, and the exhibition stays open from May 9 to November 22, 2026. In a Biennale spread across the Giardini, the Arsenale, and venues across Venice, one of the more closely watched side stories will be what happens when a pavilion built for Czechoslovakia is used, for one centennial year, as if that shared frame still exists. (labiennale.org) (biennialfoundation.org)
