Biennale: mood and politics

The 2026 Venice Biennale is being defined by two tracks at once: a quieter main exhibition and Russia’s return to the Giardini. (labiennale.org, artnews.com) La Biennale di Venezia says the 61st International Art Exhibition, titled *In Minor Keys*, will run from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with preview days on May 6, 7 and 8. The show is being mounted across the Giardini, the Arsenale and other Venice sites. (labiennale.org) The exhibition follows the curatorial framework left by Koyo Kouoh, the Cameroonian-Swiss curator appointed in November 2024, who died on May 10, 2025, at 57. La Biennale said it is carrying out the exhibition with the support of her family. (labiennale.org, labiennale.org, labiennale.org) Kouoh’s title points away from spectacle and toward slower, mood-led looking. In Biennale materials, her team describes a “visual and meditative procession,” and the invited exhibition includes 110 artists, duos, collectives and artist-led groups from many regions. (labiennale.org, labiennale.org) The national pavilions tell a second story. La Biennale said on March 4 that 100 countries will take part in 2026, with first-time participation from Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Nauru, Qatar, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Vietnam, while El Salvador will have its own pavilion for the first time. (labiennale.org) That wider map has sharpened attention on African and Global South representation, a shift Kouoh had long pushed through her work at RAW Material Company in Dakar and Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town. Monocle said her Biennale has become a focal point for the growing international weight of African contemporary art. (labiennale.org, monocle.com) Russia’s pavilion, closed for the 2022 and 2024 editions after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, is now set to reopen in 2026. ARTnews reported that Russian organizers confirmed the return after La Biennale included the Russian Federation on its official list of national participants. (artnews.com, labiennale.org) That decision has drawn pressure from Brussels. Euronews reported on April 13 that the European Commission warned it could freeze €2 million in funding to La Biennale over the Russian pavilion, while Italian officials have argued the Biennale does not select national participants because pavilions are proposed by governments and cultural bodies. (euronews.com, labiennale.org) So before the doors open on May 9, 2026, the Biennale is already being read through Kouoh’s low-register curatorial language and through a dispute over who gets to stand inside the Giardini. Those two arguments are now traveling together. (labiennale.org, monocle.com, euronews.com)