Pakistan names Faiza Butt as its 61st Venice Biennale representative with 'Punj AB'
- Pakistan’s Ministry of National Heritage and Culture has named Lahore-born, London-based artist Faiza Butt to represent the country at the 61st Venice Biennale with “Punj•AB – A Sublime Terrain.” - The pavilion is curated by Beatriz Cifuentes Feliciano, commissioned by Yaqoob Bangash, and will run from May 9 to November 22, 2026 at Ex Farmacia Solveni in Venice’s Dorsoduro district. - Pakistan is returning for only its second national pavilion at the art exhibition, after its 2019 debut. (artasiapacific.com)
Pakistan has picked Faiza Butt to represent the country at the 61st Venice Biennale with “Punj•AB – A Sublime Terrain.” (desiblitz.com) (artasiapacific.com) The selection was announced by Pakistan’s Ministry of National Heritage and Culture, with Beatriz Cifuentes Feliciano as curator and Yaqoob Bangash as commissioner of the national participation. (artdaily.cc) (canvasonline.com) The exhibition is scheduled to open from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with Biennale preview days on May 6, 7 and 8. Pakistan’s pavilion will be staged at Ex Farmacia Solveni, Dorsoduro 993-994, in Venice. (labiennale.org) (veniceartfactory.org) Butt’s project centers on Punjab, the historic region split between India and Pakistan in 1947, and frames it as a landscape shaped by rupture, memory, spirituality, textiles and women’s voices. (veniceartfactory.org) (canvasonline.com) Canvas reported that the show examines Punjab through continuity as well as fracture after Partition, with Butt focusing on memory, identity and resilience and on craft traditions as carriers of living heritage. (canvasonline.com) Butt, who was born in Lahore and is now based in London, works across drawing, painting and sculpture. ArtAsiaPacific described the Biennale appointment as Pakistan’s second participation after its inaugural pavilion in 2019. (artasiapacific.com) (myartguides.com) The 61st International Art Exhibition is proceeding under the title “In Minor Keys,” the exhibition conceived by curator Koyo Kouoh before her death, according to La Biennale di Venezia. (labiennale.org) In an interview published by Dawn’s Images, Butt said she wanted to avoid turning the national pavilion into a “vanity show” and instead make something that speaks outward and inward at the same time. (images.dawn.com) Pakistan’s pavilion will open into a Biennale cycle where national presentations are being announced country by country ahead of the May opening. For Pakistan, this edition puts Butt’s reading of Punjab at the center of only the country’s second outing in Venice. (theartnewspaper.com) (artasiapacific.com)
