Venice Biennale Jury Set
- Venice Biennale announced its International Jury for the 61st Art Exhibition and scheduled the awards ceremony for May 9, 2026. - Solange Oliveira Farkas will preside, joined by Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi. - The jury list frames the Golden Lion voting and prizes to watch when awards take place on May 9, 2026. ( )
The Venice Biennale has named the five people who will decide its top 2026 art prizes, with Solange Oliveira Farkas leading the panel. (labiennale.org) La Biennale di Venezia said the International Jury will present the official awards on Saturday, May 9, 2026, the opening day of the 61st International Art Exhibition in Venice. The show, titled *In Minor Keys*, runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with preview days on May 6, 7, and 8. (labiennale.org) Farkas will serve as president, joined by Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi. ARTnews reported the five-member group will decide the Golden Lions for the 2026 edition. (artnews.com) At the Venice Biennale, the International Jury is the body that selects the exhibition’s main prizes, including awards tied to the central exhibition and the national participations. The jury is appointed by the Biennale’s board after a selection by the exhibition’s curator. (labiennale.org) This year’s jury announcement lands inside an edition shaped by the late curator Koyo Kouoh’s exhibition plan. The Biennale said in February that it would carry out *In Minor Keys* with the support of Kouoh’s family. (labiennale.org) Kouoh’s exhibition will bring together 110 participants, including artists, collectives, and organizations, across the Giardini, the Arsenale, and other sites in Venice. That means the jury’s decisions will help define the first public reading of a large international show already carrying unusual institutional weight. (labiennale.org) The jury lineup also signals the range of voices the Biennale wants in the room: Farkas founded Videobrasil in São Paulo, Dyangani Ose directs the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, and Kuzma is dean of the Yale School of Art, according to the Biennale and ARTnews. Butt and Zapperi add two more figures with long records in curating, criticism, and art history. (labiennale.org, artnews.com) The next date is now fixed: May 9, 2026, when the doors open in Venice and the same jury hands out the prizes that often become the edition’s first headline. (labiennale.org)
