Painter performs every day

Merike Estna will spend the 2026 Venice Biennale painting in front of visitors, turning Estonia’s pavilion into a working studio from May 9 to November 22. (e-flux.com) (labiennale.org) Estna’s project is called *The House of Leaking Sky*, and it is the Estonian Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Natalia Sielewicz. The pavilion is at Calle San Domenico, 1285, and its posted hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (e-flux.com) The work starts with a blank canvas and grows day by day in public view. By the end of the exhibition, the paintings are meant to form one work across 22 canvases, measuring about 22 by 6 meters. (e-flux.com) The Biennale itself runs from Saturday, May 9, 2026, through Sunday, November 22, with preview days on May 6, 7, and 8. Estonia’s pavilion was scheduled to open in Venice on Wednesday, May 6. (labiennale.org) (news.err.ee) Estna’s setup pushes painting away from the usual model of a finished object hung on a wall. The exhibition text says she treats painting as a “live, durational act,” with ladders, tables, tools, and painted floor tiles left visible as part of the work. (e-flux.com) That approach also brings artist labor into the center of the pavilion. The Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art said the jury selected Estna in part for placing painting at “the intersection of performance and the social” and for activating questions about artist labor. (cca.ee) Estna said the pavilion is about “being a female artist” and, in parallel, “being a mother,” and that she did not prepare the final design in advance because the painting was meant to come into being on site. The exhibition text says she will live in Venice with her family during the Biennale and fold motherhood into the project’s structure. (news.err.ee) (e-flux.com) The pavilion extends beyond the canvases themselves. Estonia’s presentation includes 25,000 glazed floor tiles, and the floor is described as covered with ceramic tiles painted by Estna. (news.err.ee) (e-flux.com) Estna, born in 1980, lives and works in Tallinn and Mexico City, studied at the Estonian Academy of Arts and Goldsmiths, University of London, and taught as an associate professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts from 2017 to 2023. Estonia has participated in the Venice art exhibition since 1997, and this is its 15th showing. (cca.ee) So visitors to Estonia’s pavilion will not be walking into a completed installation. They will be arriving in the middle of the workday, with the painting still being made. (e-flux.com)