Lebanon’s Venice entry named

Lebanon’s pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale will present Nabil Nahas’s “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” a new installation curated by Nada Ghandour. (e-flux.com) The show opens in the Arsenale in Venice on May 9 and runs through November 22, 2026, with preview days on May 6, 7 and 8 as part of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. (labiennale.org) The Pavilion of Lebanon said the work stretches across 45 linear meters and is made of 26 acrylic-on-canvas panels. The pavilion site says Nahas will represent Lebanon, and identifies Ghandour as commissioner and curator. (e-flux.com) (lebanesepavilionvenice.com) This is Lebanon’s national presentation inside one of the art world’s biggest recurring exhibitions, where countries mount separate shows alongside the Biennale’s main curated exhibition. The 2026 edition is titled “In Minor Keys.” (labiennale.org) The announcement lands as Venice finalizes national pavilion lineups for an edition that will proceed after the death of chief curator Koyo Kouoh. La Biennale di Venezia said it would carry out the exhibition with the support of Kouoh’s family. (labiennale.org) (theartnewspaper.com) Nahas, born in Beirut in 1949, has lived and worked between Lebanon and New York after studying at Louisiana State University and Yale University in the United States. His official biography describes paintings built from geometry, nature and dense texture. (nabilnahas.com) (lebanesepavilionvenice.com) The pavilion says Ghandour holds a doctorate in art history and trained as a heritage curator at the Institut National du Patrimoine in Paris. Lebanese officials first announced Nahas’s selection in May 2025, nearly a year before the full exhibition details were released. (lebanesepavilionvenice.com) (executive-bulletin.com) Additional details released by the pavilion describe the installation as a three-meter-high frieze inspired in part by Persian miniatures and built to surround viewers inside the Arsenale space. The stated subject is the relationship between humanity, nature and the cosmos. (myartguides.com) (e-flux.com) For Lebanon, the Venice entry fixes the public shape of its 2026 cultural diplomacy effort: one artist, one curator and one large-scale work that will stand for the country from spring through late autumn in Venice. (e-flux.com) (labiennale.org)