Biennale pavilion previews
- Several national pavilions and artists for the 61st Venice Biennale were publicly previewed this week. - Oman selected Haitham Al Busafi (sand, metal, sound); Haiti chose Edouard Duval‑Carrié; and US curator Jeffrey Uslip said the pavilion preparations have been remarkably smooth. - Those artistic selections and curator comments arrive amid funding and political debates, offering concrete exhibition details as the Biennale approaches ( ).
As the 61st Venice Biennale opens in just over two weeks, national pavilions are starting to show what they will actually put on view. Oman, Haiti and the United States all surfaced new details this week about artists, installations and exhibition plans. (labiennale.org, artasiapacific.com, wlrn.org, state.gov) La Biennale di Venezia says the 2026 edition, titled *In Minor Keys*, will run from May 9 to November 22, with preview days on May 6, 7 and 8. The main exhibition follows the curatorial vision of Koyo Kouoh, and the Biennale says it will proceed with the support of her family. (labiennale.org, biennialassociation.org) Oman said on April 22 that artist, architect and curator Haitham Al Busafi will represent the country with *Zīnah*, an installation built from sand, suspended metal and sound. ArtAsiaPacific reported that the work draws on Omani silver horse adornment, and other previews place it in the Arsenale Artiglierie. (artasiapacific.com, artdaily.com) Haiti’s pavilion is taking shape around Édouard Duval-Carrié, the Port-au-Prince-born Haitian American artist known for work on Caribbean history, Vodou imagery and migration. WLRN reported on April 23 that Duval-Carrié was previewing Venice-bound work from his studio in Miami’s Little Haiti ahead of a public event on April 24. (wlrn.org, miamiandbeaches.com) The U.S. pavilion has centered on sculptor Alma Allen since the State Department announced the selection in November 2025. That release said the exhibition, *Alma Allen: Call Me the Breeze*, is organized by commissioner Jenni Parido of the American Arts Conservancy and curator Jeffrey Uslip. (state.gov, artnews.com) Uslip said the U.S. preparation had been unusually calm despite outside scrutiny. Search snippets from reporting published April 23 quote him saying it was “the smoothest exhibition” he had curated in 30 years and that the team had “complete artistic autonomy throughout this process.” (aol.com, yahoo.com) Those concrete previews land after months in which the Biennale story often focused on administration, funding and politics rather than art on the walls. Search results summarizing April 23 coverage say the U.S. pavilion faced questions over its selection process, while broader 2026 coverage has also tracked disputes around participating countries and public funding. (msn.com, msn.com) That is why pavilion previews matter in late April: they turn a sprawling diplomatic art event into specific exhibitions with names, materials and opening dates. By May 9, visitors will be able to test those national narratives against the work itself, from Al Busafi’s sand-and-sound environment to Duval-Carrié’s Haiti project and Allen’s U.S. sculpture show. (labiennale.org, artasiapacific.com, wlrn.org, state.gov)
