Venice Biennale Jury

La Biennale di Venezia has named Brazilian curator Solange Oliveira Farkas to lead the five-member jury that will award the top prizes at the 2026 Venice Biennale. (labiennale.org) The jury for the 61st International Art Exhibition also includes Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma and Giovanna Zapperi, according to the Biennale’s April 22 announcement. The awards ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, May 9, 2026. (labiennale.org) The 2026 exhibition, titled *In Minor Keys*, runs from May 9 to November 22 in the Giardini, the Arsenale and other Venice sites. Pre-opening days are set for May 6, 7 and 8. (labiennale.org) At Venice, the international jury decides the Golden Lion for best national participation, the Golden Lion for best participant in the exhibition, the Silver Lion and other official prizes. Those awards can shape careers, museum acquisitions and the market visibility of artists and pavilions. (labiennale.org) This year’s jury arrives with added scrutiny because the 2026 Biennale is proceeding under the curatorial vision of Koyo Kouoh, whose exhibition title and framework were confirmed by La Biennale in February 2026. Kouoh had been appointed curator in 2024, and the organization said the show would move forward in line with the plan she left behind. (labiennale.org; biennialassociation.org) Farkas is the founder and artistic director of Associação Cultural Videobrasil, while Butt is identified by La Biennale as founder of in-tangible institute and artistic director of deCentral in Thailand. Dyangani Ose is listed as artistic director of the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial, Kuzma as a professor at the Yale School of Art, and Zapperi as a professor at the University of Geneva. (labiennale.org) The panel is also drawing attention for what ARTnews described as a politically charged opening. ARTnews reported on April 23 that the jury said it would not consider countries whose leaders face International Criminal Court charges for crimes against humanity, a position that would exclude Russia and Israel from prize consideration. (artnews.com; artreview.com) That stance lands after months of pressure around the Israeli pavilion. In March 2026, *The Art Newspaper* reported that nearly 200 Biennale participants had signed a letter calling for Israel’s exclusion from the exhibition. (theartnewspaper.com) The immediate next test is May 9, when Farkas and the other jurors will turn a curatorial vision and a week of pre-opening debate into the Biennale’s first official verdicts. (labiennale.org; labiennale.org)