Vatican’s sound pavilion

The Vatican’s 2026 Venice Biennale pavilion will be built around sound, with new works by Brian Eno, FKA twigs, Patti Smith, and Jim Jarmusch. (theartnewspaper.com) The Pavilion of the Holy See will present 24 artists under the title “The Ear Is the Eye of the Soul” during the Biennale’s May 9 to November 22 run in Venice. Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers curated the project with Soundwalk Collective. (artnews.com) (labiennale.org) The show will unfold in two Venice sites: the Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelites in Cannaregio and the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in Castello. In the garden, visitors will listen on headphones to 20 new commissions and a Soundwalk Collective instrument that captures the site in real time. (theartnewspaper.com) (artnews.com) The pavilion is anchored in the life of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th-century Benedictine abbess, composer, poet, and healer. Organizers said the exhibition takes the form of a “sonic prayer” shaped around listening rather than spectacle. (theartnewspaper.com) (artnews.com) That emphasis tracks with the larger Biennale. La Biennale di Venezia says the 61st edition will proceed with Koyo Kouoh’s exhibition, “In Minor Keys,” following the project as she conceived it, and the Holy See said its pavilion was developed in response to her call to “slow down” and tune into a quieter register. (labiennale.org) (artnews.com) The artist list mixes art-world regulars and musicians better known outside museums. ARTnews and The Art Newspaper report that it includes Devonté Hynes, Laraaji, Meredith Monk, Moor Mother, Otobong Nkanga, Precious Okoyomon, Suzanne Ciani, Terry Riley, and the Benedictine nuns of the Abbey of St. Hildegard Eibingen. (artnews.com) (theartnewspaper.com) One section at Santa Maria Ausiliatrice will include the final work by Alexander Kluge, who ARTnews reported died in March at 94. The same site will also hold Hildegard texts, artist books by Ilda David’, and new monastery architecture by Tatiana Bilbao Estudio. (artnews.com) The Vatican has used the Biennale before to stage projects outside the usual national-pavilion script. In 2024, its best-known presentation was at the Giudecca Women’s Prison, where Maurizio Cattelan’s contribution drew attention partly because inmates helped shape the exhibition. (artnews.com) This year, the Holy See is shifting from prison cells to headphones, gardens, and chant. When the Biennale opens on May 9, the Vatican’s pavilion will ask visitors to stop and listen before they look. (labiennale.org) (theartnewspaper.com)