G.A.S. Foundation at Venice

Guest Artists Space Foundation, a Nigeria-based arts organization founded by Yinka Shonibare, will take part in the main exhibition of the 2026 Venice Biennale. (guestartistsspace.com) The foundation said on February 25 that it had been invited into the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the central curated show rather than a separate national pavilion. Its Venice project is led by Ann Marie Peña, with support from Shonibare, Yinka Shonibare Foundation chief executive Belinda Holden, and Guest Artists Space Foundation executive director Moni Aisida. (guestartistsspace.com) La Biennale di Venezia says the exhibition, titled “In Minor Keys,” will run from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with preview days on May 6, 7 and 8. The show will be staged at the Giardini, the Arsenale and other locations across Venice. (labiennale.org) The invitation places a Nigerian residency platform inside one of the art world’s biggest recurring exhibitions. La Biennale says the 2026 edition will include 111 invited participants, including individual artists, duos, collectives and artist-led organizations. (labiennale.org) That structure helps explain why Guest Artists Space Foundation’s inclusion stands out: the Biennale is not only showing finished artworks, but also organizations that produce research, exchange and long-term collaboration. The foundation said Koyo Kouoh’s invitation recognized the residency “not simply as a support structure, but as a practice in its own right.” (guestartistsspace.com) Guest Artists Space Foundation was established in 2019 and operates from two sites in Nigeria: a purpose-built space in Lagos and a farm-based site in Ikise, Ogun State. The organization says its programs focus on residencies, education, ecological systems, food research and institution-building. (guestartistsspace.com) The 2026 Biennale is also unfolding under unusual circumstances because Kouoh died in May 2025 before the exhibition opened. La Biennale said it chose to carry out the show with the support of her family, using the project she had already defined, including the artist selection, exhibition architecture and catalog framework. (labiennale.org) La Biennale said Kouoh had sent the curatorial text for “In Minor Keys” on April 8, 2025, and had already assembled her team. The institution named Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, Marie Hélène Pereira and Rasha Salti as advisers, Siddhartha Mitter as editor-in-chief, and Rory Tsapayi as research assistant. (labiennale.org) For Guest Artists Space Foundation, the next fixed date is the Venice preview on May 6, 2026. For the Biennale, the project now doubles as a public presentation of Kouoh’s final curatorial exhibition. (labiennale.org)