Vatican picks Portuguese acts

The Vatican has picked Portuguese fado singer Carminho and painter Ilda David for its representation at the 2026 Venice Biennale. (rtp.pt) The Holy See said the two artists are part of its pavilion for the 61st International Art Exhibition, which opens to the public in Venice on May 9 and runs through November 22, with preview days on May 6, 7 and 8. (labiennale.org, agencia.ecclesia.pt) Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, a Portuguese prelate from Madeira who has led the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education since September 2022, is overseeing the Holy See’s contribution. (cultura.va, rr.pt) The Vatican’s 2026 project is built around the theme “The Ear is the Eye of the Soul,” and Portuguese coverage says Carminho and David were selected for a presentation that joins music and painting inside the same national representation. (agencia.ecclesia.pt, radarlisboa.fm) That fits the Vatican’s broader 2026 Biennale plan, which centers on sound, listening and spirituality rather than a conventional single-medium art show. Other announced participants include Patti Smith, Brian Eno, FKA twigs, Jim Jarmusch and Meredith Monk. (theartnewspaper.com, wallpaper.com) For Portugal, the choice puts two established artists into one of the art world’s biggest recurring exhibitions. Carminho is one of the country’s best-known contemporary fado singers, while Ilda David is a veteran painter whose work has long circulated in Portuguese museum and gallery spaces. (rtp.pt, portuguesetimes.com) For the Vatican, the selection extends a strategy it has pursued since entering the Venice Biennale with its own pavilion in 2013: using the exhibition as a place for dialogue with contemporary artists, not only church commissions in a traditional style. (cultura.va, theartnewspaper.com) The result this year is a Vatican lineup that runs from experimental international names to two Portuguese artists working in forms closely tied to voice, image and memory. The first public test comes in Venice during the Biennale’s preview week in early May. (labiennale.org, rr.pt)