Vatican’s sound pavilion

The Vatican’s pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale will be built around sound, with new works by Brian Eno, FKA twigs, Jim Jarmusch, Patti Smith and 20 other artists. (theartnewspaper.com) The project is titled *The Ear is the Eye of the Soul* and is curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers in collaboration with Soundwalk Collective. The Biennale runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with preview days on May 6, 7 and 8. (artnews.com, labiennale.org) The Holy See said 24 artists, poets, musicians, architects and filmmakers were commissioned for the pavilion. Reported participants include Devonté Hynes, Precious Okoyomon, Otobong Nkanga, Laraaji, Kali Malone, Caterina Barbieri and Terry Riley. (theartnewspaper.com, artsy.net) Instead of centering painting or sculpture, the pavilion is framed as a listening experience. Organizers described it as a “sound prayer” tied to the 2026 Biennale’s main exhibition, *In Minor Keys*, a show La Biennale is carrying forward after curator Koyo Kouoh’s death. (finestresullarte.info, labiennale.org) The pavilion also marks another turn in the Vatican’s recent strategy at Venice, where it has used high-profile contemporary art to stage explicitly spiritual or social themes. The Vatican first joined the Venice Biennale in 2013, and Pope Francis became the first pontiff to visit the event in 2024. (theartnewspaper.com, catholicworldreport.com) This year’s edition draws on Saint Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th-century Benedictine abbess, composer, poet and healer. Several reports say the commissioned works respond to her chants, visions and writing on music and contemplation. (theartnewspaper.com, artnews.com) The exhibition will unfold across two Venice sites rather than a single room: the Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelites in Cannaregio and the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in Castello. That setup gives the Vatican a pavilion spread across religious and historic spaces inside the city. (artnews.com, finestresullarte.info) One reported detail points to a memorial note inside the show: Artlyst said the title phrase came from German filmmaker and writer Alexander Kluge, who died on March 25, 2026, and that his final work will be included. That detail has appeared in secondary coverage, not in the two main reports announcing the lineup. (artlyst.com, theartnewspaper.com) The Vatican department overseeing the project is the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the Roman Curia office that handles the Holy See’s relationship with the contemporary art world. In Venice this spring, that office is betting that the loudest statement it can make is a quiet one. (theartnewspaper.com, vatican.va)