Venice Biennale readies renovation
The Venice Biennale’s Central Pavilion has been fully renovated ahead of the 61st edition opening May 9, promising a refreshed route for art‑minded travelers (paintandpainting.com). The Philippine Pavilion will present 'Sea of Love / Dagat ng Pag-ibig' by Jon Cuyson and Mara Gladstone through Nov. 22, 2026, even as controversies — like Gabrielle Goliath’s work being banned from the main exhibition and shown outside official venues — are shaping the conversation around next season’s must‑see shows (biennialfoundation.org) (theguardian.com).
The Central Pavilion reconstruction carried a €31 million price tag and was executed on a 16‑month schedule that ran from December 2024 through March 2026 under Italy’s National Plan for Complementary Investments (PNC) of the PNRR. (labiennale.org) That funding came via the Ministry of Culture’s “Great Cultural Heritage Attractors” programme and the pavilion intervention forms part of a wider package of 22 PNRR‑backed works across Biennale sites and municipal properties in Venice. (labiennale.org) La Biennale’s Special Projects office directed the build with architect Arianna Laurenzi and engineer Cristiano Frizzele, while BUROMILAN acted as lead firm and Labics, architect Fabio Fumagalli and ia2 Studio covered architectural and MEP roles. (labiennale.org) Designers describe the intervention as a “critical reinvention” that applies a stratigraphic method—stripping later accretions to emphasise the pavilion’s serial plan and introducing a palette of white walls and black ceilings to alter circulation and sightlines. (artnews.com) The Philippine pavilion’s selection process was run as an open call concluded on October 5, 2025, with the entry commissioned by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Office of Senator Loren Legarda. (e-flux.com) The national project team lists Manila‑born artist Jon Cuyson and curator Mara Gladstone, and the submission foregrounds Cuyson’s 30‑year practice across painting, video and sculpture that focuses on maritime labour and uses mussels and aquaculture collaborators as core motifs. (e-flux.com) South Africa’s government formally cancelled its pavilion selection in early January after Minister Gayton McKenzie described Gaza‑related content as “highly divisive,” a legal bid to reverse the decision failed, and Gabrielle Goliath’s work will instead be shown independently at Chiesa di Sant’Antonin in Venice from May 5 to July 31. (dailymaverick.co.za)
