Biennale jury named

La Biennale di Venezia has named the five-member jury for Biennale Arte 2026, setting the panel that will choose the show’s top prizes in Venice on May 9. (labiennale.org) Brazilian curator Solange Oliveira Farkas will serve as president of the jury. The other jurors are Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma and Giovanna Zapperi, according to the Biennale’s announcement published April 22. (labiennale.org) The jury will decide the official awards for the 61st International Art Exhibition, including the Golden Lion for best national participation and the Golden Lion for best participant in the international exhibition. La Biennale said the awards ceremony and inauguration are scheduled for Saturday, May 9, 2026. (labiennale.org) That locks in the next formal date on the Biennale calendar after the main exhibition and national pavilion lists were published in February and March. The 61st edition, titled *In Minor Keys* and curated by Koyo Kouoh, runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with pre-opening days on May 6, 7 and 8. (labiennale.org) Kouoh’s central exhibition will include 110 invited participants across the Giardini, the Arsenale and other Venice sites. La Biennale has also said the 2026 edition will be accompanied by 100 national participations and 31 collateral events. (labiennale.org 1) (labiennale.org 2) Farkas brings a long institutional résumé to the role. La Biennale said she led the Videobrasil Biennial as artistic director from 1983 to 2024 and served as director and chief curator of the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia from 2007 to 2010. (labiennale.org) The other jurors also come from major curatorial and academic posts. La Biennale identified Butt as founder of in-tangible institute and artistic director of deCentral in Thailand, Dyangani Ose as artistic director of the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial, Kuzma as a professor at the Yale School of Art, and Zapperi as a professor at the University of Geneva. (labiennale.org) The Biennale announced Kouoh as curator on November 5, 2024, after the board appointed her director of the Visual Arts Department for the 2026 exhibition. The organization, founded in 1895, remains one of the art world’s biggest recurring platforms for both the curated international show and country-run pavilions. (labiennale.org 1) (labiennale.org 2) With the jury now in place, the next public marker is the pre-opening in Venice on May 6, followed by the prize announcements and opening on May 9. (labiennale.org 1) (labiennale.org 2)