Venice Biennale jury

La Biennale di Venezia has named the five-member jury that will choose the top prizes at the 2026 Venice Biennale, with Solange Oliveira Farkas as president. (labiennale.org) The other jurors are curator Zoe Butt, museum director Elvira Dyangani Ose, art school leader Marta Kuzma, and art historian Giovanna Zapperi, according to the Biennale’s announcement on April 22. (labiennale.org) The group will award the Golden Lion for best national participation, the Golden Lion for best participant in the international exhibition, and the Silver Lion for a promising young participant. The jury can also give one special mention to a national pavilion and two special mentions in the main exhibition. (labiennale.org) Those decisions will land on Saturday, May 9, 2026, when the awards ceremony and inauguration are scheduled in Venice. The exhibition then runs from May 9 through November 22 at the Giardini, the Arsenale, and other sites across the city. (labiennale.org) This year’s edition carries extra weight because the Biennale said it will realize *In Minor Keys*, the exhibition conceived by curator Koyo Kouoh before her death in May 2025. The institution said Kouoh had already defined the title, selected artists, and shaped the project’s direction. (labiennale.org; artnews.com) The Biennale has already said *In Minor Keys* will include 110 invited participants, including individual artists, duos, collectives, and artist-led organizations from multiple regions. That makes the jury’s choices one of the first official readings of Kouoh’s posthumously realized exhibition. (labiennale.org) Farkas brings a long record in biennials and moving-image art: the Biennale said she founded Associação Cultural Videobrasil and led the Videobrasil Biennial as artistic director from 1983 to 2024. It also said she previously served as chief curator and director of the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia in Brazil. (labiennale.org) The jury announcement follows the pattern from the 2024 edition, when La Biennale named a separate international jury to assign the same core prizes and presented the awards at the opening in Venice. In 2024, the main exhibition’s Golden Lion went to Mataaho Collective and the Silver Lion went to Karimah Ashadu. (labiennale.org; labiennale.org) The next marker is now the May 9 opening, when this jury’s verdict will help define how the 61st International Art Exhibition enters public view. (labiennale.org)