Czech and Slovak Biennale reunite

For the first time since 2006, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are going back to Venice with one shared national presentation, and they picked 2026 for a reason: it is exactly 100 years after the Czechoslovak Pavilion opened in the Giardini in 1926. (tasr.sk) (e-flux.com) That pavilion survived the 1993 split of Czechoslovakia, so for three decades two separate states have kept sharing one building on one of contemporary art’s most symbolic stages. In 2026, they are using that odd arrangement as the point of the show instead of working around it. (e-flux.com) (myartguides.com) The project is called “The Silence of the Mole,” and it brings together Czech artist Jakub Jansa, Slovak duo Alex Selmeci and Tomáš Kocka Jusko, curator Peter Sit, and commissioner Michal Novotný. The format is not a single painting or sculpture but an installation that combines film, objects, and architecture across the pavilion. (e-flux.com) (artrabbit.com) At the center is a character called Mr. M., described as an exhausted actor who has spent decades playing the mole. The mole is not random: it points back to the Little Mole, the cartoon character created in Czechoslovakia by animator Zdeněk Miler, one of the few cultural symbols both countries still instantly recognize. (e-flux.com) That makes the show less like a flag-waving reunion and more like a story about what happens after a shared role has been performed for too long. An aging performer inside a centenary pavilion is a neat way to talk about a country that no longer exists but still leaves props, habits, and memories behind. (e-flux.com) The setting matters because the Venice Biennale is built around national pavilions, and those buildings turn politics into architecture. The Czech and Slovak case is unusually literal: one pavilion was built for one state in 1926, and in 2026 two successor states are using it together again. (labiennale.org) (e-flux.com) The timing also lines up with the curatorial mood of the 2026 Biennale, which will run from May 9 to November 22 under the title “In Minor Keys,” following the vision of Koyo Kouoh. The official framing says the exhibition will look for quieter registers rather than loud spectacle, with attention to “minor tones” and slower forms of listening. (labiennale.org) (theplan.it) That helps explain why a project built around fatigue, silence, and a half-retired mascot fits this edition so well. A centenary building, a post-national memory, and a worn-out mole suit are exactly the kind of low-volume symbols this Biennale seems set up to reward. (labiennale.org) (e-flux.com) There is even construction in the background: Czech architecture outlets report that the first phase of renovation work on the centenary pavilion has just been completed before the 2026 exhibition. So the reunion is happening inside a building that is itself being restored at the moment the two countries decide to share it again. (archiweb.cz) On paper, this is a pavilion announcement. In practice, it is two countries using one 1926 building, one 1993 breakup, one 2006 gap, and one very old cartoon mole to stage a reunion without pretending the split never happened. (tasr.sk) (e-flux.com)