Faiza Butt represents Pakistan at Venice
- Pakistan has selected London-based Pakistani artist Faiza Butt to represent the country at the 61st Venice Biennale, where her pavilion project “Punj•AB – A Sublime Terrain” opens in May 2026. - The pavilion is curated by Beatriz Cifuentes Feliciano, commissioned by Yaqoob Khan Bangash, and staged at Ex Farmacia Solveni in Venice’s Dorsoduro district from May 9 to November 22. - Pakistan’s 2026 pavilion marks the country’s second Venice Biennale participation after its 2019 debut, placing Butt’s Partition-shaped Punjab project on a larger global stage. (artasiapacific.com)
Faiza Butt will represent Pakistan at the 61st Venice Biennale with “Punj•AB – A Sublime Terrain,” a pavilion project opening in Venice on May 9, 2026. (artasiapacific.com) (labiennale.org) Pakistan’s Ministry of National Heritage and Culture selected Butt for the national pavilion, with Beatriz Cifuentes Feliciano as curator and Yaqoob Khan Bangash as commissioner. (artdaily.cc) (moib.gov.pk) The exhibition will be presented at Ex Farmacia Solveni, in Venice’s Dorsoduro district, during the Biennale’s May 9 to November 22 public run. Preview days are scheduled for May 6, 7, and 8. (canvasonline.com) (labiennale.org) Butt’s project centers on Punjab, the region split between India and Pakistan in 1947, and treats that division as both a political rupture and a cultural continuum. The pavilion description says the work brings together history, spirituality, textiles, and women’s voices. (veniceartfactory.org) (canvasonline.com) In an interview published April 25, Butt said she wanted to avoid turning the national pavilion into a “vanity show” and instead make something that speaks outward while also returning to Pakistan’s own histories. (images.dawn.com) The 2026 edition of the Biennale is titled “In Minor Keys,” and La Biennale says it will present 110 participants across the main international exhibition. That puts Pakistan’s pavilion inside one of the art world’s biggest recurring stages. (labiennale.org 1) (labiennale.org 2) Pakistan’s appearance also carries institutional weight because this is only the country’s second participation at the Venice Biennale after its inaugural pavilion in 2019. That gap makes Butt’s selection part of a still-young national presence in Venice. (artasiapacific.com) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met the pavilion team in February, according to Pakistan’s government, alongside media figure Najam Sethi, Butt, Cifuentes Feliciano, and Bangash. The government said the team briefed him on plans to present Pakistan’s art and cultural heritage to international visitors. (moib.gov.pk) (brecorder.com) For Butt, the Venice commission turns a region shaped by Partition into Pakistan’s national statement at a global exhibition that runs through late November. (veniceartfactory.org) (labiennale.org)
