Czech‑Slovak Biennale plan

The Czech Republic and Slovakia are going back to Venice together in 2026 with one pavilion, one title, and one centenary hanging over it: the shared project marks 100 years since the Czechoslovak Pavilion opened in 1926. The work is called “The Silence of the Mole,” and it will be the first joint Czech-Slovak exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 20 years. (tasr.sk) (e-flux.com) That 20-year gap is the part that makes this more than a routine pavilion announcement. The Czech and Slovak states split peacefully in 1993, but the Venice pavilion still carries the older Czechoslovak architecture and memory, so a shared return turns the building itself into part of the story. (tasr.sk) (e-flux.com) The team is also deliberately split across the two countries. The artists are Jakub Jansa from the Czech side and Selmeci Kocka Jusko from the Slovak side, with Peter Sit as curator and Michal Novotný as commissioner for the joint presentation by the National Gallery Prague and the Slovak National Gallery. (e-flux.com) (artdaily.com) The project itself sounds less like a flag-waving anniversary show and more like a tired backstage fable. Its central figure is “Mr. M.,” described by the organizers as an exhausted actor who has spent decades playing the mole, a children’s character famous across former Czechoslovakia. (e-flux.com) (artrabbit.com) That mole is not a random animal. It points to Krtek, the little cartoon mole created by Czech animator Zdeněk Miler in 1957, one of the most recognizable children’s characters to come out of the former Eastern Bloc. (britannica.com) (e-flux.com) So the pavilion is setting up a strange image on purpose: not the cheerful mascot on screen, but the person inside the costume after the applause ends. That shift lets the artists talk about performance, labor, memory, and the wear-and-tear of carrying a shared cultural symbol long after the country that produced it no longer exists. (e-flux.com) The timing in Venice adds another layer. The 61st International Art Exhibition will run from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with previews on May 6, 7, and 8, under the title “In Minor Keys,” the exhibition concept left by curator Koyo Kouoh. (labiennale.org 1) (labiennale.org 2) Kouoh’s text for “In Minor Keys” asks viewers to “shift to a slower gear” and listen for quieter frequencies rather than spectacle, and French-language previews of the national pavilions have echoed that mood with phrases about “low frequencies,” “lateral narratives,” and “discreet ecosystems.” A pavilion built around silence, fatigue, and a half-hidden character fits that atmosphere almost too neatly. (labiennale.org) (arts-in-the-city.com) There is also a more somber backdrop to the 2026 edition. Koyo Kouoh died unexpectedly on May 10, 2025, and La Biennale di Venezia said it would carry out the exhibition according to the plans she had already developed with her team and with the support of her family. (labiennale.org) (universes.art) So when the Czech and Slovak pavilion opens in May 2026, it will be doing three things at once: marking a 1926 building, revisiting a 1957 cultural icon, and testing a 2026 biennale mood built around softness instead of volume. For two countries that once shared a state and then spent decades exhibiting separately, that is a very precise way to meet again. (e-flux.com) (britannica.com) (labiennale.org)