G.A.S. Foundation to Venice

Nigeria’s Guest Artists Space Foundation will take part in the main exhibition of the 2026 Venice Biennale, placing a Lagos-rooted residency platform inside one of art’s biggest international shows. (guestartistsspace.com) The foundation announced its participation on February 25, 2026, and said its Venice project is a collaborative work led by Ann Marie Peña with support from founder Yinka Shonibare and Executive Director Moni Aisida. (guestartistsspace.com) La Biennale di Venezia said the 61st International Art Exhibition, titled *In Minor Keys*, will run from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with preview days on May 6, 7, and 8 across the Giardini, the Arsenale, and other Venice sites. (labiennale.org) This edition is being carried out after the death of curator Koyo Kouoh in May 2025. La Biennale said Kouoh had already defined the exhibition’s framework, selected artists and works, and set the architecture and graphic identity before her death. (labiennale.org) For the foundation, the invitation puts a residency model on view, not only a finished object. Its statement said Kouoh treated the residency “as a practice in its own right” and as a site for research, dialogue, and sustained engagement. (guestartistsspace.com) That fits the structure of the 2026 show. La Biennale said the main exhibition will include 111 invited participants, including individual artists, duos, collectives, and artist-led organizations drawn from many regions. (labiennale.org) Guest Artists Space Foundation, founded in 2019 by Yinka Shonibare, runs across two Nigerian sites: a purpose-built space in Lagos and a farm-based residency in Ikise, Ogun State focused on sustainable and regenerative work. (guestartistsspace.com) Its published program links art to food systems, ecology, education, and institution building, which helps explain why a residency platform could be presented as an artwork-bearing participant rather than only a support body behind artists. (guestartistsspace.com) The wider Biennale field around the main exhibition is also large. La Biennale said the 2026 edition will be accompanied by 99 national participations and 31 collateral events, with seven countries entering for the first time. (labiennale.org) Venice opens in less than a month, and the foundation’s appearance will test how far a Nigeria-based residency can travel as both infrastructure and artwork inside Kouoh’s final exhibition plan. (labiennale.org)