GAS Foundation Project

Guest Artists Space Foundation will present a project at the 2026 Venice Biennale, placing a Nigeria-based residency platform inside the art world’s biggest recurring exhibition. (guestartistsspace.com) The foundation said on February 25, 2026 that it had been invited into the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the main exhibition curated under the title *In Minor Keys*. The Biennale runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with preview days on May 6, 7 and 8. (guestartistsspace.com) (labiennale.org) Guest Artists Space, widely styled as G.A.S. Foundation, was founded in 2019 by artist Yinka Shonibare. It operates two sites in Nigeria: a creative space in Lagos and a farm-based research and residency site in Ikise, Ogun State. (guestartistsspace.com) The Venice Biennale is a citywide exhibition staged every two years across the Giardini, the Arsenale and other venues in Venice. For 2026, La Biennale says the main exhibition includes 111 invited participants, alongside 99 national participations and 31 collateral events. (labiennale.org) G.A.S. framed its selection as recognition of the residency model itself, not only of a single artist or object. The foundation said its programs combine residencies, collaborations and educational work, with research that spans food systems, ecology and institution-building. (guestartistsspace.com) The project in Venice is led by Ann Marie Peña, with support from Shonibare, Yinka Shonibare Foundation chief executive Belinda Holden and G.A.S. executive director Moni Aisida. G.A.S. said Samantha Russell is managing the project and MOE+ Art Architecture, led by Papa Omotayo and Oyinade Adegbite, is handling the installation design. (guestartistsspace.com) The production credits point to a collaborative format rather than a conventional solo presentation. G.A.S. listed Filmwrights and Julie Buckland on film production, and Sound Disposition with Funmilola Ogushina on sound design. (guestartistsspace.com) The 2026 edition also carries extra weight because it is proceeding after the death of curator Koyo Kouoh in May 2025. La Biennale said it is carrying out *In Minor Keys* with the support of Kouoh’s family and according to the project she had already defined. (labiennale.org 1) (labiennale.org 2) That makes the G.A.S. presentation part of a larger exhibition shaped by Kouoh’s final curatorial plan and by institutions working across borders. When the Biennale opens in May, the Lagos- and Ogun-based foundation will be showing that work in Venice. (guestartistsspace.com) (labiennale.org)