Czech‑Slovak Biennale team‑up
For the first time in 20 years, Slovakia and the Czech Republic will mount a joint project at the 2026 Venice Biennale called “The Silence of the Mole,” marking a rare national‑pavilion collaboration. (newsnow.tasr.sk) Curator Koyo Kouoh’s Biennale tone favors 'low frequencies' and quieter, lateral narratives — so expect subtler, collaborative pavilion gestures rather than big spectacle. (arts-in-the-city.com)
Two countries that split in 1993 are going back to Venice as one team in 2026, and they’re doing it inside a pavilion built for a country that no longer exists. The Czech Republic and Slovakia will present a shared project called *The Silence of the Mole* at the Venice Biennale, their first joint exhibition there in 20 years. (e-flux.com) The setting is part of the story. The Czechoslovak Pavilion in Venice opened in 1926, so the 2026 Biennale lands exactly on its 100th anniversary. (e-flux.com) That pavilion kept its old name after Czechoslovakia dissolved, and today it is still jointly used by the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. In other words, the building has been shared for decades even when the art inside was usually presented separately. (ngprague.cz) The 2026 project was not improvised for symbolism at the last minute. National Gallery Prague and the Slovak National Gallery ran an open competition, and a jury picked *The Silence of the Mole* from 17 submitted proposals on June 24, 2025. (ngprague.cz) The team is mixed on purpose. The selected project brings together Czech artist Jakub Jansa, Slovak duo Alex Selmeci and Tomáš Kocka Jusko, curator Peter Sit, and commissioner Michal Novotný. (ngprague.cz) At the center of the exhibition is a character named Mr. M., an exhausted actor who has spent decades playing a mole. The image turns a children’s mascot into something older and stranger: a performer worn down by repeating the same role for years. (e-flux.com) That mole is not random. The project draws on the famous Little Mole character created by Czech animator Zdeněk Miler, so the exhibition starts from a piece of shared popular culture that people across the former Czechoslovakia would recognize. (e-flux.com) The wider Biennale around it is also set up for a quieter kind of statement. The 61st International Art Exhibition in Venice runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with previews on May 6, 7, and 8, under the title *In Minor Keys*. (labiennale.org) That title came from curator Koyo Kouoh, whose exhibition is being carried out after her death with the support of her family and curatorial team. The Biennale says it is preserving the ideas she developed for an edition built around softer, less spectacular artistic “frequencies.” (labiennale.org, designboom.com) So the Czech-Slovak decision fits the mood of the 2026 show almost perfectly: one centenary pavilion, two successor states, and a worn-out mole instead of a giant national gesture. Even the building has been under renovation after roof damage in 2019, which gives the 2026 reopening the feeling of a carefully repaired inheritance rather than a fresh monument. (ngprague.cz, archiweb.cz)
