Rirkrit for Qatar Pavilion

Rirkrit Tiravanija will lead Qatar’s national presentation at the 2026 Venice Biennale, opening in Venice on May 9. (artforum.com) Qatar’s project is titled *untitled 2026 (a gathering of remarkable people)*, and the pavilion says it will bring together musicians, poets, chefs, and artists from across the Arab world. (thepeninsulaqatar.com) The exhibition is being co-curated by Tom Eccles of Bard College’s Center for Curatorial Studies and Hessel Museum of Art and Ruba Katrib, chief curator and director of curatorial affairs at Museum of Modern Art PS1 in New York. (nationaltoday.com) The Venice Biennale is the art world’s biggest recurring national-pavilion exhibition, and the 61st edition will run from May 9 to November 22, 2026, with previews on May 6, 7, and 8. (labiennale.org) Qatar is entering that cycle after securing a permanent national pavilion site in the Giardini, the Biennale’s historic garden of national pavilions, in 2024. Qatar Museums said at the time that the pavilion would give a platform to artists from Qatar and the broader Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia region. (qm.org.qa) New reports on the 2026 presentation say Tiravanija’s project centers on a tent-like structure and a collaborative program rather than a single-artist display. (finestresullarte.info) Qatari coverage has identified additional participants including Sophia Al-Maria, Tarek Atoui, Alia Farid, and chef Fadi Kattan. (qatar-tribune.com) The main 2026 Biennale exhibition will proceed under the title *In Minor Keys*, a show conceived by curator Koyo Kouoh before her death, with La Biennale di Venezia saying it will carry out her exhibition with the support of her family. (labiennale.org) For Qatar, the pavilion is both an artwork and a statement about who gets assembled under a national flag in Venice: not only one artist, but a cross-border group built around food, music, and conversation. (thepeninsulaqatar.com)