Holy See at Venice Biennale
The Holy See pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale will include contributions from Patti Smith and Brian Eno, presenting commissioned compositions, artworks and installations that Wallpaper says will explore ‘nearly a millennium of sonic possibilities’ (wallpaper.com). The Vatican’s program explicitly foregrounds sound and music crossing into visual‑arts contexts (wallpaper.com).
The Vatican’s pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale is turning to sound, with new works by Patti Smith, Brian Eno and 22 other contributors. (wallpaper.com) The Pavilion of the Holy See will run during the 61st International Art Exhibition from May 9 to November 22, 2026, the dates La Biennale lists for this year’s show, “In Minor Keys,” curated by Koyo Kouoh. (labiennale.org) The Vatican said 24 artists, poets, musicians, architects and filmmakers were commissioned for the project, including FKA Twigs, Devonté Hynes, Jim Jarmusch, Otobong Nkanga and Precious Okoyomon alongside Smith and Eno. (wallpaper.com) The exhibition is titled “The Ear is the Eye of the Soul,” and Art Newspaper reported that it is organized around Saint Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th-century Benedictine abbess, composer and mystic. (theartnewspaper.com) That focus shifts the Vatican’s Biennale presentation toward listening as much as looking. Wallpaper reported that the program centers on commissioned compositions, artworks and installations spanning “nearly a millennium of sonic possibilities.” (wallpaper.com) The curators are Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers, working with Soundwalk Collective, according to Artsy and Finestre sull’Arte. The project will unfold across two Venice sites rather than a single pavilion room. (artsy.net, finestresullarte.info) Those sites are the Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelites in Cannaregio and the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in Castello, both in Venice. Artsy said the split venue format matches a presentation built around installation and sound rather than a conventional national display. (artsy.net) The Holy See has used recent Biennale editions to test new formats for religious contemporary art. Gaudium Press, summarizing the Vatican’s approach, linked the 2026 plan to the Holy See’s 2024 project in Venice’s women’s prison. (gaudiumpress.ca) This year’s version pushes that experiment further by putting musicians and sonic artists at the center of a visual-arts event that still largely runs on national pavilions and object-based exhibitions. The result is a Vatican presentation that asks Biennale visitors to hear first and look second. (wallpaper.com, labiennale.org)
