Qatar taps Tiravanija for pavilion
Qatar will be represented at the 2026 Venice Biennale by Rirkrit Tiravanija, who plans a pavilion assembled from musicians, chefs and artists from the Arab world rather than a conventional static display. (artforum.com) (nationaltoday.com). The curatorial approach emphasizes social practice and multisensory gathering as the core of the national presentation. (artforum.com).
Qatar has picked Rirkrit Tiravanija to lead its national pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, with a live program instead of a conventional static display. (artforum.com) The project is titled *untitled 2026 (a gathering of remarkable people)* and is set to open when the 61st International Art Exhibition begins on May 9, 2026, with preview days on May 6, 7, and 8. (labiennale.org) Qatar said Tiravanija’s presentation will bring together musicians, poets, chefs, and artists from the Arab world inside a tent at the Giardini, on the future site of its permanent pavilion. (nationaltoday.com) That permanent building has already been commissioned from Lina Ghotmeh, the Lebanese architect whose design will give Qatar a long-term national presence in the Biennale’s main garden. (thepeninsulaqatar.com) The pavilion is being commissioned by Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, chairperson of Qatar Museums, and co-curated by Tom Eccles and Ruba Katrib. (iloveqatar.net) Tiravanija is best known for art built around shared meals, conversation, and audience participation, a practice that has made him one of the best-known figures in social practice art since the 1990s. (artforum.com) Qatar’s Venice strategy has widened in the past two years from borrowing temporary spaces to establishing a permanent pavilion in the Giardini, a rare move in a site where national plots are tightly limited. (thepeninsulaqatar.com) The 2026 Biennale itself will run under the title *In Minor Keys*, the exhibition conceived by curator Koyo Kouoh and scheduled to stay open through November 22, 2026. (labiennale.org) Qatar’s contribution now looks less like a room of objects than a national pavilion organized as an ongoing gathering, with food, sound, and performance carrying as much weight as any single artwork. (artforum.com)
