Vatican picks sound artists

The Vatican’s 2026 Venice Biennale project will be a sound-based pavilion with contributions from FKA twigs, Brian Eno and Patti Smith. (theartnewspaper.com) The Holy See said 24 artists were selected for the exhibition, called *The Ear is the Eye of the Soul*, and that it will run during the 61st International Art Exhibition in Venice from May 9 to November 22, 2026. Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers are co-organizing the project. (theartnewspaper.com) (labiennale.org) The pavilion is split across two Venice sites: the Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelite in Cannaregio and the Santa Maria Ausiliatrice Complex in Castello. A project statement described it as “a sonic prayer” centered on listening. (theartnewspaper.com) The Vatican is building the show around Saint Hildegard of Bingen, the Benedictine abbess, composer and mystic who lived from 1098 to 1179. Pope Benedict the Sixteenth proclaimed Hildegard a Doctor of the Universal Church on October 7, 2012. (theartnewspaper.com) (vatican.va) That framing puts medieval liturgical music at the center of a contemporary art event that usually turns on national pavilions, installations and new commissions. La Biennale said the 2026 edition includes 99 national participations and 31 collateral events. (labiennale.org) The artist list also reaches beyond pop musicians. The Art Newspaper reported that participants include Precious Okoyomon, Otobong Nkanga, Jim Jarmusch and organist Kali Malone, alongside Soundwalk Collective, the sound-art platform collaborating on the project. (theartnewspaper.com) In the garden section, visitors will listen on headphones to 20 new commissions made with Soundwalk Collective, according to the project statement. The same statement said the group is also creating a site-specific instrument that “listens” to the garden in real time. (theartnewspaper.com) The 2026 Biennale’s main exhibition, *In Minor Keys*, was conceived by Koyo Kouoh and will proceed with the support of her family, La Biennale said. The Vatican pavilion now joins a field of national presentations spread across Venice from the Giardini and Arsenale to other city sites. (labiennale.org) For the Holy See, the result is a pavilion that asks visitors to listen before they look. For the Biennale, it adds one more national presentation built around a specific voice, this time a 12th-century saint refracted through 21st-century sound artists. (theartnewspaper.com) (labiennale.org)