Haiti’s Venice Preview

Édouard Duval-Carrié will represent Haiti at the 61st Venice Biennale, and Miami audiences got a first look at the work this week in Little Haiti. (wlrn.org) WLRN reported that Duval-Carrié, a Haitian-born artist based in Miami, opened a preview of his Venice-bound pieces ahead of the Biennale’s 2026 run in Venice, Italy. Le Nouvelliste said the exhibition runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026. (wlrn.org) (lenouvelliste.com) The Little Haiti showing is scheduled for Friday, April 24, as a salon-style studio night with conversation, music and a viewing of the work before it ships to Venice. The event listing says it will be held at Duval-Carrié’s studio from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. (miamiandbeaches.com) The Venice Biennale is one of the art world’s biggest recurring exhibitions, built around a central international show and country presentations spread across the city. WLRN described Haiti’s appearance as part of those national exhibitions, which nations organize under their own banner. (wlrn.org) Duval-Carrié’s selection also places Haiti inside a 2026 Biennale shaped by arguments over who gets cultural space and on what terms. ArtNews reported this week that the European Union said it intends to cut funding to the Biennale over the return of Russia’s pavilion, its first since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (artnews.com) The Art Newspaper reported in March that the European Union’s warning was tied to concerns that official participation could give a platform to figures linked to the Kremlin during the war in Ukraine. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that Ukraine’s team said it would stay focused on its own pavilion as the dispute escalated. (theartnewspaper.com) (rferl.org) For Haiti, the Duval-Carrié presentation carries a separate national and diasporic weight. Le Centre d’Art said two artists of Haitian origin, Duval-Carrié and Manuel Mathieu, are among the 111 participants selected for the 2026 international exhibition. (lecentredart.org) AlterPresse reported that Duval-Carrié described the invitation as a chance to carry “a voice from Haiti and the Caribbean” into an international setting. That framing matches a career long associated with Caribbean history, migration and layered identities across Haiti, Miami and the wider region. (alterpresse.org) (lecentredart.org) The Miami preview gives that Venice project a local sendoff before the global opening in May. For one night in Little Haiti, the road to one of contemporary art’s biggest stages runs through the neighborhood where Duval-Carrié has worked for years. (wlrn.org) (miamiandbeaches.com)