G.A.S. joins Venice previews

Guest Artists Space Foundation, a Nigeria-based residency and arts platform founded by Yinka Shonibare, will appear in the main exhibition of the 2026 Venice Biennale. (guestartistsspace.com) The foundation said on February 25 that it had been invited into the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the central curated show rather than a national pavilion. The Biennale says that exhibition, titled *In Minor Keys*, opens to the public on May 9, 2026, after preview days on May 6, 7 and 8. (guestartistsspace.com) (labiennale.org) La Biennale di Venezia said the 2026 edition will include 111 invited participants from across regions and disciplines. It will unfold at the Giardini, the Arsenale and other sites across Venice through November 22, 2026. (labiennale.org 1) (labiennale.org 2) That placement matters because the main exhibition is the Biennale’s curator-led international survey, separate from the 99 national participations and 31 collateral events that Venice also listed for 2026. For an organization built around residencies, research and exchange in Lagos and Ikise, Ogun State, the invitation puts an institution-building model inside one of the art world’s biggest recurring exhibitions. (labiennale.org) (guestartistsspace.com) The project is also tied to the late curator Koyo Kouoh, who was appointed artistic director of the Visual Arts Department in November 2024 and died in May 2025. La Biennale said it is carrying out the 2026 exhibition with the support of her family and according to the project she had already defined. (labiennale.org 1) (labiennale.org 2) Guest Artists Space said its Venice presentation is led by Ann Marie Peña, with support from Shonibare, Yinka Shonibare Foundation chief executive Belinda Holden and Guest Artists Space executive director Moni Aisida. The project manager is Samantha Russell, and the installation design is by MOE+ Art Architecture, led by Papa Omotayo and Oyinade Adegbite. (guestartistsspace.com) The foundation said film production is being handled by Filmwrights’ Randall Wright and Julie Buckland, with sound design by Roland Heap, Simon Haupt and Funmilola Ogushina. It also listed support from the Osahon Okunbo Foundation, Triangle Network and a group of individual donors. (guestartistsspace.com) Guest Artists Space was launched in 2019 and runs across two Nigerian sites: a purpose-built creative space in Lagos and a farm-based research and residency site in Ikise. The organization says its programs focus on residencies, collaboration, education, food and ecological systems, and alternative models of institution building. (guestartistsspace.com) So the Venice showing is not only a presentation by one artist or one country delegation. It is a test of whether a Nigerian-founded residency platform can be read as an artwork and research practice inside *In Minor Keys* when previews begin on May 6. (guestartistsspace.com) (labiennale.org)