Vatican brings music to Venice

The Vatican’s 2026 Venice Biennale pavilion will be built around sound, with new contributions from FKA twigs, Brian Eno and other artists. (theartnewspaper.com) The Holy See said the pavilion will honor Saint Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th-century Benedictine abbess, composer, poet and mystic. The exhibition will run during the 61st International Art Exhibition in Venice from May 9 to November 22, 2026. (theartnewspaper.com) (labiennale.org) Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers are curating the project, titled *The Ear Is the Eye of the Soul*. The artist list also includes Precious Okoyomon, Otobong Nkanga and Dev Hynes, who records as Blood Orange. (theartnewspaper.com) (artrabbit.com) (artsy.net) At Venice, national pavilions usually center painting, sculpture, film or installation. The Holy See is instead using site-specific sound works tied to Hildegard’s music, writing and devotional legacy. (theartnewspaper.com) (artsy.net) That approach fits the larger 2026 Biennale, which will proceed under the title *In Minor Keys*, a concept developed by the late curator Koyo Kouoh. La Biennale said in May 2025 that it would carry out Kouoh’s exhibition after her death while preserving her curatorial vision. (biennialassociation.org) (biennialfoundation.org) The Holy See has used Venice to test different formats before. In 2024, the Vatican mounted its Biennale project inside Venice’s women’s prison on Giudecca, a move that drew attention for placing contemporary art inside an operating carceral site. (theartnewspaper.com) For 2026, the pavilion is listed at the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice and the Giardino Mistico dei Carmelitani Scalzi in Venice. That gives the Vatican another off-Giardini setting, with the architecture and acoustics becoming part of the work itself. (myartguides.com) (theartnewspaper.com) The result is a Vatican pavilion that treats listening as the main medium. When the Biennale opens on May 9, the Holy See will be asking visitors to hear Venice before they look at it. (theartnewspaper.com) (labiennale.org)