Holy See goes sonic

The Vatican’s pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale will center on listening, with new sound works by Patti Smith, Brian Eno and 22 other contributors. (wallpaper.com) The show is titled *The Ear is the Eye of the Soul* and will run during Biennale Arte 2026 from May 9 to November 22, with preview days on May 6, 7 and 8. It is the Holy See’s national participation in the 61st International Art Exhibition in Venice. (labiennale.org) Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, the Holy See’s commissioner, appointed Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers to curate the project with Soundwalk Collective. The Vatican said 24 artists were selected for the pavilion. (wallpaper.com) The pavilion takes its cue from Saint Hildegard of Bingen, the German Benedictine abbess, composer and writer who lived from 1098 to 1179. The Vatican’s project describes the exhibition as a “sonic prayer” tied to Biennale Arte 2026’s main exhibition, *In Minor Keys*, a concept developed by the late curator Koyo Kouoh. (theartnewspaper.com) (labiennale.org) That marks a clear shift in format for a Vatican pavilion at an event usually dominated by objects, rooms and images. In the garden section, visitors will hear commissioned pieces on headphones while walking through a Carmelite site first planted in the 17th century. (wallpaper.com) The project is split across two Venice venues: the Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelites in Cannaregio and the Santa Maria Ausiliatrice complex in Castello. The garden will host 20 new commissions and a site-specific instrument by Soundwalk Collective that listens to the garden in real time. (theartnewspaper.com) The lineup reaches well beyond Smith and Eno. Participants named by the Vatican and art publications include FKA Twigs, Devonté Hynes, Jim Jarmusch, Meredith Monk, Terry Riley, Suzanne Ciani, Otobong Nkanga, Precious Okoyomon and the Benedictine nuns of the Abbey of St. Hildegard Eibingen. (artnews.com) (theartnewspaper.com) The Castello venue will hold the final work by German filmmaker and writer Alexander Kluge, who died in March 2026 at 94, along with Hildegard texts, artist books by Ilda David’ and new monastery architecture by Tatiana Bilbao Estudio. (artnews.com) The Holy See drew wide notice at the 2024 Biennale with a pavilion staged inside the women’s prison on Giudecca, where Maurizio Cattelan worked with inmates. In 2026, it is returning with a pavilion built around voices, instruments and silence instead of a single installation. (artnews.com)