Venice Biennale lineup
The 61st Venice Biennale (opens May 9) is leaning into architectural performance and immersive sculpture — Dries Verhoeven presents a performance/architectural piece called “The Fortress.” (e-flux.com) Kyrgyzstan will show Alexey Morosov’s immersive installation “BELEK,” and Korea and Japan are unusually collaborating on national pavilions this year. (artasiapacific.com) South African artist Gabriella Goliath will still exhibit independently after her pavilion’s backing was withdrawn. (citizen.co.za)
La Biennale’s central exhibition will proceed under the title “In Minor Keys,” with the curatorial team Koyo Kouoh assembled carrying forward the project after her unexpected death in 2025. (news.artnet.com) The Dutch pavilion’s 2026 presentation turns the Rietveld building itself into an architectural intervention — the country is sending a live-performance–based project inside the Giardini’s modernist pavilion for the first time. (mondriaanfonds.nl) That Dutch project schedules performances Wednesday through Sunday at hourly slots, lists thirteen international performers by name, will close the pavilion on Tuesdays, and is commissioned by the Mondriaan Fund. (e-flux.com) Kyrgyzstan’s official showing is curated by Geraldine Leardi and stages a large-scale immersive installation in the Santa Caterina Church at Convitto Foscarini, pairing video, sculpture, painting and sound to examine glaciers, rivers, Soviet-era dams and the Kok-Börü equestrian tradition. (artasiapacific.com) South Korea’s pavilion, led by artistic director Binna Choi, frames its entry around the theme “Liberation Space: Fortress and Nest” and will feature works by Choi Go‑eun and Noh Hye‑ri that respond to the 2024 martial‑law episode. (koreaherald.com) For the first time the Korean presentation is planning joint programming with the neighboring Japanese Pavilion, a rare formal collaboration between national pavilions at the Giardini, according to the pavilion’s organisers. (koreaherald.com) South African artist Gabrielle Goliath will present her long‑running project Elegy as a video installation at the Chiesa di Sant’Antonin in Castello from May 5 to July 31, 2026, outside the official Biennale venues. (news24.com) The South African government’s culture minister Gayton McKenzie cancelled the country’s official pavilion submission over the work’s Gaza‑related material, left the national pavilion empty for 2026, and Goliath has launched legal and political appeals in response. (theartnewspaper.com)
