US Pavilion controversy
- The New York Times reports Jenni Parido is serving as commissioner of the U.S. Pavilion despite no professional museum experience. (nytimes.com) - Parido founded the American Arts Conservancy only last year, raising institutional experience questions in coverage. (nytimes.com) - Critics framed the appointment as mixing the Biennale's cultural prestige with recent political staffing patterns. (nytimes.com)
The United States’ 2026 Venice Biennale pavilion is being led by Jenni Parido, a first-time arts nonprofit founder whose appointment has drawn scrutiny. (nytimes.com) The U.S. State Department announced on November 24, 2025 that the American Arts Conservancy would organize the U.S. presentation at the 61st Venice Art Biennale, with Parido as commissioner and Jeffrey Uslip as curator. The selected artist is Alma Allen, and the show is titled *Alma Allen: Call Me the Breeze*. (state.gov) La Biennale di Venezia says the 2026 exhibition runs from May 9 to November 22, with preview days on May 6, 7, and 8. National pavilions are one of the main structures of the event, and the U.S. pavilion sits in the Giardini, the Biennale’s central exhibition grounds. (labiennale.org) (guggenheim-venice.it) The dispute centers on who gets to represent the United States at one of the art world’s highest-profile international exhibitions. The *New York Times* reported that Parido had no professional museum background and had previously owned a pet food store before founding the American Arts Conservancy in 2025. (nytimes.com) That broke with the recent pattern in which major museums or established arts institutions typically anchor the U.S. pavilion. ARTnews reported in November that the earlier 2026 proposal by artist Robert Lazzarini and curator John Ravenal had collapsed after negotiations with a partner institution failed. (artnews.com) (artsy.net) When the State Department named the replacement team, it said the Allen exhibition would further the Trump administration’s focus on “showcasing American excellence.” That language put a foreign-policy agency, not a museum board, at the center of a decision that usually carries both cultural and diplomatic weight. (state.gov) Supporters of the project point to Allen’s standing and Uslip’s credentials. Allen is a Utah-born, Mexico-based sculptor with a decades-long practice, and Uslip previously served as chief curator of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. (almaallenvenice2026.org) (news.artnet.com) The American Arts Conservancy has presented itself as the organizing body for the pavilion and says the exhibition will include new site-responsive sculptures, including one for the pavilion forecourt. Its public materials describe the group as working “in collaboration with” the State Department. (almaallenvenice2026.org) (theamericanartsconservancy.org) With the Biennale opening in less than three weeks, the question is no longer whether the United States will show up in Venice. It is whether the pavilion will be remembered for Allen’s work, or for the way the commissioner got the job. (labiennale.org) (nytimes.com)
