U.S. Pavilion dispute
- Selection of Alma Allen for the U.S. Pavilion has triggered debate about selection process and cultural authority. - Reporting says critics are arguing the controversy centers more on politics and procedure than on the artwork itself. - ARTnews traced the row, noting unexpected backers behind the effort and questions about how the decision was made ( ).
The fight over the 2026 U.S. Pavilion in Venice is less about Alma Allen’s sculpture than about who got to choose him. (artnews.com) The U.S. Department of State confirmed on November 24, 2025 that Allen will represent the country at the 61st Venice Art Biennale, with independent curator Jeffrey Uslip and commissioner Jenni Parido of the American Arts Conservancy. The show, “Alma Allen: Call Me the Breeze,” is scheduled to run at the U.S. Pavilion from May 9 to November 22, 2026. (state.gov) What changed is the selection system. ARTnews reported that the State Department dropped the long-running model in which museums submitted proposals to a National Endowment for the Arts panel, and instead handed the pavilion to the American Arts Conservancy, a nonprofit formed in July 2025. (artnews.com) That shift put unusual weight on Parido, whom the New York Times identified as a 37-year-old Florida entrepreneur with no professional arts background before taking on the Venice role. ARTnews, citing the Times, said she had recently run a luxury pet-food store. (nytimes.com, artnews.com) The Venice Biennale matters because the U.S. Pavilion is one of the country’s highest-profile cultural diplomacy stages. ARTnews described this year’s dispute as a fight over “politics, process, and cultural authority” at an event where national pavilions are read as statements about the countries behind them. (artnews.com, artnews.com) The procedural complaints began before Allen was confirmed. In early September 2025, artist Robert Lazzarini and curator John Ravenal were told their proposal had been selected, but the plan later collapsed when negotiations with the University of South Florida’s Contemporary Art Museum broke down. (artnews.com, artsy.net) ARTnews also reported that some artists declined to participate in the cycle altogether. The outlet, citing the Times, said photographer William Eggleston and sculptor Barbara Chase-Riboud passed because of concerns about the political setting and the unfamiliar leadership structure. (artnews.com) Critics have not focused mainly on Allen’s work. When his selection surfaced in November 2025, ARTnews senior editor Alex Greenberger called it the end point of “a dispiriting selection process,” while former Yale School of Art dean Robert Storr told the Times the U.S. had “squandered a major opportunity” in how it handled the pavilion. (artnews.com, nytimes.com) Allen has tried to separate himself from that fight. ARTnews said he told reporters he did not see his work as political in party terms and was focused instead on finishing sculptures large enough that some “barely fit in the doorway.” (artnews.com) So the dispute heading into Venice is now fixed in place: Allen’s exhibition will open in May, but the argument around it is still about the State Department’s break with precedent and the small nonprofit it chose to run America’s pavilion. (state.gov, artnews.com)
