Venice bans Elegy
South Africa’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale was left empty after Gabrielle Goliath’s work “Elegy” was deemed “highly divisive” and blocked by authorities on March 25 (theguardian.com). Goliath has vowed to present “Elegy” outside the official Biennale as a deliberate act of protest and censorship commentary, a move covered in detail this week ( ).
The Gauteng (North Gauteng/Pretoria) High Court dismissed Gabrielle Goliath’s urgent application to overturn the cancellation on 18 February 2026, with Judge Mamokolo Kubushi handing down a short electronic judgment and ordering costs against the applicants. (artreview.com) Goliath and curator Ingrid Masondo had been unanimously selected on 6 December 2025 by a five‑person independent selection committee appointed by Art Periodic to represent South Africa at the 61st Venice Biennale. (news.artnet.com) Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie told the organising committee in late December that a suite of the proposed work referencing Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada was “highly divisive” and he demanded changes before withdrawing departmental support and terminating the pavilion at the start of January. (theartnewspaper.com) Goliath has confirmed she will present Elegy as an independent installation at the Chiesa di Sant’Antonin in Venice’s Castello district from 5 May to 31 July 2026, running across the Biennale’s opening period but outside the official national pavilion framework. (theartnewspaper.com) The Elegy project slated for Venice is a multi‑part performance and video installation that foregrounds ritual laments for femicide and LGBTQI+ killings in South Africa, the Herero and Nama genocide in Namibia, and includes a section commemorating the Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada. (artnews.com) With the court defeat and no replacement nominated by the department, South Africa will not occupy its national pavilion at the 61st Biennale—its first absence since 2011—and Goliath says she will continue legal avenues while mounting the off‑site showing in Venice. (artsy.net)
