Manuel Mathieu debuts at Arsenale

Manuel Mathieu’s Venice Biennale debut landed Monday inside the Arsenale, where Observer reviewed the Haitian-Canadian artist’s presentation as a work about historical memory and the burden of carrying the past. Observer’s June 1 review said Mathieu’s installation centers on “Pendulum” (2025), an immersive environment built around a double-sided screen, life-size fabric figures and a vetiver scent sourced from Haiti. The official Biennale artist page says Mathieu, born in Port-au-Prince in 1986 and now based in Montreal and Paris, is showing work in both the Arsenale and the Giardini this year. ### Why is this debut drawing attention inside the Arsenale? Observer’s review said Mathieu is one of the few participants in the 2026 Biennale showing in both of the exhibition’s main sites, the Arsenale and the Giardini. The piece described that dual placement as evidence of the breadth of a practice that spans painting, mosaic, ceramics, film and olfactory work. (observer.com) La Biennale di Venezia’s official page says Mathieu’s work extends beyond painting into ceramics, mosaic, film and scent, and frames that range as central to how he examines time, corporeality and memory. The Biennale text says his practice is shaped by Haiti’s artistic and spiritual traditions as well as the country’s contemporary challenges. ### What exactly is Mathieu showing there? (observer.com) The Biennale’s official description says “Pendulum” began as a 2023 short film and is now presented as a double-sided screen installation with sculptural and olfactory elements. Observer reported that the Arsenale version includes four life-size fabric figures laid across the floor, each releasing vetiver fragrance into a darkened room. (labiennale.org) The official artist page also names “GENOCIDE” (2026) and “Abundance and Drought” (2024) as part of Mathieu’s Biennale presentation. According to La Biennale, “GENOCIDE” is presented as a direct acknowledgment of present crisis, while “Abundance and Drought” turns a geological imprint into a metaphor for continuity against fragile social and political structures. (labiennale.org) ### How are critics and the artist himself describing the work? Observer framed the Arsenale installation around the question of how people “carry the past,” describing the work as caught between care, haunting and repetition. The review said Mathieu’s film imagery includes a woman in white moving through a forest and men handling a large white sheet around broken dolls, linking the installation to cycles of history and unresolved memory. (labiennale.org) A press release from Mathieu’s gallery says the artist’s work is informed by his upbringing in Haiti after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship and by his move to Canada at 19. In that release, Mathieu said Koyo Kouoh’s vision trusted fragility and that “art does not need to scream in order to move us,” adding that “quiet forms of resistance” could be heard in this Biennale. (observer.com) ### How does this fit into the wider 2026 Venice Biennale? La Biennale di Venezia says the 61st International Art Exhibition is titled “In Minor Keys” and follows the curatorial vision of the late Koyo Kouoh. The official Biennale site says the exhibition opened on May 9 and runs through November 22, 2026, across the Giardini, the Arsenale and other sites in Venice. (pilarcorrias.com) Observer said Kouoh invited Mathieu into this year’s edition, and described the Biennale theme as privileging quieter forms of resistance over grand declaration. That framing places Mathieu’s scent-based, film-led and materially layered installation squarely within the exhibition’s stated curatorial language. (labiennale.org) ### What can visitors look for next? The 61st Venice Biennale remains on view through November 22, 2026, and Mathieu’s official Biennale page lists his works at the Central Pavilion and Arsenale under standard exhibition admission. Observer’s June 1 review points readers to both venues, with the Arsenale installation and the Giardini presentation forming the full scope of his debut. (labiennale.org) (observer.com)