The title of this year’s main exhibition is not the most optimistic: “In Minor Tones”. The organizational process is the same: the curator of the main project and the main figure of the Biennale, Koyo Kouoh, died a few weeks before the theme was announced, but she had already managed to think up and put everything together. Therefore, the project is realized according to her notes and “with the full support” of her family and the team of curatorial consultants.
The exhibition is based on the idea of the “minor key” as a way of perception: not as a state of melancholy, but as a desire to “reduce the pomp of the orchestra” and tune in to the deeper and more sustained signals of life and the earth. It is about attention, about the ability to hear and feel, about a return to bodily and subjective experience.
“We have no choice but to tune in… improvise… We will have to bring back old knowledge, animism, metaphysics that were too hastily rejected,” curator Koyo Kouoh often refers in her texts to the literature and poetry of the Caribbean and Africa, in this case the writer Patrick Chamoiseau. She endeavors to give voice to those who for so long have remained in the shadow of the culture of the “big countries.” The task she formulates for herself is to restore art to its original function of joy, fulfillment and emotional attachment. This exhibition is therefore neither a direct commentary on the world’s crises nor an attempt to escape from them. Rather, it is an attempt to reconnect with the natural role of art in society – emotional, sensual, subjective.
The National Pavilions, on the contrary, always remain the most politicized part of the Biennale. They shape the perception of Venice as a space of competition, the “Olympics” of culture, where countries present artists and establish their presence on the international stage.
At the same time, their composition remains unstable to the last. Participation is influenced by external world conflicts as well as internal processes: from institutional decisions of local cultural figures to budgetary constraints. Many pavilions relate their projects to the theme of the central exhibition, but this is not a prerequisite and is left to the discretion of the curators.
In 2026, the Venice Biennale reached its maximum international composition. Exactly 100 countries announced their participation. By comparison, not so long ago there were around 80-90. This growth reflects not only a quantitative expansion, but also a structural shift: the Biennale actively includes countries that for decades remained outside the global art scene.
This year, for the first time, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Nauru, Qatar, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Vietnam are participating. El Salvador is represented for the first time by a full-fledged national pavilion. These countries did not receive an “invitation” – they initiated their own participation, found funding, formed teams and projects.
Historically, the pavilion system has developed differently. The first national pavilion appeared in 1907 – it was built by Belgium. In the following decades, the largest European countries and the USA got plots in Giardini. They still have their own buildings, while most of the new entrants work in rented spaces throughout the city, from palaces to churches to temporary sites. This distinction still sets the hierarchy: the center remains in Giardini, the rest is distributed throughout Venice.
As a result, in 2026, the national pavilion system is in a dual state. On the one hand, it is becoming as global as possible and includes almost all regions of the world. On the other hand, it retains the historical hierarchy related to the distribution of territories and resources.
The project explores the theme of belonging to a place and the attempt to create a home in a new context. The very title “Predicting History: Testing Translation” sets the logic of the project: it is impossible to predict history, and translation is always an approximation. It is about constant displacement, mismatch and the need to adapt.
At the center of the project is a new series of large multi-part paintings by Lubaina Himid. Vivid, almost theatrical compositions with elements of surrealism form complex scenes in which the artist acts as both text author and director. She creates characters, builds dialogues and, together with the artist Magda Stawarska, adds a sound environment that enhances the sense of tension and instability.
In 2026, the French Pavilion will return to its historic building after renovation. For this Biennale, France has entrusted the space to Yto Barrada, an interdisciplinary artist working with craft practices, film and archives. The Comme Saturne project is conceived as an immersive installation where textiles become a language of time, memory and metamorphosis. The works are created using the dévoré technique, a method of treating fabric with acid, which literally “eats away” the material. This is a direct reference to the phrase: “Like Saturn, revolution eats its children”.
In Comme Saturne, the artist addresses the cosmological theme associated with the planet Saturn, a symbol of melancholy, slowing down and inner withdrawal. The whole project is a complex process of searching for connections and associations: one word evokes another, a craft technique gives birth to a myth, color refers to material history, a mistake becomes a gesture.
The situation around the Israeli pavilion was at the center of a serious conflict. Almost 200 artists and curators have signed a letter demanding Israel’s exclusion from participation, accusing the state of destroying the Palestinian cultural environment. The campaign, initiated by the group Art Not Genocide Alliance, is accompanied by threats of boycott and even possible protests during the opening of the exhibition.
Despite the pressure, the Biennale organizers rejected the idea of exclusion, insisting on the principles of openness and dialogue. Israel will be represented by the artist, sculptor Belo Simion Fainaru, who opposes cultural boycotts. It is noteworthy that now there is a clause in the contract for the organization of the exhibition that obliges the artist to attend the opening and present his project despite all sorts of provocations.
The Australian pavilion was also at the epicenter of the controversy this time. The country initially rejected its own choice, the duo of artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino. The reason was accusations from right-wing politicians against Sabsabi, a Lebanese-born artist whose practice deals with themes of civil war, identity and Islamophobia.
However, the decision provoked a sharp reaction within the art community: there was talk of a boycott, followed by demands for resignations. After an independent review and mounting pressure, Australia changed its position and returned the team.
Russia has not been represented since 2022: its pavilion is closed and its possible return is accompanied by serious international disputes. The European Commission is threatening to withdraw its 2 million euro grant for 2028 because of non-compliance with sanctions against Russia. And the Finnish government canceled the official cultural delegation to the opening of its own pavilion due to the possible participation of Russia. At the moment, the fate of the Russian pavilion remains unclear. The Biennale Foundation, in turn, remains adamant and denies any censorship in the cultural field of Venice, insisting that any country can present national art within the forum.
The smallest island nation of Nauru is participating in the Venice Biennale for the first time with the exhibition “AIM Inundated, Imagining Life After Land”, curated by Khaled Ramadan. The project looks at Nauru as an example of a country at the intersection of climate crisis, environmental depletion and the effects of colonial resource extraction.
Over decades of intensive phosphate mining, the island has been virtually destroyed: the landscape has been altered, the economy has been undermined, and some of its political autonomy has been lost. In the pavilion, flooding is understood not only as a physical threat to the disappearance of territory, but also as a process of losing cultural memory, ecological knowledge and sustainable forms of life.
In doing so, the project avoids catastrophic rhetoric. Instead, it proposes to look at Nauru as a model for a future in which adaptation and coexistence become key issues. In this context, Venice, a city also vulnerable to changing water levels, becomes the right interlocutor for this problem.
The project “untitled 2026 (a gathering of remarkable people)” is built around the practice of artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, who works with the idea of shared experience. The Qatar Pavilion is presented as a marquee, an environment for communication and exchange.
Inside connects different formats. Sophia Al-Maria shows a film structured as a dreamlike journey through sound, Tarek Atoui works with live musical improvisations, and renowned Palestinian chef Fadi Kattan is in charge of the gastronomic program.
The pavilion is located in the Giardini on the site of Qatar’s future permanent building, designed by contemporary French architect Lina Gotme (Eng. – Lina Ghotmeh). The current project is only the first statement of its presence in the biennial movement, but already very confident and with the right balance of attracting stars and promoting its local authors.
Special mention should be made of the Vatican, which attracts key representatives of contemporary culture to promote ideas of spirituality and faith. The Vatican Pavilion 2026 is called “The Ear is the Eye of the Soul”. It is dedicated to the figure of Hildegard of Bingen, a medieval nun, mystic and composer.
The main objective of the project is to make the exhibition as a “sound prayer”, a space for listening, silence and inner concentration, in direct dialog with the Biennale’s theme “In Minor Keys”. Some 24 artists, musicians and poets are participating in the pavilion, including the legendary Patti Smith, Brian Eno, FKA Twigs, Dev Hynes and others.
Project curators: Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers.
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