From Koyo Kouoh’s vision to international pavilions, a journey through themes, artists
and exhibition spaces of the 61st Biennale to understand how Venice returns to tell its story
international contemporary art.
Italian Traditions dedicates a new trip to Venice, a symbolic city of art and culture
Italian in the world, to tell the story of the 2026 Art Biennial, one of the most anticipated events
of the art calendar. The 61st International Art Exhibition will take place from May 9th to
November 22, 2026, with pre-opening from May 6 to ’8, and will present the In Minor project
Keys, conceived by Koyo Kouoh.
This edition carries with it an important legacy. Koyo Kouoh, Swiss curator-
Cameroonian and a figure of reference on the contemporary scene, she had been appointed
Artistic Director of the Visual Arts Sector in 2024. His passing in May 2025 has
transformed this year’s edition into a project with almost testamentary value. The
The Venice Biennale has in fact chosen to create the exhibition following the already defined structure:
title, artists, works, catalogue, graphic identity and exhibition architecture. To carry forward the
work is the team she herself identified.
The title In Minor Keys immediately suggests the direction of the exhibition. Not an exposure
built on clamor, monumentality or the pursuit of immediate effect, but a
path that chooses lower, less dominant registers. The idea is to look at art
contemporary as a space for listening and relating, capable of intercepting what
often remains on the fringes of major global discourses. The works will be called upon to speak of
memory, body, sound, community, historical wounds and transformations of the present.
The project will bring together 110 invited participants, including individual authors, duos, collectives and
artist-led organizations. The selection looks at provenances, generations and practices
different, avoiding a simple logic of geographical representation. Among the most anticipated names
include Laurie Anderson, Kader Attia, Sammy Baloji, Nick Cave, Carsten Höller, Alfredo
Jaar, Wangechi Mutu, Otobong Nkanga, Walid Raad, Tsai Ming-liang and Billie Zangewa. The
result allows us to imagine a path in which installations, performances, videos and practices
sonoras will play a central role.
The Gardens will continue to represent the historical heart of the event, with the pavilions
national and a part of the international exhibition. The Arsenal, linked to the naval history of the
Most serene and characterised by long and articulated spaces, it will instead offer a context suitable for
installations, environmental works and works designed on a large scale.
Among the new elements of this edition is Forte Marghera, which will take the route beyond the Venetian centre, towards the
mainland. Interventions are planned here that invite movement, stopping and a relationship
more physical with space.
Alongside the main exhibition, the 2026 edition will include 100 National Participations and
31 Collateral Events. Seven countries will be present for the first time: Guinea, Guinea
Equatorial, Nauru, Qatar, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Vietnam.El Salvador will participate
instead for the first time with its own pavilion. These debuts expand the map of the
demonstration and strengthen its role as a global platform, offering space to countries, scenes
artistic and perspectives so far absent.
Another element to be observed will be the role of performance. From May 6th to ’ 11th, in
coincidence with the pre-opening and the first days of the event, a program
performative will accompany the event. Live interventions will enter the path
exhibition not as simple parallel events, but as an integral part
of the experience designed for visitors.
The 2026 Art Biennale also comes in a complex climate. After the jury’s resignation
international, two Visitors’ Lions have been established, which will be awarded upon completion
of the edition, November 22, 2026. It is an important detail because it modifies, at least for
this year, the traditional recognition system and introduces a greater centrality of the
public.
For those visiting Venice, the experience will therefore be twofold. On one side there will be the great
international contemporary art machine, with pavilions, inaugurations and events.
On the other, an exhibition that seems to want to ask the public for a different time: less rapid,
less distracted, more willing to listen. In Minor Keys does not announce itself as a Biennial from
cross looking only for the big names or the most photographed works, but as a path from
live slowly, between works, spaces and themes that dialogue with each other.