The 14th edition of the San Francisco Art Fair (SFAF) has launched with 88 exhibitors and a robust program of public projects and talks. A central highlight is the exhibition “The Sun Beneath,” curated by Mara Gladstone and featuring artist Jon Cuyson, which serves as a preview for their upcoming collaboration at the Philippine Pavilion for the 2026 Venice Biennale.
The 61st Venice Biennale features standout national pavilions from Japan, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, Singapore, and India. Japan presents Ei Arakawa-Nash's 'Grass Babies, Moon Babies,' an interactive exhibition with hand-sewn baby dolls and sound pieces exploring queer parenthood and collective care. The Philippines showcases Jon Cuyson's 'Sea of Love / Dagat ng Pag-ibig,' a solo show using 'mussel thinking' to highlight Filipino seafarers. Timor-Leste's 'Across Words' brings together three artists addressing ethnolinguistic diversity and cultural memory, while Singapore presents Amanda Heng's 'A Pause,' a feminist performance on vulnerability and resilience. India's pavilion features Ranjani Shettar's work, supported by Talwar Gallery.
The 61st Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, opens amid global turmoil and internal controversy. Kouoh, who passed away in May 2025, conceived the exhibition around the metaphor of a "creole garden," emphasizing deep affinities between 111 artists from diverse locations such as Dakar, Beirut, and Salvador. The Biennale is overshadowed by recent geopolitical events, including US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran, and faces protests: over 70 participating artists signed an open letter opposing the participation of Israel, Russia, and the US, while the Australian pavilion saw the reinstatement of Khaled Sabsabi after being dropped, and South Africa withdrew its official pavilion over Gabrielle Goliath's femicide project, which she will still present independently.
Jon Cuyson will represent the Philippines at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with an installation titled "Sea of Love / Dagat ng Pag-ibig." The work combines painting, sculpture, sound, and moving image into a spatial environment inspired by the logic of the sea. It features fragmented painting panels, metal hardware, cast resin mussels, and marine debris, alongside a film narrated from the perspective of mussels in Cavite City. Central to the piece is a queer Filipino time-traveling seafarer named Kerel, whose story unfolds across Cuyson's Kerel Trilogy films. The pavilion, located in the Arsenale, is curated by Mara Gladstone.
The 61st Venice Biennale jury, composed of five curators—Solange Oliveira Farkas, Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, and Giovanna Zapperi—resigned on April 30th amid internal tensions over decisions that conflicted with the late Koyo Kouoh's curatorial vision. The jury had previously stated it would refrain from considering countries whose leaders are charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. Meanwhile, Filipino artist Jon Cuyson prepares to present his installation at the Philippine Pavilion, featuring works shipped 60 days before geopolitical conflict escalated, navigating unstable maritime routes. His project includes the film series "Sea of Love (Dagat ng Pag-ibig)" and a new fourth film, "Sea of Echoes," exploring themes of migration, queer experience, and ecological resilience through mussels as non-human protagonists.