Venice Biennale 2026: The Pavilions Not to Be Missed

Biennale de Venise 2026 : les pavillons à ne surtout pas manquer

The 61st Venice Biennale, curated by Koyo Kouoh as an invitation to slow down and reconnect with emotions, features a constellation of contemplative and powerful proposals across the city. Notable national pavilions include the Holy See transforming a monastic garden into an immersive sound experience by Soundwalk Collective, Canada exploring colonial heritage through giant water lilies by Abbas Akhavan, and Austria electrifying the Giardini with radical performances by Florentina Holzinger. Other highlights include Spain dissecting collective memory through postcards, Poland imagining new forms of language between human and underwater worlds, and India's pavilion exploring notions of home.

« No art washing ! » : à la Biennale de Venise, près de 3 000 manifestants réunis pour dénoncer la présence du pavillon israélien

On May 8, 2026, nearly 3,000 protesters gathered in Venice to demonstrate against the presence of the Israeli pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Led by the collective Art Not Genocide Alliance (Anga), the crowd included artists, curators, and cultural workers who chanted slogans such as "Stop al Padiglione genocidio" and called for a strike on the closing day of the professional previews. Dozens of national pavilions, including those of France, Belgium, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, Lebanon, and Ukraine, closed in solidarity. The protest followed a letter sent by Anga in March demanding Israel's exclusion, which went unanswered, and the self-dissolution of the awards jury on April 30 over the presence of both Israel and Russia.

TUNGA S YO VOS Y LA LUNA MAKES ITS EUROPEAN DEBUT

Collegium has presented the installation *Yo, vos y la luna* by Brazilian artist Tunga (1952–2016) for the first time in Europe. The work, part of the Sarina Tang collection, was previously shown at MALBA in Buenos Aires and MAM in São Paulo. It is now installed in the Iglesia de San Miguel de Arévalo in Ávila, Spain, where it will be on view until 18 October 2026. The piece incorporates stones, mirrors, glass, plaster, resin, suspended structures, and a fossilized tree trunk, with sensory elements including dripping amber essence and bronze finger fragments.

Exhibition | Andrea Torres Balaguer, 'T-10 Project' at Alzueta Gallery, Séneca, Barcelona, Spain

Alzueta Gallery in Barcelona is presenting 'T-10 Project', an exhibition by artist Andrea Torres Balaguer. The show is part of the gallery's ongoing program, which spans five locations across Barcelona, Madrid, Casavells, and Paris, and includes exhibitions, art fairs, residencies, and collaborative projects.

The Biennale releases the rules for voting on the Visitors' Lions while many artists and pavilions renounce competing for the prizes

La Biennale diffonde il regolamento per votare i Leoni dei Visitatori mentre molti artisti e padiglioni rinunciano a concorrere ai premi

The 61st Venice Biennale has opened to the public, introducing a controversial new voting system for the Golden Lions. After the entire jury resigned en masse on April 30, the Biennale decided to let the public decide the winners of the so-called "Leoni dei Visitatori" (Visitors' Lions). Voting is open from May 9 to November 22, 2026, and requires ticket holders to visit both main venues (Giardini and Arsenale) to receive a voting link. One vote per person is allowed for each of two categories: an artist in the main international exhibition "In Minor Keys" curated by Koyo Kouoh, and a national pavilion.

The 2026 Venice Biennale is light and conscious

Quella del 2026 è una Biennale di Venezia leggera e consapevole

The 2026 Venice Biennale, titled "In Minor Keys" and curated by the late Koyo Kouoh, has opened with a focus on ecology and humanity's relationship with nature. The central pavilion at the Giardini presents a festive, craft-heavy exhibition that emphasizes connections with plants and animals, while the Arsenale offers a more spacious, symphonic experience featuring standout works such as Alfredo Jaar's "End of the World" (2023-2024) and Kader Attia's "Whisper of Traces" (2026). National pavilions, including those of Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, and Spain, explore themes of the body, memory, and ruin with notable installations.

Since 1968, Protests Have Revealed the Real Impact of the Venice Biennale

The article recounts the 1968 protests at the Venice Biennale, where artists, students, and activists clashed with police over the event's perceived ties to bourgeois power and capitalist commodification. It draws parallels to the 2024 Biennale, where groups like Art Not Genocide Alliance, Pussy Riot, and Femen demonstrated against the participation of Russia and Israel, while artists staged strikes and performances like the Solidarity Drone Chorus to highlight the Gaza conflict.

A Rococo Snuffbox for Cleveland

Une tabatière rocaille pour Cleveland

The Cleveland Museum of Art has acquired a rare gold and lapis-lazuli snuffbox (tabatière) by the Rococo master Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, dated 1728-1729. The box, which bears Meissonnier's hallmark and the coat of arms of Marie-Anne de Neubourg (widow of King Charles II of Spain), was likely made for her during her long exile in Bayonne. It will be a centerpiece of the museum's upcoming exhibition "Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier: Rococo Goldsmith in Focus," opening in October.

Deux sculptures de la Roldana préemptées par l'Espagne

Spain has preempted two polychrome terracotta sculptures by Luisa Roldán, known as La Roldana, at an Abalarte auction on December 5, 2025. The works, *La Fuite en Égypte* and *L’Éducation de la Vierge*, each sold for €335,500 including fees. *La Fuite en Égypte* has been acquired by the Museo del Prado in Madrid, while *L’Éducation de la Vierge* has gone to the Museo Nacional de Escultura in Valladolid.

Exhibition | Erwin Olaf, 'Against Time' at Baró Galeria, Palma, Spain

Baró Galeria presents 'Against Time', an exhibition of Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf's still life photographs at its Next Door space in Palma, Mallorca, Spain. Opening on May 25, 2026, the show is part of the inaugural Mallorca PhotoFest, an international photography festival. The exhibition focuses on Olaf's small-format flower photographs made between 2006 and 2021, exploring themes of time, finitude, and photography as a trace of disappearance. An essay by Esmeralda Gómez Galera accompanies the show.

'David Macho, Juan Narowé' at Alzueta Gallery, Madrid, Spain on 7 May–8 Jun 2026

The Alzueta Gallery in Madrid will present a two-person exhibition featuring artists David Macho and Juan Narowé from May 7 to June 8, 2026. The show highlights the work of these two contemporary artists, bringing their practices to a significant gallery platform in the Spanish capital.

Catalonia Sues Aragón for €791,000 for Repayment Over Restitution of 56 Artworks

The Catalan government has formally demanded €791,000 (approximately $920,000) from the Aragonese government to recoup costs related to the value and upkeep of 56 artworks from the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Sigena. The works were removed from the monastery in 1936 for safekeeping during the Spanish Civil War, and Spain's Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that they must be returned to Aragón. Of the 56 pieces, 12 were held at the National Art Museum of Catalonia and 44 at the Diocesan Museum of Lleida. The Catalan government has given Aragón 30 days to negotiate a settlement before returning to court.

Amid Urban Spaces, Alex Senna’s Bold Murals Embrace Connection and Belonging

Brazilian artist Alex Senna creates large-scale, black-and-white murals that depict figures gathering, interacting, and connecting with their own shadows. His work, often set against colorful urban backdrops, emphasizes themes of community, emotional bonds, togetherness, and belonging.

Condemned by Francoism, a writer rehabilitated by the Spanish Congress

Condamné par le franquisme, un écrivain réhabilité par le Congrès espagnol

The Spanish Congress has officially rehabilitated Cipriano Salvador (1894-1975), a Republican intellectual wrongly accused by the Franco regime of stealing a Renaissance painting he actually saved. During the Spanish Civil War, Salvador hid Fernando Yáñez's "La Santa Generación" (c. 1525-1532) from destruction. After Franco's victory, a priest sold the work to the Prado Museum for 15,000 pesetas, while Salvador was arrested, sentenced to death (later commuted to 30 years), and spent seven years in prison. He died in 1975 without exoneration. The rehabilitation motion passed with 32 votes in favor, 3 against, and 1 abstention, with only far-right party Vox opposing.

At the 2026 Venice Biennale, Spain transforms its Pavilion into a museum of accumulation with artist Oriol Vilanova

Alla Biennale Arte 2026 la Spagna trasforma il suo Padiglione in museo dell’accumulo con l’artista Oriol Vilanova

Spain has announced its participation in the 61st Venice Biennale Arte 2026, selecting Catalan artist Oriol Vilanova to represent the country in its newly renovated national pavilion. The project, titled "Los restos," transforms the pavilion into a pseudo-museum of accumulation, featuring Vilanova's vast personal archive of postcards collected over twenty years from flea markets and secondhand circuits. The installation presents these ephemeral fragments as an infinite, non-narrative mural, exploring themes of accumulation and loss. Curated by Carles Guerra, the project also includes a performative intervention titled "Il fantasma della libertà" (2026), which will unfold across the Giardini and Arsenale during the Biennale.

A Baroque Too Baroque: Reflections on the Colossal Exhibition in Forlì

Un Barocco troppo barocco. Riflessioni sulla colossale mostra di Forlì

A massive exhibition titled "Barocco: il gran teatro delle idee" (Baroque: The Grand Theater of Ideas) is on view at the Museo Civico San Domenico in Forlì, Italy. The show, curated by a committee of six, ambitiously attempts to define the Baroque across the 17th and 18th centuries, extending its scope to include France and Spain, and even suggesting its echoes in the 20th century. It features approximately 300 works, including paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts.

Exhibition | Yelena Popova, 'Moments of Grace' at Osnova gallery, Valencia, Spain

Yelena Popova's solo exhibition 'Moments of Grace' opens at Osnova gallery's new space in Valencia, Spain, marking a decade of collaboration between the artist and the gallery. The show brings together works from several of Popova's major series, including 'Painting Installations' (2012-2017), 'Evaporating Paintings', 'Post-Petrochemical Paintings', and three jacquard-woven tapestries, tracing her practice over the past fifteen years. Popova approaches each project as part of an interconnected body of work, comparing her logic to garden cultivation—a layered, cyclical process. Her cross-disciplinary research focuses on the material conditions of painting, exploring temporal transformations like evaporation, oxidation, and decay, as well as the dynamics between image, surface, and space.

Japanese artist Mari Ito debuts in India with bold, thought-provoking exhibition

Japanese contemporary artist Mari Ito has opened her first solo exhibition in India, titled 'Origin of Desire,' at Bikaner House in New Delhi. The show features recent paintings and a large-scale installation created between 2024 and the present, exploring themes of identity, resistance, and the human body. Ito's practice is rooted in Nihonga, a classical Japanese painting technique using mineral pigments and sumi ink on washi paper or silk, which she blends with contemporary subject matter. A highlight is the installation 'Flowers Blooming in Defiance of the Bombs,' previously shown in Spain and reimagined for the Indian context. The exhibition is supported by Galerie Geek Art, which aims to connect Asian contemporary artists with Indian audiences.

Spain, sculpted in sand at Tottori museum’s landmark 20th exhibition

The Tottori Sand Museum in Japan has opened its 20th anniversary exhibition, themed around Spain. The show features monumental sand sculptures recreating iconic Spanish landmarks, including several of Antoni Gaudí's structures, most notably the Sagrada Familia basilica. The exhibition began last month and will run through January 3, continuing the museum's tradition of annual themed displays that began outdoors in 2006 and moved to a dedicated indoor building in 2012.

Philippine art goes on tour this May

Manila Calling, a traveling art exhibition organized by Manila Collective Inc., launches this May, connecting Manila, Barcelona, Madrid, and Tokyo. The project transforms traditional exhibition spaces into a hybrid of gallery, curated gift shop, and street-level art party, featuring 70 creatives from the Philippines, Spain, France, Italy, and Japan. Participating artists submitted original artworks translated into a unified silk textile installation, alongside limited-edition prints, zines, apparel, and collectible objects. The tour includes stops in Barcelona (May 15-16), Madrid (May 19-20), a month-long exhibit at Centro de Turismo Intramuros in Manila (June 6-27), and a Tokyo stop with a closing celebration in Barcelona in July. A pop-up gift shop in Comuna, Makati precedes the tour on May 8-10.

REINTERPRETATIONS BY DEMIAN FLORES OF VIOLENCE MYTH AND REPRESENTATION

Mexican artist Demián Flores presents "America. New Visions from the Old World," a graphic arts exhibition at the Instituto Cultural de México in Madrid. The show features forty works that reinterpret 16th-century engravings by Theodor de Bry, whose images of Indigenous peoples—ranging from idealized noble savages to violent cannibals—shaped European perceptions of the Americas. Flores draws on his earlier series "Collateral Disasters" (2012), inspired by Goya's "The Disasters of War," to critique how colonial visual narratives constructed otherness and justified violence.

JEZIK AND COSTA EXPLORE MEMORY AND EXILE IN A GROUP EXHIBITION

The Miguel Hernández University in Elche, Spain, presents "Vientos del pueblo. Voices of Exile and Resistance," a group exhibition curated by Mónica Sotos. Inspired by Miguel Hernández's poem "Vientos del pueblo," the show features Argentine artists Ježik and Costa alongside Eugenio Merino, Gloria Oyarzábal, Ricardo Calero, Óscar Seco, Pierre Valls, and María Rosa Aránega. Through photography, video, installation, drawing, and archival works, the exhibition examines violence, borders, exile, and colonial legacies, challenging dominant power narratives.

Lisa Lundgren, 'Solo Exhibition' at Alzueta Gallery, Séneca, Barcelona, Spain on 9–31 Jul 2026

Alzueta Gallery in Barcelona is presenting a solo exhibition by artist Lisa Lundgren from July 9 to 31, 2026. The gallery, founded by Miquel Alzueta, is a significant player in contemporary art with multiple international locations.

'Parallel Route 01' at Alzueta Gallery, Séneca, Barcelona, Spain on 2–30 Jun 2026

Alzueta Gallery in Barcelona is presenting the exhibition 'Parallel Route 01' from June 2 to 30, 2026. The gallery, founded by Miquel Alzueta, operates from five locations and runs a program of exhibitions, art fairs, and artist residencies.

New exhibition in Torre del Mar explores the art of calligraphy

Calligraphy artist Gema Martínez has opened a new solo exhibition titled 'Evocâre' at the tourist information office in Torre del Mar on Spain's Costa del Sol. The exhibition presents a series of works that use distorted, superimposed, and invented calligraphic signs to explore the mechanisms of memory, transforming personal recollections into visual, often illegible, writing.

Cultural Observatories: Dinosaurs or Subjects Capable of Interpreting the Present?

Osservatori culturali. Dinosauri o soggetti in grado di interpretare il presente?

The Cultural Observatory of Canton Ticino has published a study on cultural observatories worldwide, including a map and list of surveyed organizations. The analysis reveals that cultural observatories are not a global phenomenon but are concentrated mainly in Europe and South America, with occasional presence in North America (especially Canada and Hispanic-oriented organizations in the US). Africa, Asia, and Oceania are almost entirely absent from the map. The study also highlights a high rate of inactive observatories: among the top 10 countries by active observatories, only Germany shows an effective activity ratio. Spain has 26 active observatories out of about 45 total, while Italy has 11 active out of over 20 inactive. The research defines observatories as non-profit organizations that combine cultural and statistical expertise to deepen and transfer knowledge about the cultural sector, and classifies as inactive those with no recent activity on web or social channels.

“La preistoria non è stata solo violenza, ma anche cura”. Intervista all’archeologa femminista Marga Sánchez Romero

Marga Sánchez Romero, a professor of Prehistory at the University of Granada and a leading voice in feminist archaeology in Spain, argues in an interview that prehistory has been misrepresented as a sequence of violence and hierarchies. She emphasizes that new questions are reshaping our understanding of the past, highlighting that care, cooperation, and solidarity were as crucial as conflict in human evolution. The conversation covers biases in archaeological interpretation, the famous Viking tomb of Birka, the origins of inequality, and the role of museums in creating more inclusive narratives.

ARTIUM RECOVERS THE SILENCED DISSIDENCE OF JUANA CIMA

Artium museum in Vitoria, Spain, has opened a retrospective exhibition titled "Juana Cima: Una mirada disidente" dedicated to Cuban-born artist Juana Fernández Cima (b. 1951). The show traces her career from the late 1970s through the 1990s, highlighting her pioneering work on identity, gender, and ecology, which was progressively marginalized from the dominant artistic narrative. The exhibition is organized around five conceptual territories—Bilbao, mythical ecofeminist landscapes, insular identity, spirituality via India and Buddhism, and mountain retreat—and runs until August 30, 2026.

CAB EXPLORES LANDSCAPE AS LIVING MEMORY IN MATIAS ERCOLE S WORK

The CAB / Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos in Spain has opened "Me olvidé de mis ojos" (I Forgot My Eyes), an exhibition by Argentine artist Matías Ercole. The show explores landscape as a living memory, blending Latin American and European visual traditions through the artist's signature sgraffito technique, which reveals hidden layers of light and color. The works are arranged as architectural elements, guiding viewers through a reflective journey on identity, memory, and cultural construction.