Venice Biennale 2026: all the national pavilions, artists and curators so far

The 61st edition of the Venice Biennale, the world's oldest and most prestigious art biennial, will open on 9 May 2026 and run through 22 November. The main exhibition follows the curatorial plan of the late Koyo Kouoh, while national pavilions have been announcing their participating artists and organizers. The article provides a comprehensive list of confirmed pavilions so far, including artists such as Genti Korini (Albania), Matías Duville (Argentina), Khaled Sabsabi (Australia), Florentina Holzinger (Austria), Faig Ahmed (Azerbaijan), and many others, with details on venues and organizers.

The 14 Best Art Museum Exhibits in the World in 2026

PaperCity tapped Elaine de Kooning House founder Chris Byrne to curate a list of the 14 best art museum exhibitions worldwide in 2026. Highlights include a major Marcel Duchamp retrospective at MoMA—the first North American survey in over 50 years—featuring nearly 300 works, and Raphael's first comprehensive U.S. exhibition at The Met, titled 'Raphael: Sublime Poetry,' with 200 drawings, paintings, and tapestries. Other notable shows include 'The Shakers: A World in the Making' at ICA Philadelphia and a Guerrilla Girls exhibition at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.

Your Australian art guide for May 2026 is here

May 2026 brings a packed calendar of art exhibitions across Australia, with highlights including Rone's 'Another TIME' at COMA Gallery in Sydney, the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes at the Art Gallery of NSW, and solo shows by Eleanor Louise Butt, Jordan Gogos, Natalya Hughes, Patricia Piccinini, and Michaela Gleave. Regional venues like Bundanon and Ngununggula also feature major exhibitions, including a posthumous show of Rosalie Gascoigne alongside new commissions by First Nations women artists.

The Female Artists To See at This Year's Venice Biennale

The 61st Venice Biennale returns amid controversy, including calls to exclude Israel, scrutiny over Russia's participation, and the reinstatement of Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi. Despite the political tensions, the exhibition will feature a strong lineup of female artists, from established names like Marina Abramović and Jenny Saville to emerging voices such as Maja Malou Lyse, who becomes the youngest artist to represent Denmark. The 2026 edition also introduces dedicated spaces for Black and Indigenous artists for the first time, with works exploring themes from male fertility to patriarchal violence and resilience.

57th CIMAM Annual Conference: Together Forever

The 57th CIMAM Annual Conference brought together 300 museum professionals in Turin for discussions on pressing institutional issues. The event featured keynote speeches from figures like political scientist Francoise Vergès and economist Mariana Mazzucato, who addressed themes of power structures and public arts funding. Performances by artists such as Alessandro Sciarroni and Abdullah Miniawy served as central, unifying experiences for the attendees.

ECUADOR UNVEILS KANUA IN THE CANALS OF VENICE

Ecuador has unveiled "Kanua: listening practices," a public program for its pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, launching on May 8 with solar-powered boat tours through Venice's canals. Developed by the anticolonial film collective Tawna in collaboration with the Kara Solar Foundation and curated by Manuela Moscoso, the project features six intimate boat journeys with discussions on extractivism, aqua-feminism, and territorial resistance, involving artists such as Carolina Caycedo, Mariana Castillo Deball, and Tabita Rezaire. The initiative reactivates Tawna's floating Amazonian film festival, which originally brought cinema to remote communities in Ecuador via a solar-powered boat.

DENMARK S PAVILION AT VENICE BIENNALE EXAMINES PORNOGRAPHY SCIENCE AND HUMAN REPRODUCTION

The Danish Arts Foundation has opened 'Things To Come', an exhibition by Danish artist Maja Malou Lyse at the Danish Pavilion in the Giardini, Venice, as part of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Curated by Chus Martínez, the show runs until November 22, 2026, and features a film developed with the collective DIS, shot in a real sperm bank and special effects studio, alongside an installation titled 'Stars in My Pocket' that incorporates cryogenic fertility bank boxes and online 'sperm races' clips. The exhibition title references H.G. Wells' 'The Shape of Things to Come' and draws on scientific studies linking virtual sexual stimuli to increased sperm motility.

Interview with the artist of the Danish Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale who staged the porn stars

Intervista all’artista del Padiglione Danese della Biennale di Venezia 2026 che ha messo in scena i porno divi

The Danish Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale presents "Things to Come," a project by artist Maja Malou Lyse (b. 1993, Denmark), curated by Chus Martínez. The installation combines a three-channel video developed with DIS, materials from Cryos (the world's largest sperm bank), and performers from the porn industry, embedding them within the pavilion's architecture to explore the convergence of pornography, biotechnology, desire, and visual culture as a single system of imaginary production.