Alma Allen represents the United States at the 2026 Venice Biennale with a subdued, apolitical exhibition inside the US Pavilion. The show features roughly 25 sculptures—mostly in bronze, wood, and stone—many titled "Not Yet Titled," and deliberately avoids overt political messaging. This marks a stark departure from the previous two US pavilions, curated by Simone Leigh (2022) and Jeffrey Gibson (2024), which directly confronted colonialism and empire. The Trump administration’s call for proposals explicitly asked for work that "reflects and promotes American values," and Allen’s presentation has been criticized as safe, unremarkable, and lacking the incisive edge of contemporary American art.
This matters because the US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale is one of the most visible platforms for American art on the global stage. Allen’s show signals a retreat from the politically engaged, historically critical work that defined recent US presentations, raising questions about artistic freedom and government influence under the second Trump administration. The exhibition’s emptiness—both literal and conceptual—has drawn sharp criticism from reviewers, who argue that Allen’s reliance on beautiful but inert materials fails to advance the discourse of modernism or respond to the current political moment. The pavilion’s direction may set a precedent for how the US presents itself culturally abroad in an era of renewed nationalism.