Alla Biennale di Venezia c’è un padiglione di merda! Il Lussemburgo partecipa con un progetto che fa parlare la cacca
The Luxembourg Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale features an installation titled "La Merde" by artist Aline Bouvy, centered on a cinematic manifesto that uses excrement as a metaphor to explore shame, social classification, and bodily discipline. The immersive environment includes a film, spatialized sound composition, and a steel-and-mirror architecture, with an anthropomorphic talking, walking, and farting excrement puppet interacting with visitors. The work also includes a sculptural alter ego titled "E.T. The Excremential," blending Bouvy's body with Spielberg's extraterrestrial figure.
This project matters because it provocatively addresses serious themes of violence, social repression, and collective judgment through absurdist, scatological imagery, challenging norms of purity, gender, and social control. Curator Stilbé Schroeder describes it as an invitation to reflect on these issues, while Bouvy frames it as a feminist cinematic essay and a response to systemic violence. The pavilion's high visitor traffic suggests the work is generating significant discussion, reinforcing the Biennale's role as a platform for boundary-pushing contemporary art.