The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia opens to the public from May 9 through November 22, 2026, with preview days from May 6 to 8. This year’s edition, In Minor Keys, follows the curatorial concept of the late Koyo Kouoh and unfolds across the Giardini, the Arsenale, and locations throughout Venice.
ART
The main exhibition features 110 invited participants, including artists, duos, collectives, and artist-led organizations, giving the edition a wide frame before visitors move into national pavilions and exhibitions across the city.
1. In Minor Keys,
Giardini and Arsenale
The central exhibition should come first on any Venice route. Koyo Kouoh shaped In Minor Keys around artists as interpreters of social and psychic conditions, with her team carrying forward the project after her death. The exhibition moves between the Giardini, the Arsenale, and other locations, giving visitors the clearest entry into the intellectual structure of this Biennale.
View this post on Instagram
2. Austria Pavilion,
Florentina Holzinger
Austria presents Florentina Holzinger with SEAWORLD VENICE, on view from May 9 through November 22 at the Austrian Pavilion. The project includes a permanent live installation and performances inside the pavilion, alongside site-specific études across Venice and the lagoon. Holzinger works through dance, theatre, performance, water, and the body, making Austria one of the key national pavilions this year.
3. Brazil Pavilion,
Rosana Paulino and Adriana Varejão
Brazil brings together Rosana Paulino and Adriana Varejão in Comigo ninguém pode, curated by Diane Lima. The project occupies the Brazilian Pavilion in the Giardini from May 9 through November 22 and places the two artists in direct dialogue inside the building. The exhibition takes an installation-based approach and engages the pavilion’s modern architecture through histories of colonial memory, resilience, and image-making.
View this post on Instagram
4. Belgium Pavilion,
Miet Warlop
Belgium presents Miet Warlop with IT NEVER SSST, a performative exhibition curated by Caroline Dumalin. Warlop represents the Flemish Community of Belgium at the Belgian Pavilion in the Giardini, bringing performance art into the pavilion format with a project rooted in movement, sound, rhythm, and physical presence. The choice also marks a significant moment for Belgium’s Biennale presentation, with performance placed at the centre of the national pavilion.
5. Canada Pavilion,
Abbas Akhavan
Canada presents Abbas Akhavan with Entre chien et loup, commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada. The title translates literally as “between dog and wolf,” referring to twilight, when distinctions begin to blur. Akhavan’s site-specific installation looks at plants, animals, cultural symbols, national narratives, and the shifting relationship between natural and built environments.
6. Marina Abramovic, Transforming Energy,
Gallerie dell’Accademia
Marina Abramovic presents Transforming Energy at the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia from May 6 through October 19, 2026. The exhibition makes Abramović the first living woman artist to receive a major exhibition at the museum. Presented during the Biennale period, the show brings her performance history into dialogue with one of Venice’s major art institutions.
7. Helter Skelter, Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince,
Fondazione Prada
Fondazione Prada presents Helter Skelter: Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince at Ca’ Corner della Regina from May 9 through November 23. Curated by Nancy Spector, the exhibition places the two artists in conversation through image culture, appropriation, race, power, and American visual codes. This is one of the major foundation exhibitions to place alongside the official Biennale route.
8. Lorna Simpson, Third Person,
Punta della Dogana
Lorna Simpson presents Third Person at Punta della Dogana from March 29 through November 22, 2026. Curated by Emma Lavigne for the Pinault Collection, the exhibition offers a renewed and expanded selection conceived for Punta della Dogana’s spaces. It also continues the path opened by Simpson’s Source Notes exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2025.
View this post on Instagram
9. Strange Rules, Berggruen Arts & Culture,
Palazzo Diedo
Berggruen Arts & Culture presents Strange Rules at Palazzo Diedo in Cannaregio from May 4 through November 22, 2026. Curated by Mat Dryhurst, Holly Herndon & Hans Ulrich Obrist with Adriana Rispoli, the exhibition explores protocol art, technology, biology, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic systems, while Palazzo Diedo also functions as a research environment for a major publication tied to the project. It adds a strong contemporary and technology-focused stop to the city route.
10. Amoako Boafo,
Museo di Palazzo Grimani
Amoako Boafo presents It doesn’t have to always make sense at Museo di Palazzo Grimani from May 6 through November 22, 2026. Presented by Gagosian with the Musei archeologici nazionali di Venezia e della Laguna, the exhibition marks Boafo’s first solo exhibition in Italy. New and recent works respond to the Renaissance atmosphere, architecture, and historical setting of Palazzo Grimani, making it one of the strongest museum exhibitions to see during the Biennale months.
