9 Shows to See in Venice This Biennale Season

The 61st International Art Exhibition runs from May 9 to November 22, 2026. Here are the pavilions, exhibitions, and parallel shows we're paying attention to.

Morocco Pavilion: Amina Agueznay, Asǝṭṭa

LOCATION: Arsenale

CURATOR: Meriem Berrada

Morocco's first national pavilion at the Arsenale. Agueznay worked with 166 Moroccan artisans on a monumental installation about ritual weaving and craft. The title is Amazigh for a specific type of weaving. It fills the entire Artiglierie space.

Poland Pavilion: Bogna Burska & Daniel Kotowski, Liquid Tongues

LOCATION: Giardini

CURATORS: Ewa Chomicka, Jolanta Woszczenko

Hearing and Deaf performers interpret whale communication through spoken English and International Sign. Part of it was filmed underwater, where spoken language is useless and signing is the only option.

Singapore Pavilion: Amanda Heng

LOCATION: Sale d'Armi, Arsenale

Heng has been making work about the body and daily gestures for four decades. Her new video A Pause (2025–26) follows five people in Venice and Singapore doing ordinary things: watering plants, making breakfast, looking at the sky.

Hong Kong Pavilion: Kingsley Ng & Angel Hui, Fermata

LOCATION: Campo della Tana, Castello 2126

CURATOR: Hong Kong Museum of Art

Two Hong Kong artists working with light, sound, and installation. Ng has shown at Centre Pompidou and the Echigo-Tsumari Triennale. Hui trained in gongbi ink painting and turns everyday objects into something else. The show is about daily life in Hong Kong, rethought for Venice.

David Černý, Artocalypsa

LOCATION: Venice (parallel exhibition)

Three decades of the Czech artist going after power, politics, and anyone in charge. Portraits of weapons inventors, his 2009 EU commission Entropa that caused a diplomatic incident, and sculptures of Trump and Putin.

Lorna Simpson, Third Person

LOCATION: Punta della Dogana (Pinault Collection)

CURATOR: Emma Lavigne

Simpson's first European show at this scale. Over a decade of painting, plus collages, sculptures, and film. Around fifty works, some made specifically for Venice. Done with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Paulo Nazareth, Algebra

LOCATION: Punta della Dogana (Pinault Collection)

CURATOR: Fernanda Brenner

Twenty years of the Brazilian artist's work in one show. Built around the Pinault Collection's holdings of Nazareth, plus pieces that haven't been shown before.

Michael Armitage, The Promise of Change

LOCATION: Palazzo Grassi (Pinault Collection)

CURATOR: Jean-Marie Gallais

One of the strongest painters working right now. Born in Nairobi in 1984, Armitage paints on Lubugo bark cloth, a Ugandan material that gives his canvases a specific texture and weight. The subjects are political, personal, and sometimes hard to pin down. On view until January 10, 2027.

Amar Kanwar, Co-Travellers

LOCATION: Palazzo Grassi (Pinault Collection)

CURATOR: Jean-Marie Gallais

Two multimedia installations on the second floor of Palazzo Grassi. Kanwar is Indian, and his work is part documentary, part something else. You watch, you think, you stay longer than you planned. On view until January 10, 2027.

More info: labiennale.org