At the 61st edition of the Venice Biennale, curated by Koyo Kouoh, the city reveals itself through a quieter, more deliberate rhythm—one that rewards close looking and sustained attention. This year, Venice feels less like a spectacle and more like a series of unfolding encounters, shaped by artists, curators, and voices who invite us to slow down and engage more deeply. Rather than overwhelming with scale, the Biennale leans into nuance, offering moments that accumulate over time—gestures, textures, and ideas that resonate long after they are first encountered. Discover it all through Whitewaller Venice 2026, download HERE.
Venice as a City of Layered Encounters
Photo by Giulio Squillacciotti, courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.
Michael Armitage, “Cave,” 2021, Pinault Collection, oil on Lubugo bark cloth, 200 x 150 cm, © Michael Armitage, photo © White Cube (Theo Christelis).
Throughout this issue of Whitewaller, we move across the city’s layered geography, from the Giardini della Biennale and Arsenale to palazzos and foundations that come alive during the Biennale. Among the institutional highlights, Marina Abramović’s “Transforming Energy” at the Gallerie dell’Accademia and David Salle’s “Painting in the Present Tense” at Palazzo Cini anchor a return to material and gesture. Nearby, Erwin Wurm’s “Dreamers” at Museo Fortuny offers a surreal meditation on the body and space—playful yet deeply reflective.
Palazzo Diedo Berggruen Arts & Culture, Venice. Photo © Alessandra Chemollo, courtesy of Berggruen Arts & Culture.
Lu Yang, “Doku The Illusion,” 2026, video installation, color, sound, ©Lu Yang.
At Palazzo Grassi, Michael Armitage’s “The Promise of Change” unfolds with emotional and political urgency, layering personal narrative with broader global concerns. Meanwhile, Fondazione Prada brings together Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince in the charged presentation “Helter Skelter,” a dialogue that confronts image-making and power with unflinching intensity.
New Spaces and Expanding Dialogues
Courtesy Fondazione Dries Van Noten.
Photo by © Marco Anelli.
New spaces mark this moment of expansion. Fondazione Dries Van Noten opens its doors with “The Only True Protest Is Beauty,” signaling a new model for interdisciplinary exchange in Venice—one that feels both intimate and forward-looking. Elsewhere, presentations by Anish Kapoor, Jenny Saville, and Nalini Malani reinforce the city’s role as a site where global practices converge with historical resonance. These exhibitions don’t just occupy Venice—they enter into conversation with it, responding to its architecture, its light, and its long memory.
Aerial view of Hotel Cipriani, a Belmond Hotel, Venice, courtesy of Belmond.
Erwin Wurm, “Double Dream,” 2026, aluminium, paint, 160 x 122 x 95 cm, photo by Markus Gradwohl, © Erwin Wurm / © 2026 Artists Rights Society, (ARS), New York.
The national pavilions further extend this dialogue. Austria’s Florentina Holzinger, curated by Nora-Swantje Almes, transforms the pavilion into a living system with “SeaWorld Venice,” blurring the boundaries between performance, installation, and environment. The India Pavilion’s “Geographies of Distance: remembering home” reflects on memory and migration with quiet poignancy. Across the Nordic Pavilion, Japan, Denmark, and beyond, artists propose new ways of thinking through identity, environment, and collective experience—offering perspectives that feel both grounded and expansive.
Voices from Within Whitewaller Venice 2026
Photo by Giulio Ghirardi, courtesy of Orient Express Venezia.
Chiara Camoni, “Colonne,” 2025, installation view, SpazioA, Pistoia, photo by Camilla Maria Santini.
Crucially, this issue is shaped by proximity. We hear from insiders including Chahan Minassian, Irene Cattaneo, and Inti Ligabue, whose perspectives ground the Biennale in lived experience. Their insights move beyond the exhibitions themselves, offering a glimpse into the quieter corners, personal rituals, and cultural undercurrents that define Venice during this moment. It’s within these details—the cafés between visits, the early morning walks, the conversations that unfold over time—that the true texture of the Biennale begins to emerge.
From our covers to our close-up features, what takes shape is a portrait of a Biennale that unfolds gradually, resisting immediacy in favor of depth. It is an invitation to return, to look again, and to discover meaning not in what is instantly visible, but in what lingers.
Installation view of “Lorna Simpson. Third Person,” 2026, Punta della Dogana, Venezia, photo by James Wang, © Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection.
Courtesy of the St. Regist Venice.
