This moment of the Biennale turns inward and outward at once, tracing the invisible architectures that govern contemporary life while grounding them in deeply human questions. From algorithmic frameworks and evolving digital identities to conceptual investigations of language and memory, these exhibitions resist fixed forms in favor of fluid, responsive systems. What emerges is a portrait of art as a living process—one that absorbs, refracts, and reshapes the conditions of the present. Together, these presentations invite viewers to look more closely, to question what feels certain, and to recognize the shifting structures through which meaning takes hold.
Palazzo Diedo (Berggruen Arts & Culture)
“Strange Rules”
Cannaregio
Fabien Giraud, “The Feral – Epoch 1 “(2025–2026) from
“The Feral, 2025 –3025,” a project initiated by Fabien
Giraud, co-founded with Anne Stenne
Single-channel video, machine learning and generative
AI, colour, sound, no fixed duration.
Courtesy of the artist.
“Strange Rules” inaugurates Palazzo Diedo as a new site for interdisciplinary experimentation, introducing the concept of “Protocol Art.” Conceived by Mat Dryhurst, Holly Herndon and Hans Ulrich Obrist, and curated in collaboration with Adriana Rispoli, the exhibition examines the invisible systems—algorithms, AI models, and digital infrastructures—that shape how culture is produced and perceived today. Rather than presenting discrete objects, the project unfolds as a living laboratory across the palazzo’s floors, where installations, performances, and research processes intersect. A major collaborative commission anchors the ground floor, while site-specific works above expand on themes of authorship, automation, and human-machine co-creation. Bridging art, science, and technology, the exhibition positions itself at the forefront of contemporary discourse, asking how artistic practice can critically engage with—and reimagine—the coded structures that underpin our digital lives.
What we love: Its framing of art as an evolving system rather than a fixed object.
“Strange Rules” at Palazzo Diedo (Berggruen Arts & Culture)
May 4—November 22, 2026
Palazzo Diedo (Berggruen Arts & Culture)
Ceal Floyer: “Unfinished”
Cannaregio
Ceal Floyer, “644,” (2025)
Inkjet print on museum board, 45 x 67 cm (unframed)
Courtesy the artist, Lisson Gallery, 303 Gallery and Esther
Schipper
Photo © Ceal Floyer
© Ceal Floyer / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026.
Curated by Ann Gallagher and Jonathan Watkins, “Unfinished” honors the late Ceal Floyer, bringing her work back to Venice in a poignant posthumous presentation. Spanning video, photography, sound, readymades, and sculpture, the exhibition foregrounds Floyer’s precise, understated approach—where subtle shifts in perception reveal layers of wit and meaning. The title references her 1995 work Unfinished, first shown in Venice, anchoring the exhibition in a full-circle moment. Throughout, everyday objects and familiar gestures are reconfigured through wordplay, repetition, and illusion, as seen in works like Bucket and Monochrome Till Receipt (White). Installed within Palazzo Diedo, the presentation underscores Floyer’s ability to distill complex ideas into deceptively simple forms, balancing humor with conceptual rigor. Both reflective and quietly incisive, the exhibition celebrates an artist whose work continues to reshape how we see the ordinary.
What we love: The elegant precision with which the ordinary becomes quietly uncanny.
“Unfinished” at Palazzo Diedo (Berggruen Arts & Culture)
May 4 – November 22, 2026
Casa dei Tre Oci (Berggruen Institute Europe)
Joseph Kosuth: “The-exchange-value-of-language-has-fallen-to-zero”
Giudecca
Installation view of Joseph Kosuth’s “A Chain of Resemblance” at Casa dei Tre Oci, photo by Marco Cappelletti, courtesy of the artist and Casa dei Tre Oci.
A pioneer of Conceptual art, Joseph Kosuth presents a major exhibition that foregrounds language as both subject and material. Bringing together historic works from the 1960s alongside a new commission, the exhibition unfolds as a rigorous investigation into how meaning is constructed through context, perception, and use. Installed across the Casa dei Tre Oci, the presentation includes seminal works such as One and Three Mirrors, alongside a new large-scale neon installation, A Chain of Resemblance, inspired by a text from Michel Foucault. Throughout, Kosuth challenges traditional notions of authorship and interpretation, positioning the viewer as an active participant in the production of meaning. Deeply connected to Venice—where the artist has long lived and exhibited—the show offers a layered reflection on language, philosophy, and the structures that shape how we understand the world.
What we love: The intellectual rigor paired with a striking visual clarity that invites active interpretation.
“The-exchange-value-of-language-has-fallen-to-zero” at Casa dei Tre Oci (Berggruen Institute Europe)
March 28 – November 22, 2026
Procuratie Vecchie (Starak Family Foundation)
“Tadeusz Kantor (1915–1990). Emballage, Cricotage and Madame Jarema”
San Marco
Maria Jarema, “Expressions,” 1956,
gouache, monotype, oil, paper, canvas,
70 x 100 cm, Starak Collection,
Courtesy © heirs of Maria Jarema.
Curated by Ania Muszyńska, this Biennale Collateral Event brings together the work of avant-garde pioneer Tadeusz Kantor alongside that of Maria Jarema, offering a rare look at their creative dialogue across painting, sculpture, and experimental theatre. Drawing from major institutional and private collections, the exhibition presents Kantor’s emballages, early compositions, and theatrical objects, alongside archival materials and documentation of his seminal performances, including The Dead Class. Jarema’s monotypes and costume designs reveal her vital role in shaping the visual and conceptual language of the Cricot 2 Theatre. Installed within the Procuratie Vecchie, the exhibition traces a deeply interdisciplinary practice that blurred boundaries between art and life. Both historical and immersive, the presentation repositions Kantor and Jarema within a broader international context, underscoring their lasting influence on contemporary performance and visual culture.
What we love: The rare, deeply textured insight into a creative partnership that reshaped avant-garde theatre and visual art.
“Tadeusz Kantor (1915–1990). Emballage, Cricotage and Madame Jarema” at Procuratie Vecchie (Starak Family Foundation)
May 9 – November 22, 2026
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
“Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector”
Dorsoduro
Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944),
“Cossacks (Fragment zu Komposition IV)”
1910–11,
Oil on canvas,
94.5 x 130.2 cm,
Tate, London, Presented by Mrs Hazel McKinley, 1938.
Curated by Gražina Subelytė and Simon Grant, this exhibition revisits a pivotal chapter in the life of Peggy Guggenheim, focusing on her formative years in London and the short-lived but influential gallery Guggenheim Jeune (1938–39). Bringing together around 100 works by artists including Vasily Kandinsky, Jean (Hans) Arp, Barbara Hepworth, and Piet Mondrian, the presentation reconstructs the gallery’s groundbreaking program, which helped introduce avant-garde art to prewar Britain. Paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and archival materials trace Guggenheim’s emergence as a visionary patron and collector, shaped by her close ties to leading figures of modernism. Installed at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the exhibition underscores how this brief yet dynamic period laid the foundation for her future legacy—culminating in the very institution that now hosts the show.
What we love: The intimate glimpse into the formative moment that shaped one of the most influential collectors of the 20th century.
“Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector” at Peggy Guggenheim Collection
April 25 – October 19, 2026
Salone Verde
Jewel: “Matriclysm: An Archeology of Connections Lost”
San Marco
Jewel Behind the scenes with “Heart of the Ocean,” a piece for
“Matriclysm: An Archeology of Connections Lost.” Photo by Matthew Takes.
Curated by Joe Thompson, this ambitious debut exhibition of visual art by Jewel unfolds as a multisensory meditation on motherhood, memory, and ecological consciousness. Presented in association with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the exhibition brings together painting, sculpture, installation, tapestry, and sound in the artist’s largest presentation to date. Visitors enter a darkened, immersive environment anchored by key works such as Seven Sisters, a constellation-inspired installation of hand-blown glass orbs paired with an original soundscape, and Heart of the Ocean, a data-driven sculpture translating oceanic activity into sound and form. A monumental outdoor sculpture, First Mother, created in collaboration with Patrick Bongoy, further expands the exhibition’s exploration of creation and transformation. Blending personal narrative with scientific data and mythological references, the exhibition offers a deeply introspective and experiential journey.
What we love: The rich layering of personal mythology and scientific inquiry into a fully immersive sensory world.
“Matriclysm: An Archeology of Connections Lost” at Salone Verde
May 7 – November 22, 2026
Ca’ Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art (Dom Pérignon Galleries)
Hernan Bas: “The Visitors”
Santa Croce
Hernan Bas,
“A tourist trapped,” 2025,
Acrylic on linen,
127 x 101.6 cm,
50 x 40 in,
© Hernan Bas,
Courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin, Perrotin and Victoria Miro.
Hernan Bas,
“Alone with Lisa (the Louvre, Paris),” 2025,
Acrylic and water based oil on linen,
127 x 101.6 cm,
50 x 40 in,
© Hernan Bas, Courtesy the artist, Lehmann Maupin, Perrotin and Victoria Miro.
Curated by Elisabetta Barisoni, “The Visitors” presents a new body of work by Hernan Bas, developed in response to Venice and its complex relationship with tourism. Featuring over 30 paintings in an immersive installation, the exhibition unfolds as a narrative sequence populated by travelers navigating both real and imagined sites—from iconic landmarks to more ambiguous, even unsettling destinations. Bas’s figures, often caught in moments of performance or pretense, reflect a broader tension between curiosity and consumption, identity and projection. Drawing from his signature language of decadence, irony, and psychological nuance, the artist captures a generation adrift within a globalized landscape, where experience is increasingly mediated and staged. Created in part during a residency in Venice, the works position the city itself as both subject and mirror—foregrounding the cultural and environmental pressures of mass tourism while inviting viewers to recognize their own role within it.
What we love: The sharp, self-aware lens on tourism that turns the viewer into part of the narrative.
“The Visitors” at Ca’ Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art (Dom Pérignon Galleries)
May 7 – August 30, 2026
Fondazione Querini Stampalia
Nigel Cooke: “Bad Habits”
Castello
Nigel Cooke, “The Nurture of Jupiter,” 2024,
oil on linen,
145 cm × 282 cm (57-1/16″ × 9′ 3″),
Artwork Detail Pictured,
No. 91891, © Nigel Cooke, courtesy
Pace Gallery.
Curated by Evelyn C. Hankins, “Bad Habits” marks the first solo exhibition in Italy by British painter Nigel Cooke, unfolding in direct dialogue with Venice and the historic Fondazione Querini Stampalia. Preceded by the institution’s inaugural artist residency, the exhibition centers on a new series of large-scale paintings developed on site, within the Portego della Biblioteca overlooking the Rio di Santa Maria Formosa. Installed in the very space where they were created, the works trace a continuous line between process and presentation. Drawing on references from Athens to Venice, Cooke’s compositions are shaped by ideas of fragmentation and memory—evoking ruins, trauma, and layered histories through a dark, atmospheric palette. Figures, animals, and symbols emerge and recede within these nocturnal scenes, suggesting moments of uncertainty alongside glimmers of transformation. Deeply rooted in the language of painting, the exhibition reflects Cooke’s ongoing engagement with history, place, and perception.
What we love: The way painting becomes a site of excavation, where history and imagination blur into one another.
Nigel Cooke: “Bad Habits” at Fondazione Querini Stampalia
May 5 – November 22, 2026
