The Venice Biennale is a major international exhibition of contemporary art held in Venice every other year. It is the world’s oldest art biennale, with a history dating back to 1895. In its early years, the art exhibition was held in an exhibition pavilion in the Giardini park, and in 1980 the exhibition was expanded to the former shipyard, the Arsenale. In 1907, Belgium, then a colonial power, built the first national pavilion, and since then 29 countries have built their own pavilions in the Giardini. The Nordic Pavilion, designed by Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn, was inaugurated in 1962 and is a collaboration between Norway, Sweden and Finland.
This year, Norwegian artist Tori Wrånes exhibited in the pavilion alongside Swedish artist Klara Kristalova and Finnish artist Benjamin Orlow. In the 1970s, thematic exhibitions were introduced, and since the 1990s the curator’s role has increasingly shaped the exhibitions. The curator of this year’s Biennale, Cameroonian-Swiss Koyo Kouoh (1967–2025), died of cancer last year, and her ideas for the Biennale were therefore completed by a committee. The exhibition title In Minor Keys reflects her concept for the exhibition, in which the minor keys represent the survivors – the whispering voices. At its centre are the understated, the beautiful, the meditative and the sublime. This concept has been praised for its broad representation of artists from the “Global South”, but also criticised for being too evasive at a time marked by political turmoil, war, humanitarian crises and environmental destruction.
In this art lunch, Helga Nyman, curator at Stavanger Art Museum, will provide an overview of this year’s Venice Biennale. What trends characterised the exhibitions? Which artists stood out? And what debates have unfolded since?
Banner image: Dana Awartani, May your tears never dry, you who weep over stones, The National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia, Venice Biennale, 9 May–11 November 2026.
