In Minor Keys: Venice Biennale 2026 Focuses on Reflection and Restoration
This year’s exhibition celebrates tender undertones and slow, reflective artistry
Every two years, Venice transforms into the beating heart of the global art world. This May, the 61st International Art Exhibition opened its doors under the title In Minor Keys, a phrase borrowed from music, where minor keys carry notes of melancholy but also of hope, resilience, and quiet joy. Spread across the Giardini, the Arsenale, and historic venues throughout the city, the show runs through November 22 and is already being spoken of as one of the most significant editions in recent memory.
At the heart of it all is a story of loss. The exhibition was shaped by Koyo Kouoh, the Cameroonian-Swiss curator who became the first African woman appointed to lead the Biennale, before passing away unexpectedly in May 2025. Her team carried her vision forward with care, assembling a show that spans over 110 artists and 100 national pavilions. Seven countries, among them Qatar, Vietnam, and Somalia are participating for the very first time.
India returns to Venice this year after a seven-year absence, and its pavilion has been one of the most warmly received of the edition. Titled Geographies of Distance: Remembering Home, the show brings together five contemporary Indian artists, Alwar Balasubramaniam, Ranjani Shettar, Sumakshi Singh, Skarma Sonam Tashi, and Asim Waqif working with materials rooted in Indian tradition, including thread, bamboo, clay, and papier-mâché, to ask what home means in a world of constant change. Curated by Amin Jaffer and backed by India’s Ministry of Culture in partnership with the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, it is India’s first return to the Biennale since 2019.
Equally unmissable is veteran Indian artist Nalini Malani’s Of Woman Born, an official Collateral Event presented by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art at the historic Magazzini del Sale. The installation transforms the 15th-century salt warehouse into an immersive animation chamber, projecting over 33,000 hand-drawn images across nine channels onto crumbling brick walls, drawing on Greek mythology to ask urgent questions about war, justice, and the women history leaves behind.
Once inside, the art demands full attention, from Florentina Holzinger’s visceral Seaworld Venice at the Austrian Pavilion, to Wangechi Mutu’s monumental sculpture rising from the Giardini ground. With over half a million visitors expected before November, In Minor Keys is shaping up to be one of the most unforgettable Biennales in living memory.
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