The 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia will take place from 9 May to 22 November 2026 in Venice, Italy, with preview days scheduled for 6–8 May. Titled In Minor Keys, the edition is conceived by the late Cameroonian-Swiss curator Koyo Kouoh, marking a historic moment in the exhibition’s more than 130-year history as the first time an African woman has led its artistic direction. Founded in 1895, the Venice Biennale remains the world’s longest-running and most influential platform for contemporary art.
For the 2026 edition, 13 African countries will present national pavilions, reflecting a continued expansion of the continent’s institutional presence at the Biennale. These pavilions—official representations organized by governments, cultural ministries, and independent curators—are installed across Venice, from the Giardini and Arsenale to historic palazzos and satellite venues throughout the city.
This edition is particularly significant as four countries—Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Somalia—will participate for the first time, signaling an important shift toward broader continental representation. Across the pavilions, artists will engage with themes of memory, ecology, identity, spirituality, and political history through installation, sculpture, film, performance, and sound.
African National Pavilions at the Venice Biennale 2026
Cameroon
Cameroon will present NZƎNDA, commissioned by Guy Martial Ndongo Mendougan, Director of Development and Art Promotion at the Ministry of Arts and Culture, and curated by Beya Gille Gacha. The pavilion brings together Beya Gille Gacha, Jail Time Records, Sylvie Njobati, Bienvenue Fotso, Zora Snake, and Neals Niat, and will be staged at Palazzo Canal, Dorsoduro 3121. With its multi-artist format, the pavilion points to a layered exploration of contemporary Cameroonian artistic expression across performance, sound, and installation-based practices.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo will present Simba Moto! Seize the fire! Saisis le feu!, commissioned by Cindy Makiana and curated by Nadia Yala Kisukidi. Hosted at the Antico Refettorio – Scuola Grande di San Marco, the pavilion features Sammy Baloji, Arlette Bashizi, Patrick Bongoy, Damso, Gosette Lubondo, Nelson Makengo, Aimé Mpané, Léonard Pongo, and Géraldine Tobé. The project positions Congolese contemporary practice within urgent conversations around history, material memory, and political imagination.
Egypt
Egypt returns to the Giardini with Silence Pavilion: Between the Tangible and the Intangible, organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture – Egyptian Academy in Rome. The pavilion is both curated and exhibited by Armen Agop, whose sculptural language has long explored stillness, metaphysical space, and the poetic tension between material presence and spiritual absence. As one of Africa’s historic permanent pavilions within the Biennale grounds, Egypt’s participation carries both symbolic and institutional weight.
Equatorial Guinea (First National Pavilion)
Equatorial Guinea will debut at the Venice Biennale with THE FOREST / THE UNDERGROWTH, commissioned by Paulo Speller and curated by Joan Abelló. The pavilion will be presented at Palazzo Donà dalle Rose, Cannaregio 5038 / 5101, and includes Fernando Nguema Madja, Modest Gené Roig, alongside a large international group of collaborators. Framed around forest ecologies and layered systems of life, the project expands Equatorial Guinea’s entry into the Biennale through an environmentally inflected curatorial lens.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia will present Shapes of Silence, commissioned by Ambassador Demitu Hambisa Bonsa and curated by Abebaw Ayalew. The pavilion will feature Tegene Kunbi and will be hosted at Palazzo Bollani, Castello 3647. Centered on a solo presentation, the project suggests an introspective meditation on silence, form, and cultural memory through Kunbi’s artistic practice.
Guinea (First National Pavilion)
Guinea will make its debut with Le Son de l’Art: l’Écho de la Matière, commissioned by Bilia Bah and curated by Carlo Stragapede. The pavilion will be held on Isola di San Servolo and includes an expansive roster of artists, among them Bella Bah, Bachir Diallo, King Emmanuel, Sékou Oumar Thiam, and Enzo Migneco (Togo), alongside many international participants. With its title invoking sound and materiality, the pavilion appears to stage a dialogue between matter, resonance, and artistic expression.
Morocco
Morocco will present Asǝṭṭa, commissioned by Mohammed Benyaacoub, curated by Meriem Berrada, and exhibited by Amina Agueznay. The pavilion will be located in the Arsenale, placing Morocco within one of the Biennale’s main exhibition sites. Known for her tactile and spatially sensitive work with woven materials and sculptural form, Agueznay’s presentation is expected to draw from material memory, craft knowledge, and contemporary abstraction.
Senegal
Senegal will present *_« WURUS » – What the Earth provides us with…_**, commissioned by Oumar Sall, curated by Massamba Mbaye, and exhibited by Caroline Gueye. The pavilion will be staged at Palazzo Navagero, Riva degli Schiavoni 4145. The title suggests a curatorial focus on land, sustenance, and the material generosity of the earth, aligning Senegal’s participation with ecological and socially grounded concerns.
Sierra Leone (First National Pavilion)
Sierra Leone will make its Venice Biennale debut with Mondi Presenti / Worlds of Today, commissioned by H. E. Fatima Maada Bio and curated by Sandro Orlandi Stagl and Willy Montini. The pavilion will be presented at Liceo Guggenheim, Sestiere Dorsoduro 2613 and includes Hawa-Jane Bangura, Ayesha Feisal, Hickmatu Bintu Leigh, Abu Bakarr Mansaray, alongside several international artists. The project introduces Sierra Leone to the Biennale through a broad, collective framework attentive to contemporary realities and transnational artistic exchange.
Somalia (First National Pavilion)
Somalia will debut with Saddexleey, commissioned by Abdirahman Yusuf Mohamud and curated by Mohamed Mire and Fabio Scrivanti. Hosted at Palazzo Caboto, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi 1645, Castello, the pavilion features Ayan Farah, Asmaa Jama, and Warsan Shire. Bringing together artists and writers whose practices move across visual culture, language, and diasporic memory, the pavilion marks a significant and long-awaited entry for Somalia onto the Biennale stage.
Tanzania
Tanzania joins the 2026 Venice Biennale with Minor Frequencies: The Inner Life Of A Nation, commissioned by Leah Elias Kihimbi, Deputy Director at the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports of the United Republic of Tanzania. Curated by Lorna Benedict Mashiba and Martina Cavallarin, the pavilion brings together a large international list of exhibitors including Amani Abeid, Valerie Asiimwe Amani, Lazaro Samuel, and numerous collaborating artists from across different regions. It will unfold across two venues: Gervasuti Foundation – Palazzo Canova, Cannaregio 4998–5001/A, and Gervasuti Foundation at Supernova, Cannaregio 3218/A. Tanzania’s inclusion is one of the key corrections to the earlier article and expands East Africa’s presence in Venice in a meaningful way.
Uganda
Uganda returns with KAMPALA, commissioned by Acaye Kerunen and curated by Taga Francis Nuwagaba. The pavilion features Joseph Ntensibe, Lilian Mary Nabulime, Ronex Ahimbisibwe, Lakwena Maciver, Sheila Nakitende, Stacey Gillian Abe, and Aloka Trevor, and will be presented at Palazzo Navagero Gallery, Riva degli Schiavoni 4147. Taking the Ugandan capital as its title, the pavilion suggests an engagement with urban experience, identity, and the social textures of contemporary life.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe will present Second Nature | Manyonga, commissioned by Raphael Chikukwa of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and curated by Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa. Hosted at Santa Maria della Pietà, Castello 3701, the pavilion includes Gideon Gomo, Eva Raath, Felix Shumba, Franklyn Dzingai, and Pardon Mapondera. The project extends Zimbabwe’s established Biennale presence while continuing its engagement with sculpture, conceptual practice, and questions of transformation.
A Historic Moment for African Representation
The presence of 13 African national pavilions at the 2026 Venice Biennale marks one of the most significant moments for African representation in the history of the exhibition. With four countries presenting national pavilions for the first time—Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Somalia—the 2026 edition reflects a growing commitment by African cultural institutions to participate in global contemporary art platforms.
Combined with the curatorial vision of Koyo Kouoh, whose exhibition “In Minor Keys” frames the Biennale’s broader thematic exploration, the participation of African countries highlights the increasing influence of artists, curators, and cultural institutions from across the continent in shaping global artistic discourse.
As Venice prepares to host artists and audiences from nearly one hundred countries, the 2026 Biennale promises to offer a powerful platform for African voices, perspectives, and creative experimentation within the evolving landscape of contemporary art.
