TravelMarx: June 2026

Monday, June 8, 2026

Venice Biennale Arte 2026 Notes

A mosaic of 36 images from the Venice Biennale Art 2026 seen over three days

A mosaic of 36 images from the Venice Biennale Arte 2026

seen over three days (see below for individual images)

We visited the Biennale of Arte 2026 in early June for three consecutive days. We caught a few collateral events but not nearly as many as we would have liked. Overall, we would say well-done! The main theme of the Venice Biennale 2026 is "In Minor Keys." The theme was conceived by the artistic director Koyo Kouoh—and executed posthumously by her curatorial team—the theme uses the musical concept of a minor key as its core metaphor.

In a previous post Visiting the Venice Biennale Arte 2022 – 12 Tips, we talked more about the experience and how to prepare. The tips discussed in that post still apply. Consider this post as an addendum.

Logistics

🚫👎Bloomberg Connects App – Okay this is a bit of a rant, but this is the second year I tried to use this app, on the ground, in the event. And, for the second year I found it a disaster to use. I was on the free Wi-Fi, and I have a great data plan (both were tried) but nothing would download. I wanted to use it in real time to hear audio commentary. No go. Don’t know why.

Back at home and after the event, stuff downloaded. Okay, beyond that the app is underwhelming. You can't bookmark pavilions or artists to save for later. I couldn't figure out how to change the language (I have a phone in Italian but wanted the commentary in English). In short, this is the last year with this horrible app! Instead, use the guides on the ground and the Biennale website.

✅👍Guides/docents – Instead of the Bloomberg App, just ask the docents. There are a lot of them around, and they are more than happy to talk to you. And they are way more interesting. We had wonderful interactions with guides and learned a lot.

✅👍 Biennale website – In general, it helps reconstruct what you saw. Well done though more photos of the exhibition and pieces would be nice.

www.labiennale.org/en/art/2026
www.labiennale.org/en/art/2026/collateral-events
www.labiennale.org/en/art/2026/national-participations
www.labiennale.org/en/art/2026/laurie-anderson – Example of an artist page. Yes, Laurie was there! Cool work.
www.labiennale.org/en/art/2026/romania – Example of a country page. Very cool spectral singing.

The only thing you need to be careful of is that you are in the correct year, in this case with a /2026/ in the URL.

✅👍 Online ticketing – We went to stand in the ticket line and then realized we could just do it online and get a QR code. It was easy. This year we did "Weekly ticket € 50 (valid for 7 consecutive days, closing days are excluded from the day count)”. We didn’t know what we would be doing and that gave us flexibility. In the end, we visited the Biennale for three consecutive days with 2 entries into the Arsenale and 3 entries into the Giardini.

Our usual rhythm was to go in the morning, leave the venue for lunch and then return in the afternoon. One day, we ate inside the Arsenale cafeteria, and it was good. We’ve usually avoided these in the past, but it seems that the choices for eating have improved in both the Arsenale and the Giardini.

Thoughts

We saw the massively sensational Austrian Pavilion. It was interesting and I'm glad we went. I'm not sure I fully understood the ecofeminism and matriarchal apocalypse ideas presented. Yes, we did contribute some urine to the submerged body exhibit.

We also visited the US Pavilion. The works weren't displeasing and the space was airy and light. Better than what we were anticipating. (The pavilion itself is a great space.) If I remember correctly, all pieces were untitled. Nothing to grasp on to. Perhaps that was the point? You could think of this at the opposite of the Austrian Pavilion.

The Italian Pavilion, always eagerly anticipated by Travelmarx, was a mixed bag. One part of it (called the penumbra) contained 24 life-sized sculptures that were fabulous. The second part (in the adjoining space) was a bit of a mess in our opinion.

As usual, the pieces come to life with someone explaining them to you, giving you a key. If someone isn't there, the next best thing is to read the informational signs that almost every exhibit has. Or pull up your phone and read about it on the website.

What we observed is that the face-to-face explanations were way more interesting than anything written. One example for us where this happened was at the Malta Pavilion where we talked to a docent there for about 20 minutes and really got a better understanding of what we were seeing. The written material at the exhibit can vary from very general to esoteric, as in too much use of 'dialogue'. As we've written about in the past (Lights On), curators and writers use the word 'dialogue' when they can’t find anything concrete to say, or anything to say in plain English.

In several cases (Austrian Pavilion being one example), what was written at the exhibit was more detailed than what was written on the Biennale website.

Biennale 2026 was our seventh Biennale. One of the seven times, the Biennale was architectural-related; the rest were art-related. Here are the biennales we have visited:

Biennale Arte 2026 - In Minor Keys
Biennale Arte 2024 - Foreigners Everywhere (Stranieri Ovunque)
Biennale Arte 2022 - The Milk of Dreams
Biennale Arte 2019 - May You Live in Interesting Times
Biennale Arte 2017 - Viva Arte Viva
Biennale Arch 2016 - Reporting from the Front
Biennale Arte 2003 - Dreams and Conflicts: The Dictatorship of the Viewer

This was the second time we went with another couple. "We happened upon this charming couple and invited them to join us..." It changed the way we approached the works and exhibits, in a positive way, and increases the viewpoints and conversations about what you just saw.