It’s Venice Biennale opening week and so, as ever, this episode is our Venice special. The Biennale comprises many aspects: an international exhibition that this year features more than 100 artists in the Central Pavilion in the Giardini—Venice’s easternmost gardens—and the Arsenale, the historic Venetian shipyards, as well as national pavilions and, across the city, countless official collateral exhibitions alongside major museum shows, performances and other interventions.
In Minor Keys curated by the late Koyo Kouoh
Photo: Jacopo Salvi; Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia
We bring you our immediate impressions of this year’s offering: Louisa Buck, Jane Morris and host Ben Luke review the main exhibition, In Minor Keys, curated by the late Koyo Kouoh and realised by five of her collaborators.
Gabrielle Goliath, Elegy (2026)
Photo: Luca Meneghel; Courtesy of the artist
Ben talks to two artists: Gabrielle Goliath whose work for the South African pavilion was cancelled and is being staged in a church in the heart of Venice, and Lubaina Himid, who is showing in the British pavilion in the Giardini.
Lubaina Himid at the British Pavilion, Predicting History: Testing Translation
Photo: Eva Herzog; Courtesy British Council
He also meets the writer and thinker Saidiya Hartman, two of whose essays have inspired a production called Minor Music at the End of the World, staged at Venice’s Goldoni Theatre and featuring contributions from, among others, the artists Arthur Jafa, Precious Okoyomon and Okwui Okpokwaseli.
Installation view of Official. Unofficial.Belarus., a collateral event at La Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista
Photo: Dasha Trofimova; Courtesy of Belarus Free Theatre.
And The Art Newspaper’s digital editor, Alexander Morrison, talks to Daniella Kaliada, one of the team behind Official. Unofficial. Belarus., a collateral art project by Belarus Free Theatre.
The two Tintoretto canvases during the restoration
Photo: Matteo De Fina; Courtesy Save Venice
Finally, we always end our Venice specials with a historic masterpiece, and in this episode’s Work of the Week, we look at two: Jacopo Tintoretto’s The Last Supper and The Israelites in the Desert of 1591-92, the pair of paintings made for the presbytery of the Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore. The paintings have just returned to the basilica after a major conservation project, funded by the charity Save Venice, and Ben spoke to Save Venice’s Senior Researcher, Gabriele Matino, about them.
- In Minor Keys, 9 May-22 November
- Gabrielle Goliath: Elegy, Chiesa di Sant’Antonin, 5 May-31 July
- Predicting History: Testing Translation, British Pavilion, 9 May-22 November
- Official. Unofficial. Belarus., Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista di Venezia, 9 May-22 November
- Visit savevenice.org
