The latest announcement: Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir has been selected to represent Iceland
The 61st Venice Biennale, due to open in April 2026, will be curated by Koyo Kouoh, executive director and chief curator of Zeitz MoCAA in Cape Town. As nations continue to announce which artists will represent their national pavilions, ArtReview is keeping a running tally:
Abbas Akhavan has been selected to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale, the National Gallery of Canada announced. Born in Tehran and based between Montreal and Berlin, Akhavan’s multidisciplinary practice reflects on the geopolitical forces which define spaces. He was the recipient of the Sobey Art Award in 2015, and in November 2026, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis will present a mid-career survey of Akhavan’s work. ‘Abbas’s work is shaped by the unique characteristics of the sites he works on, including the architectures, surrounding economies, and individuals who frequent them,’ National Gallery of Canada director and Canada Pavilion commissioner Jean-François Bélisle said in a statement. ‘We look forward to supporting him in bringing this vision to life at the Canada Pavilion.’
Merike Estna will represent Estonia at the 61st Venice Biennale. Based between Tallinn and Mexico City, Estna’s formalist painting practices uses craft techniques and traditions that have not been historically recognised in the medium. Estna studied painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts (2005) – where she would later be an associate professor at the Department of Painting from 2017–2023 – and then completed her MFA at Goldsmiths, University of London (2009). Estna’s selection was the outcome of an open call by the Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art. In a statement, the jury recognised Estna’s work for its ‘maturity and impact’, and highlighted the artist’s ‘insistence on situating painting at the intersection of performance and the social. Her approach shows how traditional media can be re-invented as tools to regenerate a collective trust in art.’
Yto Barrada will exhibit in the French Pavilion. Born in Paris and raised in Tangier, Barrada has, in two decades, gone from being a student of political science at the Sorbonne, as well as her family’s historian and archivist, to a prolific producer of photographs, prints, sculptures, films, artist books and para-institutional projects. The French jury – arranged by the French Institute and chaired by Claire Le Restif, director of the Art Center contemporary of Ivry–Crédac – chose Barrada ‘for her multidisciplinary practice that brings together various artistic and social communities in search of a new utopia’. Writing in ArtReview, Jenny Wu describes how ‘Barrada is like an Oulipo poet: constantly setting up what she calls constraints – I call them structures of support – for freedom in play and education to coalesce.’
Aline Bouvy will represent Luxembourg, Delano reports. The artist, who lives and works between Belgium and Luxembourg, explores – in sculpture, drawing, photography and sound – the relationship between the body and space, and principles of beauty and repulsion. For thirteen years, she worked as a duo the artist John Gillis. Bouvy’s pavilion will be curated by Stilbé Schroeder, and will follow a solo exhibition at Casino Luxembourg in 2025.
Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir has been selected to represent Iceland at the 61st Venice Biennale, the Icelandic Art Center has announced. Sigurðardóttir is a poet, composer, filmmaker and visual artist, whose experiential practice explores the boundaries between the conscious and subconscious. After studying at the Iceland University of the Arts, Sigurðardóttir went on to co-found the artist-led gallery Kunstschlager in Reykjavík and the experimental poetry festival Suttungur. She is also the author of five collections of poems. ‘The Venice Biennale is an extraordinary platform that highlights the talent, creativity, and innovation of Icelandic artists, and I am excited to see Ásta’s work showcased on this prestigious global stage,’ the Icelandic Minister of Culture, Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir said in a statement.
Isabel Nolan will represent Ireland at the Venice Biennale, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media, Catherine Martin T.D. has announced. She will work alongside Georgina Jackson, Director of The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art, as the curator. One of Ireland’s foremost artists, Nolan explores through her multidisciplinary work the capacity of humans for love, taking in subjects as vast as cosmology, mythology and mortality. ‘Art has a strange and special capacity to make and test powerful kinds of community with shared knowledge and beauty, however temporary,’ Nolan said in a statement. ‘La Biennale di Venezia is a stage like no other.’
Li Yi-Fan has been selected to represent Taiwan, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM) has announced. Born in 1989 in Taipei, Li was trained in New Media Art, receiving his MA from the National Taiwan University of Art and his BFA from the National Taiwan Normal University. His video works, often running on game engines, ask questions about how our digital reality reshapes morality and how new ways of communication provide different infrastructure for perceptions and emotional responses. In the past two years, Li’s works have received attention from both the artworld and popular culture, with short film What Is Your Favorite Primitive (2023) both showing at the 13th Taipei Biennial and winning the Golden Harvest Award at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.
More to follow…
