“I can’t wait to strut through the labyrinth streets of Venice in stilettos with my best friends and just let loose a little. I’ve spent months up my own ass and can’t wait to get out of there”
ArtReview sent a questionnaire to artists and curators exhibiting in and curating the various national pavilions of the 2026 Venice Biennale, the responses to which will be published daily in the leadup to and during the Venice Biennale, which runs from 9 May through 22 November.
Maja Malou Lyse is representing Denmark; the pavilion is in the Giardini.
ArtReview Tell ArtReview what you plan to exhibit in Venice. What has influenced or inspired you?
Maja Malou Lyse In Things To Come I’m moving between science, fiction and pornography. It began with a study I saw claiming that virtual sexual stimuli can increase sperm motility, which I found both bizarre and fascinating. We’re saturated by images and used to debating their cultural and ideological impact. But this suggested something more unsettling: that images might not only shape perception or desire, but act on the body itself. From there, the project opened up into questions about technology, power, and how erotic imagery circulates at a moment when intimacy, labour and reproduction are being reconfigured. The influences for the works came from scientific journals, TikTok doomscrolling, pornstars and porn productions, a Danish sperm bank and the advertising billboards outside my studio window in Times Square.
AR In what ways (if at all) does your work relate to the theme of the Biennale exhibition, In Minor Keys?
MML Maybe not at first glance, my work is very pop. For the Biennale I’ve made a video work together with DIS, starring famous actresses from the porn industry who play the leads in the film. Despite their massive exposure, these sex workers continue to exist on the margins, rarely given much cultural significance. That position, being highly visible but still peripheral, feels aligned with a theme that looks at what exists outside dominant narratives. The film also unexpectedly ended up becoming sort of a musical, so there’s a more literal interpretation of ‘minor keys’ in there as well!
AR Why is the Venice Biennale still important, if at all?
MML It’s the ultimate vibe check.
AR What role does a national pavilion play at a time of increasing confrontational nationalisms? Is it about expressing difference or commonality?
MML The concept of national pavilions can feel a bit outdated but it’s also revealing. When artists or entire pavilions are censored or shut down, it makes clear how deeply culture and geopolitics are intertwined.
AR Who, for you, is the most important artist (in any discipline) that your country has produced?
MML I’m tempted to say the Page 9 Girl. A daily nude published in the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet for more than half a century. Every day a new woman, but together they form a continuous image, a kind of collective ‘she’. When I was working in the archive last year, it began to read like a long durational performance stretching over five decades.
AR What is something you want people to know about your nation that they might not know already?
MML Given what I work with, it might be worth mentioning that Denmark was the first country to legalize the pornographic image. We didn’t keep the monopoly for long, but that early move points to a progressive history around image politics.
AR Given that you are exhibiting in a national pavilion, is there something (a quality or an issue or attitude) that distinguishes the art of that nation from that of others? That makes it particular? Are there specific contexts that it responds to? Or do you think that art is a universal language that goes beyond social, political or geographic boundaries?
MML Yeah art is universal. But national contexts can definitely shape the conditions that make it possible. I come from a country with strong public support for artists – generous grants, funding, free education system etc. It’s not flawless, but without that kind of support I probably wouldn’t be here. Things like that can really matter.
AR What, other than art, are you looking forward to seeing – or doing – while you are in Venice?
MML I can’t wait to strut through the labyrinth streets of Venice in stilettos with my best friends and just let loose a little. I’ve spent months up my own ass and can’t wait to get out of there.
AR Could you give us a brief overview of your average working day while creating your presentation in Venice?
MML Wake up in East Village, coffee in bed, pilates, another coffee in Tomkin Square park, subway to Time Square, countless Zooms at the studio, lunch at the downstairs diner, more Zooms, doubt myself, feel on top of the world, doubt some more, decompress over dinner with friends, fall asleep to dumb reality TV. Repeat.
AR Can art really change the world?
MML Not on its own.
The 61st Venice Biennale runs 9 May through 22 November 2026
