Art Biennale 2026, a first look at the Pavilions/3

Monumental sculpted faces that question freedom, cinematic landscapes reflecting on the body and desire, intimate maps of diaspora, immersive works exploring queer ecologies… In the Pavilions of Koyo Kouoh’s Biennale, the viewer becomes an active participant in a sensory and conceptual journey.

CUBA PAVILION – Roberto Diago

Addressing the legacy of the African diaspora and contemporary forms of enslavement, Roberto Diago’s Hombres Libres / Free Man brings together large sculpted heads advancing toward the viewer. Oxidized metal and reclaimed wood turn scars into structure, asserting identity, resistance, and freedom as conscious practice.

DENMARK PAVILION – Maja Malou Lyse

Maja Malou Lyse creates an immersive film environment where science, fiction, and pornography converge as reality-producing forces. Curated by Chus Martínez, the project frames images as material, affective technologies that act on bodies, desire, and reproductive futures.

EL SALVADOR PAVILION – J. Oscar Molina

J. Oscar Molina explores diaspora through sculpture and installation. Centered on his series Children of the World, the project reflects on belonging as movement and rupture. Curated by Alejandra Cabezas, the exhibition frames displacement as an ontological condition shaping identity.

PHILIPPINES PAVILION – Jon Cuyson

Based in Manila, Jon Cuyson explores maritime labor, diaspora, and queer ecologies through painting and film. Sea of Love / Dagat Ng Pag-ibig immerses visitors in large-scale paintings and videos honoring Filipino seafarers, evoking life at sea, distance, and the resilience connecting them to their families ashore.

JAPAN PAVILION – Ei Arakawa-Nash

Drawing from his perspective as a queer parent, Ei Arakawa-Nash weaves together performance, video, and playful, sentimental sculpture centered on the cycle of life. With over one hundred doll-objects occupying the exhibition space, the artist explores concepts of family, identity, and diversity reflecting on relationships, care, and affection.

GREECE PAVILION – Andreas Angelidakis

Greek-Norvegian architect and artist Andreas Angelidakis presents an immersive installation where history, classical ruins, and digital dynamics converge to question how we inhabit the present. Curated by Giorgos Bekirakis, it explores memory, technology, and social life through spatial modulations and “soft ruins” sculptures, creating a physical and conceptual journey.

POLAND PAVILION – Bogna Burska e Daniel Kotowski

Liquid Tongues by Bogna Burska and Daniel Kotowski explores marginalized languages and communication beyond the human, focusing on Deaf culture and the concept of “deaf gain.” The project involves the Choir in Motion, a choir of deaf and hearing performers, combining spoken voice, International Sign Language, whale songs, underwater environments, and collective choreography.

TÜRKIYE PAVILION – Nilbar Güreş

Nilbar Güres¸, active between Istanbul, Naples, and Vienna, presents a project that combines video, photography, painting, and sculpture, staging fragmented objects, images, and bodies to explore tensions between individual identity and social roles, memory, gender, and belonging through an immersive experience.

Featured image: Roberto Diago [selected artist for Cuba] – “Hombres Libres / Free men”, 2025
Installation, mixed materials, variable dimensions – ©Estudio Diago. Courtesy Estudio Diago