The opening of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, scheduled to run from 9 May to 22 November 2026, is now just around the corner, and there are plenty of exhibitions not to be missed as the Biennale gets underway

THE PROTOCOL ART AND CEAL FLOYER AT PALAZZO DIEDO
Strange Rules is the title of the project that will be hosted at Palazzo Diedo, the Venetian headquarters of Berggruen Arts & Culture. The project goes beyond the boundaries of the traditional exhibition format to explore the concept of Protocol Art – an artistic practice that highlights the rules, systems and structures underpinning the production, distribution and perception of culture in the digital age. Algorithms, artificial intelligence models, technological infrastructures and computer protocols are therefore at the heart of this interdisciplinary project conceived by Mat Dryhurst, Holly Herndon and Hans Ulrich Obrist, and curated in collaboration with Adriana Rispoli. The new work commissioned from Mat Dryhurst and Holly Herndon in collaboration with the SUB studio, installed on the ground floor of the building, will help transform this space into a hub dedicated to temporary events – performances, talks, screenings and podcast productions – encouraging visitor engagement. The first floor, meanwhile, will host a number of site-specific installations and a selection of video works exploring the themes of Protocol Art.
Running in parallel will be the exhibition Unfinished, curated by Ann Gallagher and Jonathan Watkins and dedicated to the work of Ceal Floyer, the British artist who passed away in December 2025. An opportunity to retrace her career through works that combine video, photography, readymades, sound installations and sculptures, offering a new interpretation of everyday life, often through irony.

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Strange Rules
Unfinished
4 May – 22 November 2026
PALAZZO DIEDO
Cannaregio 2386, Venice
https://berggruenarts.org/

MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ AT THE GALLERIE DELL’ACCADEMIA
Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy is the title of the exhibition that the Gallerie dell’Accademia are dedicating for the first time to a living female artist. Curated by Shai Baitel, this retrospective celebrates Marina Abramović’s 80th birthday and is presented both in the permanent collection galleries and in the temporary exhibition spaces, introducing a further innovation and establishing a direct link between past and present. Historical works such as Imponderabilia (1977), Rhythm 0 (1974), Light/Dark (1977), Balkan Baroque (1997) and Carrying the Skeleton (2008) are presented alongside screenings of now-iconic performances and new works created for the occasion. The exhibition is enriched by the dialogue between Pietà (with Ulay) (1983) and Titian’s Pietà (c. 1575–76), the unfinished work completed by Palma il Giovane.

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Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy
6 May – 19 October 2026
GALLERIE DELL’ACCADEMIA
Campo della Carità, Dorsoduro 1050, Venice
https://www.gallerieaccademia.it/

PEGGY GUGGENHEIM’S EARLY YEARS IN LONDON
Peggy Guggenheim’s time in London forms the centrepiece of the exhibition curated by Gražina Subelytė and Simon Grant at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Of particular note is the role played on the international scene by Guggenheim Jeune, the gallery founded in London by the collector and active between 1938 and 1939, highlighting Peggy Guggenheim’s work in promoting avant-garde artists. In just over a year, the gallery hosted over twenty exhibitions, including Vasily Kandinsky’s first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom: around a hundred works linked to these pioneering exhibitions are now brought together for the show, alongside contemporary pieces and works that later entered Peggy Guggenheim’s collection.

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Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector
25 April ‒ 19 October 2026
PEGGY GUGGENHEIM COLLECTION
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
Dorsoduro 701, Venice
https://www.guggenheim-venice.it/

GEORGE BASELITZ AT THE FONDAZIONE GIORGIO CINI AND DAVID SALLE AT THE GALLERIA DI PALAZZO CINI
Luca Massimo Barbero is the curator of the exhibitions staged at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and the Galleria di Palazzo Cini, organised in partnership with the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery. Dedicated to Georg Baselitz, the solo exhibition scheduled on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore brings together a series of new works by the German artist, united by the visual dialogue established between the golden background of the canvas and the figures outlined by sharp lines, reflecting the tireless desire to experiment that drives Baselitz’s creative choices.
The Galleria di Palazzo Cini, in the Dorsoduro district, provides the backdrop for David Salle’s first solo exhibition in Venice. Salle uses artificial intelligence as a tool to breathe new life into his painting practice, without, however, distorting its characteristics; on the contrary, he enhances its distinctive features, starting with the historic cycle of Tapestry Paintings, dating from 1989 to 1991.

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Georg Baselitz. Eroi d’Oro
5 May ‒ 27 September 2026
FONDAZIONE GIORGIO CINI
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
https://www.cini.it/

Painting in the Present Tense
6 May – 27 September 2026
LA GALLERIA DI PALAZZO CINI
Dorsoduro 864, Campo San Vio, Venice
https://www.palazzocini.it/

Captions:

Georg Baselitz, Hält sich in der Mitte auf, 2025. Oil and gold paint on canvas, 300 x 215 cm. GB/M 2025.09.23. Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London · Paris · Salzburg · Milan · Seoul © Georg Baselitz Photo: Stefan Altenburger

David Salle, Yellow Shawl, 2025-2026. Oil, acrylic, Flashe and charcoal on archival UV print on linen. Image 152.4 x 195.6 cm (60 x 77 in). Frame 164.5 x 207.7 x 7 cm (64.76x 81.77 x 2.76 in).  © David Salle / ARS New York. Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac gallery,London · Paris · Salzburg · Milan · Seoul. Photo: John Berens

MURANO GLASS AND THE VENICE BIENNALE AT LE STANZE DEL VETRO
Le Stanze del Vetro, on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, has opened the third chapter of its exhibition series focusing on the presence of Murano glass at the Venice Biennale. This time, the exhibition, curated by Marino Barovier, examines the decade between 1948 and 1958, a crucial period marking the return of glass art to the Venice Biennale following the Second World War. Over 160 works depict a period of great enthusiasm, during which glass gained increasing prominence within the Venice Pavilion, culminating in the 1952 Murano Glass Exhibition.

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1948-1958 Murano Glass and the Venice Biennale
until 22 November 2026
LE STANZE DEL VETRO
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
https://lestanzedelvetro.org/

BARRY X BALL’S SCULPTURE IN THE BASILICA DI SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE
Digital technologies and traditional craftsmanship blend in the artistic language of Barry X Ball, the protagonist of the exhibition, curated by Bob Nickas, which brings together twenty-three works by the artist – many of which are on display for the first time – in the monumental spaces of the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore, on the island bearing the same name.
Belonging to five different series, the works highlight Barry X Ball’s ability to engage with the masterpieces of history using innovative materials.

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Barry X Ball. The Shape of Time
9 May – 22 November 2026
BASILICA DI SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore
https://www.abbaziasangiorgio.it/progetti-culturali/

30 YEARS. THE WILD HORSES OF SABLE ISLAND BY ROBERTO DUTESCO AT LE STANZE DELLA FOTOGRAFIA
Organised by the IAMWILD Foundation and curated by Denis Curti, the exhibition THE WILD HORSES OF SABLE ISLAND: Survival and Fragility in a Changing World presents a selection of photographs by the photographer and filmmaker Roberto Dutesco to visitors at Le Stanze della Fotografia on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.
Origin and fragility, adaptation and survival, resilience and the future form the three core themes of the exhibition, which unfolds across three rooms and traces Dutesco’s thirty-year career. The thirty-six large-format photographs, in black and white and colour, the “Film Noir” wall comprising twenty-four moving vignettes, and various short films draw attention to the need to safeguard an increasingly fragile ecosystem.

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THE WILD HORSES OF SABLE ISLAND: Survival and Fragility in a Changing World
until 5 July 2026
LE STANZE DELLA FOTOGRAFIA
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
https://www.lestanzedellafotografia.it

THE KINETIC LIGHT INSTALLATION BY DRIFT ABOVE THE GRAND CANAL
DRIFT, the studio founded by Dutch artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta in 2007, comes to Venice with Shy Society, a site-specific installation that will be installed on the façade of Palazzo Balbi, situated between the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Accademia Bridge. Visible from the top of the bridge and from the water, the installation adds a new element to the Shylight project, which was also exhibited at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence in 2024. Using aluminium, polished stainless steel, silk, LEDs and robotics, Shy Society simulates the opening and closing of flowers, combining art, nature and technology.

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Shy Society
3 – 10 May 2026
PALAZZO BALBI – GRAND CANAL
https://studiodrift.com/

THE PAINTING BY AMOAKO BOAFO AT MUSEO DI PALAZZO GRIMANI
Il Museo di Palazzo Grimani is ready to host the first solo exhibition in Italy by the Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo, produced by Gagosian and organised in collaboration with the Venetian museum, which thus renews its commitment to promoting contemporary art. By choosing portraiture, Boafo explores, through painting, the theme of identity in relation to African culture and its diaspora, establishing on this occasion a dialogue with the Venetian artistic tradition and with the architecture of the historic Palazzo Grimani through a series of new artworks.

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Amoako Boafo. It doesn’t have to always make sense
6 May – 22 November 2026
MUSEO DI PALAZZO GRIMANI
Ramo Grimani, Castello 4858, Venice
https://museiveneto.cultura.gov.it/musei/museo-di-palazzo-grimani