Overview
- The Holy See will present The Ear Is the Eye of the Soul at Biennale Arte 2026, running May 9 to November 22, with new works by 24 artists including Brian Eno, FKA Twigs, Patti Smith, and Jim Jarmusch.
- The exhibition is curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers with Soundwalk Collective, conceived in response to Biennale curator Koyo Kouoh’s call to slow down and attune to quieter work.
- Two Venice sites will house the pavilion: the Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelites in Cannaregio and the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in Castello.
- In the Mystical Garden, visitors will listen on headphones to commissioned pieces and hear a site-specific instrument that turns the garden’s real-time activity into sound.
- The Santa Maria Ausiliatrice program will unveil Alexander Kluge’s final 12-station film and image installation alongside a living archive, books by Ilda David’, architecture by Tatiana Bilbao, and the sung liturgy of nuns from Eibingen Abbey.