Representing Canada in Venice, the artist presents an installation exploring memory, displacemnt, and the fragile politics of space.
Venice is a capricious host. The city basks in a lagoon like a mermaid, luring you in with its enchanting, improbable beauty, but it is always on the verge of pulling you under, too.
During high tide, or acqua alta, streets can flood to hip height. Well-dressed waiters in waders serve trays of cicchetti to tourists swaddled in garish waterproofs, and rats do laps under hastily erected catwalks in St. Mark’s Square. At night, slick cobblestones catch the glow of the palazzi, doubling Venice in reflection and producing a picturesque twin of the one that, only hours earlier, seemed to be gasping for breath.
Abbas Akhavan, who is representing Canada at the 61st Venice Biennale (May 9 to November 22, 2026), is no stranger to how volatility can lurk beneath a veneer of civility. The idea threads throughout the practice of the Tehran-born artist, now based in Montreal and Berlin, whose understated, humble demeanour belies his international stature. Over the past five years, the artist, who works in installation, sculpture, video, performance, and drawing, has had critically acclaimed solo exhibitions in Vancouver, Bangkok, Copenhagen, and London. He will open a survey at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (November 12 to April 18, 2027) just as the Biennale draws to a close.
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