Inside the Latin American Pavilions at the Venice Biennale 2026

Dentro de los pabellones latinoamericanos de la Bienal de Venecia 2026 (versión en español abajo)

Official key visual for In Minor Keys, the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Koyo Kouoh. Courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia.

Every two years, the art world returns to Venice for what remains, more than a century later, its most important event.

This year’s edition arrived under a shadow. The 61st International Art Exhibition, titled In Minor Keys, was conceived by Koyo Kouoh, the first African woman to lead the Biennale’s central exhibition, who died unexpectedly in May 2025, a year before it opened. It was also marked by tensions that were hard to ignore: the resignation of the international jury, the closure of the Russian pavilion to the general public, and a series of artist-led strikes against Israel’s participation on the eve of the opening.

Amid all of this, our own focus in Venice was on the voices coming from Latin America. What follows is a walk through some of those pavilions: Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, and El Salvador. Together, they showed a region thinking through its histories while insisting on its place in the present.

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Brazil: Comigo ninguém pode

The Brazilian pavilion in the Giardini was one of our first stops, and one of the most anticipated. This year, the country was represented by Adriana Varejão and Rosana Paulino, two major figures of the Brazilian contemporary art scene who, despite belonging to the same generation, had never collaborated before.