BREAKING #318 | TRAVEL DIARY

‘An almost impenetrable fortress’

Column

May 2026

is a writer, art historian, and founder of See All This art magazine. Since 2020, she writes a weekly column for the BREAKING-the-week art newsletter.

Column

May 2026

Flight from Cape Town to Istanbul. From Istanbul to Venice. Usually the lagoon glitters in welcome; today it is grey as we take the vaporetto to San Marco. We are among the first wave arriving for the 61st Biennale, In Minor Keys, but Venice already seems worn out – like a damp jumper stretched too many times. Mine.

On Liberation Day we meet the artist Dries Verhoeven, who represents the Dutch Pavilion, outside the gates. I am not allowed in because something is wrong with my invitation. And the raising of fences and lowering of shutters is precisely what his impressive performance The Fortress is about.

The following day, too, the Biennale proves an almost impenetrable fortress. Because of protests and rain, endless queues form at the entrance gates, the pavilions and the cafés. It is a disruption I eventually overcome in the Central Pavilion, where, moving through the crowds, I discover a few new artists.

Hala Schoukair’s meticulous paintings, built from dots and lines, create rhythmic fields. Kambui Olujimi’s monumental works unfold in a narrative, cosmic visual language. And Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka’s fragile works on translucent Japanese paper are drawn with ink and paint, with seemingly endless patience.

In the Arsenale, much of the art is political, but unreadable without explanation. We call engaged art propaganda when we dislike its message. But propaganda is not a matter of colour; it is a matter of function. And art is currently moving across highly precarious terrain.

The Biennale shows a world in a state of overheating and despair. It serves as a hinge point, an outlet, an alarm bell. Sadly, this is not the strongest edition when it comes to the power and beauty of art – but it revolves around one of the core commands and primal screams in Dries Verhoeven’s work: ENGAGE.

View more videos and photos of the trip in the Travel Diary.