Dries Verhoeven has been selected to represent the Netherlands during the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Working in collaboration with curator Rieke Vos, Verhoeven will become the first artist to bring performance art to the Dutch Pavilion. The Mondriaan Fund advisory committee gave a positive recommendation of Verhoeven and Vos’ plan regarding its quality and international impact. The committee also believed that the plan would result in the pavilion being used in a distinctive new way. The upcoming edition of the Biennale Arte 2026 will take place from 9 May to 22 November 2026.
For the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Verhoeven and Vos have proposed a performative intervention in the Dutch Pavilion. Through this intervention, Verhoeven responds to a smouldering state of uncertainty, he currently perceives in the Netherlands and Europe. The Dutch Pavilion, built in the optimistic post-war years, is not only the location of the presentation, but is itself the subject of the intervention.
Dries Verhoeven:
‘Geopolitical tensions are grave, and that’s putting it mildy. It has been many years since our future felt this uncertain. I want to attempt to make this unease tangible, within the “safe space” of the Biennale. To have the opportunity to do this in the company of so many fantastic artists is nothing short of a blessing.’
Eelco van der Lingen, Director Mondriaan Fund and commissioner:
‘Following the relocation of melanie bonajo to a church outside the Giardini in 2022, and Renzo Martens making way for the Congolese collective CATPC in 2024, conventions are once again being pushed aside, and hierarchy and national representation are being challenged. The building, the garden, the biennale and the relationship with the outside world all deserve to be discussed, and I am therefore looking forward to Dries Verhoeven’s intervention, and to the questions that it will raise.’
In the coming months, the artist and curator will be working to further develop the presentation. Please follow us on Instagram for more updates.