> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://theparnassian.com/en/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# This month, the countries taking part in the 2026 Venice Art Biennale must present their projects
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-etom-mesiatse-strany-uchastnitsy-venetsianskoi-khudozhestvennoi-biennale-2026-goda-dolzhny-predstavit-svoi-proekty/
- Published: 2026-01-13T10:59:46.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:27:22.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Coming Up, Art, Society

This month, the countries taking part in the 2026 Venice Art Biennale must present their projects. Shortly before the final list of pavilions is published, South Africa has run into difficulties of a domestic (and possibly also foreign) nature over the approval of its national project.

The selection committee, appointed by the non-profit organisation Art Periodic, a partner of South Africa's Ministry of Culture, proposed sending the artist Gabrielle Goliath to Venice with a project devoted to murders in South Africa and Namibia. One section of the project is dedicated to the Palestinian poetess Heba Abu Nada, who was killed together with her son in an Israeli air strike.

South Africa's Minister of Culture, Gayton McKenzie, rejected the application, stating that the work is "highly divisive and linked to an ongoing international conflict that provokes strong polarisation". In response, the selection committee published a statement protesting against the ministry's decision.  
In a new statement, McKenzie justified his refusal by measures to protect South African politics from foreign interference:

> "When information came to my attention that a certain foreign state had allegedly taken on the funding of the South African exhibition, the matter was raised with the committee, which explained that this foreign state had in fact undertaken to purchase the relevant works of art after the Biennale had ended. Nevertheless, this still caused alarm, since it was alleged that South Africa's platform was being used as an intermediary by a foreign power to promote a geopolitical message regarding Israel's actions in Gaza."