Chiara Camoni’s Italy Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2026

An experience that slows you down: entering the Italy Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, the atmosphere changes. Chiara Camoni’s works rise from the dimness as presences both ancient and contemporary, arresting the gaze and altering the perception of the space.

Curated by Cecilia Canziani, the project reads as a living collective organism: an installation built through materials, relationships and shared time. The sculptures, titled "Sisters," occupy the Tese without overpowering the architecture, engaging with light, memory and the manual gestures that shaped them.

Key features of the work

• Embodied presence: monumental yet vulnerable figures conceived as bodies that belong equally to landscape and humanity.
• Craft and slowness: a collective, artisanal process in which the material "responds" and helps determine the final form.
• Feminine dimension: not declared as a slogan but perceptible in the daily practice and care embedded in the work.
• Space to traverse: the installation encourages slow engagement, resembling a meditative walk more than a quick visit.

Why see it

Camoni’s Italy Pavilion stands out for balancing monumentality and intimacy: it offers a sensory experience that prioritizes the relationship between visitor, material and place. The project continues a recent curatorial trend at the Biennale toward reducing spectacle in favor of spaces meant to be inhabited slowly.

Practical tips

• Allow time: plan a slow visit to appreciate material details and the scale of the figures.
• Watch the light: the installation uses shadow and dimness; changing vantage points reveals new aspects of the work.
• Approach closely and respectfully: surfaces and manual marks bear traces of the creative process.

Italy Pavilion at the 2026 Biennale is a project that foregrounds care, collective memory and the value of materiality as tools for building a non-obvious exhibition experience. For Biennale visitors, it is a recommended stop for those seeking direct engagement with art that originates from handwork and community.