The Korean Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale will center on the theme of “liberation,” a term deeply rooted in Korea’s modern history, particularly its experience of Japanese colonial rule.
To artistic director Binna Choi, the notion of liberation has since expanded beyond its historical origins to take on layered meanings in contemporary Korea, from political struggles, including periods of martial law, to broader questions of social and collective agency.
“The pavilion, constructed largely of glass, is highly sensitive to its surroundings. In that sense, it can be read as reflecting Korea’s complex, often fraught history and geopolitical condition,” Choi said.
Choi was appointed as the artistic director of the Korean Pavilion in 2023 for the 61st edition of the Venice Biennale.
Titled “Liberation Space Fortress Nest,” the Korean Pavilion's exhibition brings together two Korean artists: Choi Go-eun and Noh Hye-ri.
Using pipe-like structures as a key element, Choi’s “Meridian” traces invisible flows through the pavilion, as if reopening blocked channels within both body and architecture.
Noh will present “Bearing,” a work that draws on the layered meanings of the term — to hold, to support and to endure. Rendered in a translucent, wax-coated material, the installation is designed to envelop the pavilion like a protective membrane, suggesting care, resilience and transformation.
Within the notion of "Bearing," the pavilion is organized into eight stations. Each one offers a space for reflection on mourning, memory and waiting. The translucent structure holds and connects these zones, while one draws on Nobel Prize-winning author Han Kang’s "We Do Not Part," framing mourning as an ongoing act rather than closure.
“We are living through multiple, layered crises — from war to widening inequality — and I hope this project can open up a space for imagining new forms of community,” Choi said.
For the first time, the Korean Pavilion will engage in a form of collaboration with the neighboring Japanese Pavilion — a rare gesture among national pavilions, according to the director.
“Liberation, in the Korean context, cannot be separated from its historical relationship with Japan," she said.
The Venice Biennale, which alternates annually between art and architecture, will open on May 6 under the theme “In Minor Keys.” The theme was conceived by Cameroonian-Swiss curator Koyo Kouoh, the first Black woman appointed to helm the biennale, who passed away in 2025.
Following her death, her curatorial team is carrying forward the overarching vision. The biennale runs through Nov. 22.
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