ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Artribune's Worst Pavilions at the 2019 Venice Biennale

exhibition · 2026-05-04

Artribune critiques the least convincing national pavilions at the 58th Venice Biennale, themed 'May You Live in Interesting Times' curated by Ralph Rugoff. Finland's Miracle Workers Collective, featuring a video installation and a site-specific sculpture by Outi Pieski about the Sámi people, failed to engage with Alvar Aalto's pavilion architecture. Canada's Isuma collective, led by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn, presented video works on Inuit culture that seemed more suited to a documentary festival. Germany's Natascha Süder Happelmann offered 'Arkensentrum (surviving in the ruinous ruin)', a nostalgic 1990s Berlin aesthetic with a sound installation and an online video, but lacked a coherent exhibition. The US Pavilion, organized atypically by the Madison Square Park Conservancy, featured Martin Puryear's anonymous sculptures, a disappointment after Mark Bradford and Joan Jonas. The article notes that Finland was the first country to announce its participation two years prior.

Key facts

  • The 58th Venice Biennale was curated by Ralph Rugoff under the theme 'May You Live in Interesting Times'.
  • Finland's pavilion featured the Miracle Workers Collective with a show titled 'A Greater Miracle of Perception'.
  • Outi Pieski contributed a site-specific sculpture to the Finnish pavilion.
  • The Finnish pavilion was designed by Alvar Aalto.
  • Canada's pavilion was the first dedicated to Inuit art, presented by the Isuma collective.
  • Isuma was founded in 1990 by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn as Igloolik Isuma Productions Inc.
  • Isuma helped create NITV (Inuit multimedia arts center) and Artcirq (youth circus group).
  • Germany's pavilion featured Natascha Süder Happelmann's 'Arkensentrum (surviving in the ruinous ruin)'.
  • The US pavilion was organized by the Madison Square Park Conservancy and featured Martin Puryear.
  • Previous US pavilion artists included Mark Bradford and Joan Jonas.

Entities

Artists

  • Ralph Rugoff
  • Miracle Workers Collective
  • Outi Pieski
  • Alvar Aalto
  • Zacharias Kunuk
  • Norman Cohn
  • Natascha Süder Happelmann
  • Anne Imhof
  • Martin Puryear
  • Mark Bradford
  • Joan Jonas

Institutions

  • Artribune
  • Madison Square Park Conservancy
  • Igloolik Isuma Productions Inc.
  • NITV
  • Artcirq

Locations

  • Venice
  • Italy
  • Giardini
  • Finland
  • Canada
  • Germany
  • United States
  • Norway
  • Sweden
  • Russia

Sources