Florentina Holzinger's Venice Lagoon Performance Opens Austrian Pavilion at Biennale Arte 2026

Austrian choreographer and artist Florentina Holzinger staged a performance titled "Étude" on a platform in the Venice Lagoon as a prelude to the Austrian Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The event featured nude female performers with harnesses, tattoos, and shaved heads, suspended from industrial trusses and a crane, while a soprano conducted the chaos. A bell was lifted from the water, inside which Holzinger hung upside down, striking its sides with her hips. Performer Luz de Luna suspended herself from hooks in her flesh. The performance drew on cyberfeminist, post-punk, and grindcore aesthetics, referencing Astrida Neimanis's "hydrofeminism" and transforming it into an ode to Venice's black waters. The Austrian Pavilion's project is titled "SEAWORLD." Holzinger's "Études" are short, intense compositions that condense central themes of her work, including elements from previous pieces such as "Ophelia's got Talent," "A Year Without Summer," "A Divine Comedy," and "SANCTA" (based on Paul Hindemith's opera). The pavilion features urine collection for performance, robot dogs, a centaur, a contortionist, and a human elevator reminiscent of Gelitin's work. Critic Claire Bishop contributed to the catalog. Performances will be repeated throughout the Biennale, with dates announced on the official website.