France Reopens Restored Pavilion at 2026 Venice Biennale with Yto Barrada

The French Pavilion will reopen at the Giardini for the 61st Venice Biennale (May 9–November 22, 2026) following restoration, featuring Franco-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada (b. 1971, Paris). Curated by Myriam Ben Salah, her project 'Comme Saturne' is an immersive environment using textiles as narrative and critical devices. The exhibition explores the 'dévoré' technique—using acids to selectively corrode fabric—as a metaphor for destruction and creation. The pavilion includes a goat-leather kite at the entrance, a 'Room of Folds' with wool drapes that slowly bleach in sunlight evoking Cronos, a circular structure inspired by Oulipo practices, a 'Laboratory' reversing hierarchies, and a 'Study Room' referencing Barrada's garden of dye plants in Tangier. The 'Room of the Devoured' presents chemically attacked material as an aesthetic of wear and formlessness. Barrada's multidisciplinary practice spans film, photography, sculpture, and publishing, addressing alternative pedagogy, politicized botany, colonial legacies, and transnational cultural networks.