Sung Tieu and Henrike Naumann to Represent Germany at 2026 Venice Biennale

Sung Tieu and Henrike Naumann will create new site-specific works for the German Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale, opening on May 9, 2026. Curator Kathleen Reinhardt selected the Berlin-based artists, noting their shared exploration of historical responsibility and individual agency. Tieu, born in Hải Dương, Vietnam, investigates identity, geopolitics, and colonial legacies through sculpture, sound, video, and archival materials. Her practice examines migration's psychological effects alongside bureaucratic and state control systems. Naumann, from Zwickau, Germany, creates scenographic installations using furniture and found objects to analyze sociopolitical tensions. Her East German upbringing during the 1990s informs her focus on radicalization mechanisms within youth culture and domestic spaces. The Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa) announced the appointments on May 26. Both artists will present works that probe power structures and personal experience.