Yto Barrada to Represent France at 61st Venice Biennale with Comme Saturne

Yto Barrada will represent France at the 61st Venice Biennale with the exhibition Comme Saturne, curated by Myriam Ben Salah, running from May 6 to November 22, 2026. The title references the French Revolution phrase 'Like Saturn, the revolution devours its children' and a textile technique called dévoré, where fabric pile is chemically dissolved to create form through absence. The exhibition explores time, erosion, and cycles of generation and exhaustion through textiles, film, sculpture, and language. A central work, the 'wheel of rules and constraints,' pays homage to the French collective OuLiPo, emphasizing constraint as a generative principle. The project also connects to Barrada's dye garden, residency space, and research site in Tangier, The Mothership. An archaeological artifact from the Château de Gambais, a filming location for Jacques Demy's musical Peau d'âne (1970), extends the saturnian theme. Eva Nguyen Binh, President of the Institut français, praised the exhibition. A fully illustrated catalogue published by JRP|Editions in partnership with the Institut français will be released in summer 2026. Performances include Saadet Türköz's Conversation with Saturn on May 7 and Walid Ben Selim and Marie-Marguerite Cano's Here and now on May 8.