The National Pavilion of Qatar has announced details of its group exhibition for the 61st Venice Biennale. Commissioned by Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums, and presented by Rubaiya Qatar (Qatar’s contemporary art quadrennial initiative), the pavilion is entitled untitled 2026 (a gathering of remarkable people).
Co-curated by Tom Eccles, executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies and the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College and Ruba Katrib, chief curator and director of curatorial affairs at MoMA PS1, the exhibition brings together a participatory framework that spans visual art, performance, sound and culinary practice, with contributions from Sofia Al-Maria, Tarek Atoui, Alia Farid, Fadi Kattan and Rirkrit Tiravanija.
Located in the Giardini, within Qatar’s permanent space, the exhibition is centered around a “tent-like” structure designed by Tiravanija. As noted by co-curators “we are proud that a gathering of remarkable people builds upon the presentation of Tiravanija’s work in Doha, as part of Rubaiya Qatar. The engaging, participatory nature of this new, expansive work, including its desire to nourish both the spirit and the body, will be carried forward by the outstanding artistic collaborators who will bring the exhibition to life in Venice. By including artists, musicians, poets and chefs, the exhibition proves that culture is the indelible link between us all. Bringing people together at this moment is more important than ever. In fact, it is essential.”
Rather than presenting works as discrete objects, the exhibition positions them as social engagement and shared experience, situating the pavilion as a temporary environment for gathering. The emphasis is placed on the relational practices that unfold overtime, where the audience becomes an active participant of the formation of the work rather than a passive observer. Through this approach the exhibition proposes a model of exhibition- making rooted in collaboration and proximity, in which artistic practices are situated within a wider cultural and social framework.
The exhibition is structured through a constellation of installations and activations that extend the collaborative framework of Tiravanija’s practice, beginning with an experimental narrative film by Al-Maria and extending to Jerrican (2022-26) by Farid, a large-scale sculptural work that reimagines everyday water-carrying vessels of the Gulf as monumental hollow forms. This spatial sequence continues through improvisational collaborations organised by Atoui, who convenes musicians and poets in response to field recording and archival materials drawn from the Arab world, alongside a culinary programme by Kattan that brings together chefs from the MENA region through menus centered on a single ingredient that traces migration and cultural exchange.
The 61st Venice Biennale will run from 9 May to 22 November 2026
