Performance Cuts Through the Noise at the Venice Biennale

At the Venice Biennale, performance work in the Austrian and Belgian pavilions drew attention amid a turbulent start that included the death of artistic director Koyo Kouoh in May 2025, along with canceled pavilions, boycotts over Israel and Russia’s participation, and the jury’s resignation. In the Giardini, Austrian pavilion artist Florentina Holzinger presented SEA WORLD VENICE, an immersive, water-filled spectacle about ecological dread and societal collapse that requires visitor participation, including a courtyard setup where urine from two porta-potties is filtered into a large water tank in which a performer remains submerged for hours. The work also features performers suspended from harnesses, a “maintenance” area with out-of-control tubes spraying brown fluid, and a jet ski circling inside the flooded pavilion. Nearby, Miet Warlop transformed the Belgian pavilion into a hybrid construction site and sports arena with bleachers lined with plaster tiles etched with multilingual greetings and fragments of speech.

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