Qatar will build a permanent pavilion for the Venice Biennale in the city’s Giardini della Biennale. It will be the first site of this kind to open in the sprawling gardens—one of the two main venues used to host the famous exhibition—since the Korean pavilion in 1995, and only the third in the past 50 years.
“For decades, La Biennale has been a place where art and architecture bring nations together, and Qatar is honoured to take its place in this extraordinary global gathering,” said Sheikha Al Mayassa bin Hamad bint Khalifa Al Thani in a post on Instagram. Al Thani is the chair of Qatar Museums, which oversees the biennale presentation.
The structure will be located adjacent to the Book Pavilion, near the entrance to the gardens. The architect has not yet been announced.
Though it will not be ready in time for the architecture biennale this coming May, the site will be used during this event for an installation by the Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari. Lari’s work will also be included in an exhibition at Venice’s ACP-Palazzo Franchetti, exploring modern and contemporary architects from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region. The show, titled Beyti Beytak. My home is your home. La mia casa è la tua casa, is put together by Qatar Museum’s Future Art Mill Museum, which is slated to open in Doha in 2030.
The Palazzo Franchetti was also the site for Qatar’s presentation at the last art biennale in Venice, Your Ghosts Are Mine, a survey of moving image work from the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. During that biennale Qatar Museums and the city of Venice announced a partnership under which Doha would help to fund preservation efforts in the city, though further details on this have yet to be confirmed.
Despite Qatar being the first among the Gulf nations to engage with international contemporary art, it has trailed its neighbours in terms of permanent representation in Venice. The UAE opened its permanent pavilion, near the Arsenale, in 2013, and Saudi Arabia opened next door in 2019.