Alma Allen’s Venice Pavilion Opens With Art, Politics, and Questions
At the 2026 Venice Biennale, the U.S. Pavilion is presenting a show that is as much about framing as it is about sculpture. Titled “Call Me the Breeze,” Alma Allen’s exhibition was assembled in only a few months and brings together new and older works in a loose narrative about conflict, mourning, and transcendence. The conceptual anchor is Hieronymus Bosch’s Visions of the Afterlife, c. 1505–1515, on view nearby at the Galleria dell’Accademia.
Allen, an American sculptor known for naming all of his works Not Titled Yet, said the project has pushed him into unfamiliar territory. “This is the first time in 30 years that I’ve felt the need to explain myself,” he said, adding that he has been wary of the exhibition being read too broadly or too narrowly. In his account, the works themselves remain central, even when the show’s narrative feels deliberately assembled rather than seamless.
The pavilion has been under scrutiny since Allen accepted the U.S. invitation last October. The commission was handled by the American Arts Conservancy, a newly formed organization whose public profile has remained limited. Allen said the group gave him no direction and that he selected all the works and determined the exhibition’s themes himself. Jeffrey Uslip is listed as the official curator and a member of the AAC’s advisory council, while the Peggy Guggenheim Foundation appears among the sponsors.
The politics surrounding the pavilion have been difficult to ignore. The State Department’s requirement that proposals “reflect and promote American values” while not promoting DEI initiatives led William Eggleston and Barbara Chase-Riboud to decline the offer. Allen, who moved to Mexico in 2017 near the start of Trump’s first term, said he has long preferred distance from the pressures of American public life.
The fallout has extended beyond Venice. Allen was dropped by Mendes Wood and Olney Gleason after ignoring their advice to turn down the commission. That rupture, along with the AAC’s opaque public role, has made the pavilion a test case for how contemporary art is presented when institutional politics become part of the work’s reception. In Venice, the sculptures may be the most visible objects on view, but they are not the only ones carrying weight.
