Vatican Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2026 Centers on Hildegard of Bingen
The Holy See is turning to sound, prayer and medieval mysticism for its 2026 Venice Biennale pavilion. Titled The Ear is the Eye of the Soul, the project will unfold from May 9 to November 22 across two Venetian sites: The Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelite in Cannaregio and the Santa Maria Ausiliatrice Complex in Castello.
The exhibition draws on the life and legacy of Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), the Benedictine abbess, poet, healer and composer who has long occupied a singular place in the Catholic and cultural imagination. Twenty-four artists have been selected for the project, including Brian Eno, FKA Twigs, Precious Okoyomon, Otobong Nkanga, Patti Smith, Jim Jarmusch and Kali Malone.
According to the project statement, the pavilion is conceived as “a sonic prayer, a call to the contemplative act of listening.” In the garden site, visitors will be invited to listen through headphones to new commissions by 20 artists, created with Soundwalk Collective, alongside a site-specific instrument that listens to the garden in real time. The second venue will bring together a living archive, Alexander Kluge’s final work and the “twinned sonic liturgy” of the nuns of Eibingen Abbey.
Precious Okoyomon plans to present a series of wind chimes inspired by Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps, a work they described as one of their favorites. The artist said Hildegard’s language made them think of “the language of angels,” underscoring the pavilion’s interest in music as both material and metaphysical form.
The project is co-organized by Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director at the Serpentine Gallery in London, and Ben Vickers, the curator and publisher who founded the Arts Technologies department at the Serpentine. Soundwalk Collective, founded in 2001, is also collaborating on the pavilion.
The Holy See has used its Venice presence to sharpen its cultural profile in recent years. In 2024, its decision to place the pavilion in a women’s prison on Giudecca drew attention to people living at the margins of society. The Vatican first participated in the Venice Biennale in 2013, and its return in 2026 suggests a continued effort to frame contemporary art as a site of reflection, listening and spiritual inquiry.
