Vatican City has announced further details surrounding its presentation of the Pavilion of the Holy See at the Venice Biennale this May. For its presentation, 24 artists, poets, musicians, architects, and filmmakers including Patti Smith, Precious Okoyomon, and Devonté (Dev) Hynes have produced new work for the pavilion, which is curated by the esteemed Hans Ulrich Obrist and curator and strategist Ben Vickers. Entitled “The Ear is the Eye of the Soul,” the exhibition will unfold across two sites in Venice including The Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelites in Cannaregio, and the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in Castello. The presentation is conceived in response to the Biennale’s main exhibition, planned by the late curator Koyo Kouoh, “In Minor Keys.” The pavilion finds inspiration of the life and legacy of the medieval abbess, poet, healer, and composer Saint Hildegard of Bingen.
At Venice’s Mystic Garden, newly commissioned sound works by a collection of composers, musicians, poets, and visual artists including Brian Eno, FKA Twigs, and filmmaker Jim Jarmusch will respond to Hildegard’s chants, writing, and visionary images. The works, realized in partnership with Soundwalk Collective, will incorporate voice, instrumentation, and silence and be presented through headphones. A site-specific instrument created by Soundwalk Collective will also be present, which will “listen” to the gardens of the monastic 17th-century convent.
Across town, the Complex of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice will function as a contemporary scriptorium, a term for the medieval rooms where manuscripts were copied and illuminated. It will feature German filmmaker and author Alexander Kluge’s final work, a twelve-station film and image work that is spread across three rooms. The work was completed before Kluge’s death in March earlier this year. There will also be a living archive of multilingual texts, and new monastery architecture by Tatiana Bilbao, which builds upon the Vatican’s presentation at the same site during the 2025 architectural biennale.
The full list of participants includes Nigerian multidisciplinary artist Otobong Nkanga, Portuguese painter Ilda David; musicians and composers Brian Eno, Caterina Barbieri, Devonté Hynes, FKA Twigs, Kali Malone, Kazu Makino, Laraaji, Meredith Monk, Moor Mother, Suzanne Ciani, Terry Riley, and Carminho; filmmakers Jim Jarmusch and Alexander Kluge; poets Bhanu Kapil, Raúl Zurita, and Patti Smith; sound artists Soundwalk Collective, Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst; architect Tatiana Bilbao; and the Benedictine Nuns of the Abbey of St. Hildegard Eibingen.
