Icelandic Pavilion 2026: Pocket Universe

The Icelandic Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale will feature Pocket Universe, a new multidisciplinary project by the artist, poet, composer, and filmmaker Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir. About Curated by Margrét Áskelsdóttir with Unnar Örn, the exhibition will be on view from May 9 through November 22, 2026, at Docks Cantieri Cucchini in Venice’s San Pietro di Castello district, a former shipyard located between the Biennale’s Giardini and Arsenale sites. The presentation will span a series of indoor and outdoor spaces and combine performance, sound, moving image, sculpture, and installation. Sigurðardóttir’s work often moves between these mediums, bringing together different stories and timelines rather than following a single narrative. At the center of the exhibition is a moving-image work that follows a character called Creature Zero as it sets out to find the “original rock,” imagined as the first step in the creation of the earth. Filmed at sites associated with mystical or spiritual traditions, the work draws on myths and stories from different cultures and explores how belief and imagination shape how people move forward during uncertain times. Throughout the pavilion, recurring elements such as orbs, charms, and talismans appear alongside live actions and performances that will take place at different moments during the Biennale. Sigurðardóttir said the project grew partly from her reflections on the idea of hope. “Hope is such a peculiar word,” she said. “It only exists when you need it and even then you are not sure if you have it or not.”