Huge congrats to Irish artist Isabel Nolan who has been selected to represent Ireland at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2026.
La Biennale di Venezia is one of the most important international platforms for visual arts, attracting over half a million visitors, including global curators, gallerists, art critics, and artists and it’s a huge honour for the Dublin based artist and her curation team of Georgina Jackson and Cian O’Brian of the Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art.
The selection was announced by Arts Minister Catherine Martin and Nolan said that, “To represent Ireland in any sphere of cultural activity is a great privilege. To have my work in congregation with so many other artists is a rare opportunity; as is the occasion to reach such large audiences there, and at home with the national tour. Venice is an extraordinary city and to have the great fortune to realise this ambitious project with curator Georgina Jackson of The Douglas Hyde and producer Cian O’Brien is very exciting.
Art has a strange and special capacity to make and test powerful kinds of community with shared knowledge and beauty, however temporary. La Biennale di Venezia is a stage like no other.”
Georgina Jackson also said that “Showing Isabel’s work in Venice is a powerful proposition; motifs that recur in her work include arches, fallen chandeliers, surging waves and dying suns– imagery which will resonate dramatically in the Arsenale”.
Nolan’s exhibitions are rooted in themes of cosmology, history, religion, mythology, mortality, and love, and utilise a variety of mediums including sculpture, textiles, paintings, drawings, photography, and writing. Her work will return to Ireland in 2027 on a national tour, supported by the Arts Council, in venues across the island.
