I Baschi alla Biennale 1976/2026

In the year marking the fiftieth anniversary of the events that defined Basque participation in the Venice Biennale of 1976, the Basque Country will return to the Italian city through the initiative I Baschi Alla Biennale 1976/2026, to be held from 6 to 8 May. As highlighted during the presentation held at Vitoria-Gasteiz, this cultural project will combine memory and contemporary creation, offering a critical reflection on the role of art as a fundamental tool for freedom of expression and collective affirmation.

Five decades ago, a group of Basque artists made their voices heard at the Venice Biennale in a historical moment marked by the political transition following Franco’s death and the emergence of democratic demands. Today, the Basque Country returns to Venice with new perspectives, resources and renewed artistic languages, convinced above all that culture is a way of being in the world.

I Baschi alla Biennale 1976/2026 is conceived as a practice-oriented critical platform capable of addressing contemporary reality. It understands memory as a dynamic process, combining archival materials with current creation to reflect on present-day challenges.

The programme brings together academic, artistic and institutional perspectives, fostering dialogue between professionals from the creative and academic fields. The initiative aims to commemorate a key milestone in its cultural memory, to critically revisit that experience and, above all, to encourage dialogue between different generations of creators.

Within the framework of the programme promoted by the Basque Government, the Etxepare Basque Institute, Artium Museoa and the Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, the cultural programme will open on 6 May 2026 with the public presentation of the case study by the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country – Artium Museoa at the Palazzo Contarini della Porta di Ferro (16:00–20:00). The exhibition will also be open on 7 and 8 May, from 10:30 to 18:00 and from 10:30 to 21:30 respectively. This case study will bring together audiovisual materials, sound archives and documentation relating to Basque participation in the 1976 Biennale, presented alongside contemporary works, forming an archive capable of generating new interpretations and research perspectives.

On 7 May, the programme will reach its most institutional dimension at the Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista, with an opening ceremony presided over by the Lehendakari of the Basque Government, Imanol Pradales. This same venue hosted the political conference on the situation of the Basque Country in 1976.

On that same day, the project’s academic conference will also take place. Under the title The Basque Country at the Venice biennale, 1976: Remembering Forward, it will examine the role of the Basque Country in the international context through culture, art and thought, taking the 1976 Biennale as its central focus. The conference will be led by the Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia and the Etxepare Basque Institute, in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country – Artium Museoa, and will feature Joseba Zulaika, Miren Vadillo, Peio Aguirre, Beñat Sarasola and Leire Vergara as guest speakers. The session will take place at the Auditorium Santa Margherita and will conclude with a performance by the collective Tripak, scheduled for 16:00. This auditorium, formerly Cinema Moderno, was one of the venues that hosted audiovisual works by Basque artists during the 1976 Biennale.

As for the case study, it will open on 7 May at 18:30 at Palazzo Contarini della Porta di Ferro with the live performance Irrintzi Repetición by artist Itziar Okariz. The same venue will also host further performances on 8 May at 18:30, including the piece Tripak Tokitik by the collective Tripak.