Clearly, the Gulf countries have grasped the power of culture and the arts as both a tool of soft power and a means of economic expansion, positioning themselves as global destinations rather than economies solely reliant on oil. Following a series of recent diplomatic maneuvers—including Saudi Arabia’s cultural agreement with the U.K.—Qatar is now cementing its influence at the Venice Biennale with the announcement of a permanent national pavilion in the Giardini. This marks the first new addition to the Biennale’s historic grounds since the South Korean pavilion designed by Seok Chul Kim and Franco Mancuso debuted in 1995.
“La Biennale di Venezia is the world’s pre-eminent gathering in art and architecture, and the Giardini is the historic landscape where extraordinary pavilions stand as ambassadors for their nations,” said Qatar Museums chairperson Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, in a statement. The Sheikha, who was on Observer’s 2024 list of the most influential people in art, also oversees Qatar’s biennale presentations.
This milestone follows a series of agreements between Venice and Qatar, culminating in the signing of the “Protocol of Cooperation between Qatar Museums and the Municipality of Venice” this past June. The accord formalized their commitment to “strengthen their existing relationships and enhance collaboration in the cultural and socio-economic fields among Qatar, Venice and the Italian Republic.” Much like Saudi Arabia’s financial support for France’s heritage and cultural sector, the Qatar-Venice partnership includes funding for “the implementation of structural interventions aimed at restoring some symbolic parts of the City of Venice.”
Set to go up next to the bookshop of the Central Pavilion, Qatar’s new national pavilion remains without an announced architect, leaving speculation open as to who will helm this high-profile project. While it won’t be completed in time for the 2025 Biennale Architettura opening in May, it is expected to debut as part of the itinerary for the 2026 Venice Biennale curated by Koyo Kouoh. In the interim, the site will serve as the stage for Community Centre (2025), a major installation by Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari, who is also contributing to “Beyti Beytak. My home is your home. (La mia casa è la tua casa),” a survey of Middle Eastern architecture hosted at Venice’s ACP-Palazzo Franchetti for the Biennale Architettura. That exhibition will be organized by Qatar Museums’ Art Mill Museum, a forthcoming institution dedicated to international modern and contemporary art. Slated to open in 2030, the museum will transform an industrial flour mill site, completing Qatar’s cultural triangle alongside the Museum of Islamic Art and the National Museum of Qatar. Meanwhile, the country is also advancing plans for the Lusail Museum, a five-story landmark designed by Herzog & de Meuron that will house the world’s largest collection of Orientalist paintings.
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All these new museums are central to Qatar’s National Vision 2030, a strategy that positions culture and the arts at the forefront of the country’s development. By investing in world-class institutions, preserving its heritage and fostering creativity, Qatar aims to solidify its status as a leading cultural hub in the region and beyond.
Meanwhile, the Venice Biennale continues to face criticism for its adherence to the “National Pavilions” model, which many see as an anachronistic structure that reinforces nationalistic divisions rather than fostering the transcultural dialogue urgently needed in today’s interconnected world. Beyond this, the current arrangement remains a reflection of a world order and power dynamic that has evolved significantly since the Biennale’s inception. The Giardini, largely designed and developed around the late 19th-century founding of the Biennale, embodies a Eurocentric and Western-dominated perspective that historically marginalized artists from other regions and perpetuates an outdated narrative of art history focused on a handful of dominant nations and institutions.
Recent editions of the Biennale, however, have worked to shift this perspective, elevating historically overlooked voices. Cecilia Alemani’s Biennale foregrounded women artists and visionaries, while Adriano Pedrosa’s curation deepened the Biennale’s engagement with the Global South and Indigenous knowledge. This trajectory of reexamination and inclusion is likely to continue with the upcoming 2026 edition.
For the many “new countries” that have joined the Biennale over the years, participation has largely taken place outside the Giardini, in the Arsenale or other scattered venues across the city. During the last Venice Biennale, Qatar was presented not in the Giardini but in the ACP-Palazzo Franchetti, just under the Ponte dell’Accademia, where “Your Ghost Are Mine”—a widely acclaimed survey of video works and films from the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia—was staged alongside the Portugal Pavilion and ACP-Palazzo Franchetti’s in-house exhibition “Breast.”
“In the spirit of curiosity, exploration and sincere human exchange that characterizes Venice and its Biennale, I welcome Qatar to the Giardini as a powerful global source of creativity and cross-cultural understanding,” said Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, president of La Biennale di Venezia, in a statement.
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