TOKYO.- The Japan Foundation announced the appointment of artist Ei Arakawa-Nash for the Japan Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. Since the early 2000s, Arakawa-Nash has been at the forefront of renewing the visibility and advancement of performance art internationally and has mined its vintage forms such as Gutai, Tokyo Fluxus, Happenings, Judson Dance Theater, and Viennese Actionism. His work, initially appearing spontaneous or improvised, is underpinned by a deep commitment to collaboration as well as addressing the specific contexts of the people for whom it is created. His participatory installation Mega Please Draw Freely was presented at Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London in 2021, and will be up for 6 months at Haus der Kunst, Munich, starting this coming July as a part of the exhibition For Children. Art Stories since 1968.
Ei Arakawa-Nash was selected by the International Exhibition Project Committee, an advisory body for the president of the Japan Foundation which consists of six art experts; Mami Kataoka, Director, Mori Art Museum; Mika Kuraya, Director, Yokohama Museum of Art; Yusuke Minami, Former Director, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art; Shinobu Nomura, Senior Curator, Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery; Akira Tatehata, Director, Museum of Modern Art, Saitama; and Meruro Washida, Director, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa.
For the Japan Pavilion in 2026, Arakawa-Nash will develop a new installation derived from his perspective as a queer parent and seek new relationships with his newborn twins in order to dissect nationalism and patriarchy at this so-called “Art Olympics.” Arakawa-Nash says “I thought I would never have a chance to represent Japan at the Venice Biennale after I gave up my Japanese nationality a few years ago … Now, my husband and I busily raise two children who are new parts of the Asian diasporic community in Los Angeles. Recently, we re-watched the 1962 film Being Two Isn’t Easy written by Natto Wada. Her script will be a reference point for my performative engagement at the Japan Pavilion in 2026.” A curator for this exhibition will be chosen by the artist at a later date.
Born in 1977 in Fukushima, Japan. Queer Japanese American performance artist based in Los Angeles. By continuously working with others, he destabilizes the subjective “I.” His group performances emphasize the ever-present precarity of art objects and artists’ subjectivities. He is a professor in the Graduate Art program at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. He recently participated in exhibitions at; Haus der Kunst (Munich, 2025), National Art Center, Tokyo (2024), Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (Hong Kong, 2024), Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (2024), Kunsthalle Friart Fribourg (2023), Museion Bozen (Bolzano, 2023), Artists Space (New York, 2021), Tate Modern (London, 2021), Musée d’ Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean (Luxembourg, 2021), Honolulu Biennial (2019).
The Venice Biennale has a longer history than any other international art exhibition in the world. With some 90 countries participating, it presents the world’s latest art on a grand scale.
Japan officially participated in the biennale for the first time in 1952, and it opened its own pavilion in 1956, designed by architect Takamasa Yoshizaka, who studied under Le Corbusier. Since then, the Japan Pavilion has been introducing leading artists to the world with their diverse and fascinating works that attract great international attention. So far, more than 200 artists have exhibited, including Taro Okamoto, Ay-O, Kishio Suga, Tadashi Kawamata, Yayoi Kusama, Rei Naito, Tatsuo Miyajima, Koki Tanaka, Chiharu Shiota. Management and coordination of Japan’s participation is handled by the Japan Foundation.
