VENICE.- In 1976, amid the uncertainty and the struggle for freedom that characterised the Spanish transition to democracy following the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, a group of Basque artists, musicians, poets and civil society gathered in Venice using art as a means of collective expression. At this historical moment, marked by political transformation and the emergence of democratic demands, la Biennale became a stage for international projection.

Rather than standing for a consolidated institutional representation, the seminars held under the slogan Amnistia denontzat (Amnesty for All) in the context of la Biennale stemmed from a collective drive that combined political enthusiasm and commitment to articulate various forms of public expression.

Fifty years later, the Basque Country returns to Venice with the project I Baschi alla Biennale 1976/2026, a cultural programme that connects memory and artistic practice, departing from a reflection on the role of art as a tool for critical engagement with the world.

Through a multidisciplinary approach, the programme does not propose a linear reconstruction of the 1976 experience but rather tackles it from a contemporary perspective capable of addressing both the conditions that made it possible and its current resonances.

Promoted by the Basque Government and led by the Etxepare Basque Institute, co-developed with Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country—Artium Museoa, and with international consultancy and production by Artingenium, I Baschi alla Biennale 1976/2026, brings together academic and artistic perspectives, placing artists and scholars in dialogue within a shared exercise of reflection and forward-looking projection.

The initiative thus aims to critically revisit that experience, and to contextualise the 1976 event within a broader framework of continuities and shifts, connecting the past with the present and offering new ways of interpreting the event.

Programme
The programme begins in Venice on May 6, 2026 (4–8pm) with the opening of the case study hosted at Palazzo Contarini della Porta di Ferro, which will continue on May 7 (10:30am–6pm) and May 8 (10:30am–9:30pm).

The Palazzo Contarini hosts a case study that documents and contextualises materials related to the 1976 Biennale. These materials are the result of an ongoing research project on the period developed by the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country—Artium Museoa.

This case study offers both an opportunity to examine the genealogies that have shaped the present and reflects a strong commitment to research. It brings together cinema and moving image works such as Ama Lur by Néstor Basterretxea and Fernando Larruquert; a film composed of thousands of hand-painted 35 mm frames by José Antonio Sistiaga titled …ere erera baleibu izik subua aruaren…; José Ángel Rebolledo’s Arriluce; and Jose Mari Zabala’s independent work Axut.

The experimental and poetic renewal of Basque music at the time is evoked through a sound fragment from Ikimilikiliklik, a performance by Joxean and Jexux Artze in collaboration with Mikel Laboa, originally presented in I Baschi alla Biennale in 1976.

The case study also includes works from the museum’s collection, such as Mari Puri Herrero’s El juicio de Burgos (manifestación) (1971) and Damaris Pan’s Dobla (2021).

On May 7, at 10am, the official opening ceremony will be held at the Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista, the same venue that hosted a political conference on the situation in the Basque Country back in 1976.

Also on May 7, at the Auditorium Santa Margherita of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the international conference “The Basque Country at the Venice Biennale, 1976: Remembering Forward”, will take place from 9:30am to 4:30pm.

The Auditorium Santa Margherita, formerly Cinema Moderno, is the venue where several films by Basque artists were screened during the 1976 Biennale, now presented at Palazzo Contarini.

The conference is co-curated by an academic committee consisting of Monika Medinabeitia (Director for the Promotion and Dissemination of the Basque Language at the Etxepare Basque Institute), Elena Roseras (Head of the Archives Department—Artium Museoa), and Miren Vadillo (Art historian and professor at the University of the Basque Country, EHU).

The event will examine the role of the Basque context within the international arena through art and thought, addressing themes such as social transformation and artistic practice. Among the invited speakers are curators Peio Aguirre and Leire Vergara, as well as writers and academics including Joseba Zulaika, Beñat Sarasola, and Alessandro Mistrorigo.

The conference will close with a performance by Tripak at 4pm.

The day will continue in the evening with an opening event at 6:30pm at Palazzo Contarini della Porta di Ferro, followed by a performance by artist Itziar Okariz, establishing a dialogue between the different programme venues.

On May 8 the programme will proceed with further performances at Palazzo Contarini, including a new piece by Tripak at 6:30pm, further strengthening the dialogue between historical and contemporary artistic practices.

The initiative is part of a broader research process that will culminate in a presentation of the project at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country—Artium Museoa in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country, Spain).