Seaworld Venice
Seaworld Venice | |
|---|---|
 Austrian performance artist Florentina Holzinger at the opening of Seaworld Venice | |
| art Installation at 2026 Venice Biennale | |
| Location | Giardini della Biennale, Venice, Italy |
| Curator | Nora-Swantje Almes |
Seaworld Venice is the presentation at the Austrian Pavilion for the 2026 Venice Biennale created by the choreographer and theater-maker Florentina Holzinger.[1] It is considered one of the most popular national pavilions at the 2026 Biennale with people waiting up to two hours to enter during the opening days.[1][2]
It was closed on Friday, March 8, 2026 with a sign that said some of their workers decided to participate in an artists’ strike to show solidarity with Palestinians.[3]
Installation
The Guardian described Seaworld Venice as “part temple, part gallery, part theme park, part sewage processing plant.”[4] It is combination of performance‑based works, where the theater company performs 8 hours a day, Among the elements are a nude woman slamming her body inside a bell, a nude woman riding a jet ski in the flooded pavilion, and a performer maneuvering in a water tank sustained by visitors’ urine.[4] It explores issues such as climate change, rising water levels, and systemic failures of various sorts — economic, ecological, and religious.[2]
Reception
Pablo Larios of ArtForum called the installation the “feistiest, strangest, and most memorable performance installation I’ve seen in years.”[5]
Eddy Frankel of The Art Newspaper described it as “a dizzying, immersive, confrontational and shocking rumination on climate change, technology and a flooded, dystopian future.”[6]
References
- 1 2 Marshall, Alex (2026-05-07). "These Toilets in Venice Have the Art World Aflush". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-05-10.
- 1 2 "7 Exhibitions And Pavilions To Visit At The Venice Biennale And Beyond". Vogue Hong Kong. Retrieved 2026-06-06.
- ↑ Marshall, Alex (2026-05-08). "Artists' Strike Closes Pavilions at Venice Biennale, Adding to Upheaval". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-05-10.
- 1 2 Judah, Hettie (2026-05-19). "'How can nudity be so provocative?' Florentina Holzinger on rocking Venice with naked jetskiers, human bells and urine divers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-06-06.
- ↑ Larios, Pablo (2026-05-13). "Venice Biennale 2026: Florentina Holzinger's Venetian Tableaux". Artforum. Retrieved 2026-06-06.
- ↑ Frankel, Eddy (2026-05-05). "'We are complicit': Austrian artist Florentina Holzinger's immersive Venice Biennale pavilion brings apocalypse to the city". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. Retrieved 2026-06-06.