Isabel Nolan to Represent Ireland at 61st Venice Biennale

Isabel Nolan b. 1974, Ireland Follow +

Ireland’s culture minister announced Isabel Nolan as the country’s representative for the next Venice Biennale, which opens in April 2026.

In her sculpture, textiles, paintings, drawings, photography and writing, Nolan explores big themes, including cosmology and deep history, religion and mythology, mortality and love. She has shown at venues including Château La Coste, Palais de Tokyo, and Artspace Sydney, and will participate in the 13th Liverpool Biennial, titled BEDROCK, from 7 June 2025.

Georgina Jackson and The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art will curate the Irish Pavilion.

‘Artist Isabel Nolan is a leading light of contemporary Irish visual art,’ Jackson said. ‘I am honoured and excited to work with Isabel, producer Cian O’Brien, the team at The Douglas Hyde, Culture Ireland and The Arts Council to deliver Ireland at Venice 2026, and build on the legacy of successful previous pavilions.’

‘To have my work in congregation with so many other artists is a rare opportunity; as is the occasion to reach such large audiences there, and at home with the national tour,’ Nolan said.

‘Art has a strange and special capacity to make and test powerful kinds of community with shared knowledge and beauty, however temporary. La Biennale di Venezia is a stage like no other,’ she said.

After showing in Venice, in 2027 Nolan’s work will return to Ireland on a national tour, supported by the Arts Council. Ireland’s current representative in Venice is Eimear Walshe, whose works are on view through the end of November. —[O]

Main image: (Left to Right) Emma Moore, Curator Georgina Jackson, Artist Isabel Nolan, Producer Cian O'Brien, Niamh Darling and Rachel McIntyre at The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art, Dublin, 2024. Photo: Ste Murray.