Artists from Scotland are back at the biggest art festival in the world, the Venice Biennale, which opens this weekend, after a four-year hiatus.
Shame Parade, an exhibition by Glasgow-based duo Bugarin + Castle, opens its doors on Saturday and has been named as a show to watch at the 2026 Biennale.
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Scotland made its debut in Venice in 2003 as part of the “collateral programme” of exhibitions throughout the city, and maintained its presence at every Biennale until 2022.
However, in March 2023, the Scotland and Venice Partnership, which is led by Creative Scotland, announced a “pause” to review the project in the light of “the present financial and planning environment”.
Last April, they announced that Scottish artists would return to Venice this year, and committed to taking part in the next two Biennales, in 2028 and 2030.
Trust for Scotland + Venice at La Biennale di Venezia in 2026. Film curated by Mount Stuart and
produced by Forma. | Image by Dimitri D’Ippolito. Courtesy of the artists and Scotland + Venice.
Emma Nicolson, Head of Visual Art at Creative Scotland: “We carried out a review of the visual art sector and the results came back wholeheartedly in favour of returning to Venice. It’s fantastic to be back.
“It’s such an important opportunity. People say Venice is like the art world Olympics. It’s still the key place to have work presented, and to see work. It attracts a huge audience and we know that curators and collectors come here.”
The Venice Biennale, which runs until November, was founded in 1895 and features a large international exhibition, individual shows by nearly 100 participating countries and a wide-ranging “collateral” programme.
Bugarin + Castle’s exhibition is curated by the Morven Gregor from Mount Stuart Trust, the historic house on Bute which has been running a contemporary visual art programme for 25 years. The exhibition will be restaged at Mount Stuart in 2027.
Simon Groom, director of National and International Partnerships at National Galleries Scotland, spoke of his “relief” at Creative Scotland’s decision to return to Venice.
He said: “It was gratifying that when we were not here everyone was very concerned. It showed that we were missed, that we were bringing something.
“I think what they missed was a small country that has a great diversity of art practice. Over the years, we’ve presented a great variety of artists, from Graham Fagen to Rachel Maclean to Alberta Whittle.
“It’s absolutely crucial to be in Venice. It’s the only visual art cultural event that is mentioned in the Scottish Government’s international strategy. I’m delighted we’re back and Creative Scotland has commited for the next three editions.
“It’s a recognition of how powerfully creative Scotland is across all the cultural disciplines.”
Davide Bugarin, who is originally from the Philippines, and Angel Cohn Castle began collaborating ten years ago. Their work has been shown at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery, Tate Modern and the ICA in London, and will shortly be shown in New York.
Shame Parade is inspired by medieval public shaming rituals in which spectacle, sound and costume were used to punish those whose behaviour was seen to transgress the norms.
The artists explore the concept from a contemporary queer perspective in a new 20-minute film and two sculptural installations.
Angel Cohn Castle said: “Public shaming rituals were often performed when people did not conform to gender stereotypes, and cross dressing was often used as an aspect of it.
“As artists who are queer and trans, and have experience of cabaret and drag, it was important to us not to take a simple defensive position, but to look at the complexities.”