Afghanistan has centuries of music, visual art, poetry, and craft — a culture that is distinct and living.
What it lacks is a legitimate way to represent that culture at the Venice Biennale. National pavilions are put forward by states, and under its current regime, Afghanistan has no state actor able to do so. Its place at the Biennale should not remain empty.
The Afghanistan Pavilion 2028 creates a space for Afghan artists and cultural voices — across Afghanistan and its diaspora — to represent themselves. Led by AFI and ILA in collaboration with Freedom Canvas Initiative (FCI), it is being built the way national pavilions are built: a curator with standing, a governance structure, a clear artistic vision — with the Afghan cultural community in place of a ministry.
On 9 October 2026, the initiative becomes public in Venice — the first step on the road toward Afghan representation at the 2028 Venice Biennale.
Practical Details
- 9 October 2026, 18:00
- Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Santa Maria Formosa Castello 5252, Venezia
- The event will be held in English
- Seating is limited; registration is required here
پروگرام
18:00 | Welcome & introduction
Welcome by the organizers and a short introduction to the initiative.
18:10 | Panel discussion & Artistic Presentations
A conversation on Afghan artistic presence in Venice, the vision for 2028, and the first steps toward the project.
18:55 | Open space & conversation
An informal space for artists, curators, cultural workers, institutions, and guests to meet and exchange ideas.
Speakers
Panelists
Richard Bennett — UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan.
Jeanno Gaussi — Visual artist. Born in Kabul and raised between Kabul, Delhi, and Berlin, she works across film, video, photography, installation, and text, exploring memory, identity, and place.
Yama Rahimi — Artist, curator, and activist; Executive Director of Freedom Canvas Initiative e.V. (FCI). Trained in film at Kabul University, his curatorial work focuses on Afghan art, censorship, and displacement.
Leeza Ahmady — Curator, educator, and Director of the Asia Contemporary Art Forum. Born and raised in Kabul and based in New York, she curated the Afghanistan and Central Asia Pavilions at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005.
Jonathan Watkins — Curator and writer. Director of Ikon, Birmingham, from 1999 to 2022, he has curated international biennials and the Iraqi Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2013.
Moderator
Sanjay Sethi — Co-Executive Director, Artistic Freedom Initiative (AFI) and Initiative pour la Liberté Artistique (ILA). He oversees the organisations’ advocacy programs and legal services, with fifteen years in public service and international human rights law.
Organizers & partners
Led by Artistic Freedom Initiative (AFI) and Initiative pour la Liberté Artistique (ILA), in partnership with Freedom Canvas Initiative e.V. (FCI), Germany.
