Washwasha brings together artists Mays Albaik, Jawad Al Malhi, Farah Al Qasimi, Alaa Edris, Lamya Gargash, and Taus Makhacheva, whose practices contemplate contemporary soundscapes in the UAE, shaped by migration, transience, and long-term ties to the land. A phonetic transliteration of the Arabic word for “whispering,” Washwasha is a starting point for exploring themes of movement, technology, oral histories, and the relationship between language, body, and identity. These themes reflect the lived conditions of many who shape and are shaped by the UAE’s cultural landscape. From oral storytelling to poetry circles and locally initiated broadcasting efforts, sound has long functioned as a platform for collective self-representation. Washwasha situates contemporary artistic practices within this continuum of transmission and exchange.
These histories reveal the UAE not as a fixed cultural form, but as a space shaped by mobility, correspondence, and layered forms of listening across land and sea. By contrasting early collective sound practices with contemporary technologically mediated listening cultures, the exhibition reflects on how shifts in infrastructure in the UAE, whether architectural, technological, or social, have transformed the ways communities hear and are heard.
Inside the National Pavilion United Arab Emirates, Washwasha, designed by Büro Koray Duman (B– KD) Architects, responds directly to the acoustic signature of the building’s materiality and architecture. The exhibition is organized as a sequence of chambers, guiding visitors from zones of close listening to areas consumed by noise and sonic overlap.
The Pavilion’s presentation at the Biennale Arte 2026 will be accompanied by a publication featuring a set of essays and conversations that approach sound from historical, personal, and theoretical perspectives.
The National Pavilion UAE engages communities in the UAE to support the growth of local, cultural, and creative industries through public programming and professional opportunities. The Pavilion continues its commitment to its Venice Internship program, now in its fifteenth year with over 300 interns having completed the program. Two of the participating artists within the exhibition are Venice Internship alumnae: Alaa Edris (2009) and Mays Albaik (2016).
His Excellency Sheikh Salem bin Khalid Al Qassimi, UAE Minister of Culture, comments: “Since its inception, the National Pavilion UAE has nurtured and celebrated the country’s leading creative talents, bringing them to the global stage of La Biennale di Venezia. The Pavilion plays a pivotal role in our cultural ecosystem and with each edition this is further cemented as its prominence and recognition grows at home. The Pavilion demonstrates how the UAE contributes to global conversations on art, design, and architecture. We remain committed to supporting this vital platform.”
Angela Migally, Executive Director, Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, states: “The National Pavilion UAE continues its commitment to supporting artistic inquiry that speaks to the complexities of our time. This project brings together research, practice, and public dialogue, offering a space for reflection, exchange, and new ways of seeing. We are honored to participate at the Biennale Arte 2026 with an exhibition that contributes meaningfully to global conversations while remaining deeply connected to the cultural contexts from which it emerges.”
Bana Kattan, Curator, comments: “Washwasha is an exhibition led by the artists involved. Each brings a unique and valuable approach to the title and its themes. It is an honor to work with these artists, who are integral to the artistic landscape of the UAE, and with the National Pavilion UAE on this occasion. The research the exhibition prompted, which is further explored in the publication, offers a variety of discourses on the liminality and elusiveness of intangible histories.”
Laila Binbrek, Director, National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia, adds: “As the National Pavilion UAE prepares to open in Venice, this exhibition affirms our commitment to sharing the UAE’s rich intangible culture through contemporary artistic expression. Bringing together artists whose practices span generations, the presentation reflects the depth, continuity, and evolving nature of creative life in the UAE. Under Bana Kattan’s thoughtful curatorial direction, the Pavilion foregrounds diverse artistic perspectives and under-explored narratives, while demonstrating the impact of sustained investment in artistic development, mentorship, and collaboration. This edition of the Pavilion looks forward, inviting international audiences to engage with practices shaped by lived experience, shared histories, and the dynamic cultural fabric of the UAE.”
The Biennale Arte 2026 will mark the UAE’s fifteenth participation at the International Art and Architecture Exhibitions of La Biennale di Venezia and its ninth participation in the International Art Exhibition.
The National Pavilion UAE is commissioned by the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation and supported by the UAE Ministry of Culture, with a permanent pavilion at the Arsenale – Sale d’Armi. For more information on the National Pavilion UAE at the International Art and Architecture Exhibitions of La Biennale di Venezia, visit nationalpavilionuae.org or follow the National Pavilion UAE on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
About Mays Albaik (b. 1991, Abu Dhabi, UAE; where she lives and works)
Mays Albaik is a visual artist working across video, performance, text, and installation. Her practice examines how the body negotiates place and language under conditions of migration and displacement, exploring entanglements of land, memory, and translation. She currently heads the Programs and Community Initiatives at 421 Arts Campus, Abu Dhabi. Albaik’s solo exhibition A Terranean Love Note at Tashkeel, Dubai (2021) was developed under the mentorship of Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Ala Younis, and her work has since been presented at the Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger (2024), UAE Embassy, Brussels (2023), Louvre Abu Dhabi (2022), and Manarat Al Saadiyat (2022). She has participated in residencies including the SOMA Summer Program, Mexico City (2025), and Darat Al Funun, Amman (2021). Albaik holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture from the American University of Sharjah.
About Jawad Al Malhi (b. 1969, East Jerusalem, Palestine; lives and works in East Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi, UAE)
Jawad Al Malhi works in painting, sculpture, photography, video, and installation. Al Malhi presented his most recent solo exhibition, Wa Ba3den, at Lumiar Cité, Lisbon (2025). Select group exhibitions include Thinking Historically in the Present at Sharjah Biennial 15, curated by Hoor al Qasimi (2023); The Worldly House, Documenta 13, Kassel (2012); Palestine c/o Venice, a collateral event at the Biennale Arte 2009, curated by Salwa Mikdadi; and Global(e) Resistance, Centre Pompidou, Paris, curated by Christine Macel (2020). He has been artist-in-residence at Delfina Foundation, Maumaus Ecole Lisbon, IASPIS Stockholm, the Accented Residency at Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, and the Cultural Foundation, Abu Dhabi. His works are held in private and public collections in Europe and the Middle East, including the British Museum, Imperial War Museum, Centre Pompidou, Kamel Lazzar Foundation, Barjeel Collection, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah Art Foundation.
About Farah Al Qasimi (b. 1991, Abu Dhabi, UAE; lives and works in New York, US, and Abu Dhabi, UAE)
Farah Al Qasimi works with photographs, films, and music. Often employing large-scale vinyl imagery and photographic prints and screens, she is interested in the internet and its hierarchies of information and emotion. Her work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Guggenheim New York and Abu Dhabi. In 2025, she was selected as a Guggenheim Fellow, awarded by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Her work has been presented at Tate Modern (2024), C/O Berlin (2023), and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2021).
About Alaa Edris (b. 1986, Dubai, UAE; lives and works between Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, UAE)
Alaa Edris uses photography, film, and performance to enact experimental mappings and manipulations of her social and urban environment. Acting as anthropologist, cartographer, and scifi voyager, she contends with dominant issues from the field of Arab artistic research, including the construction of gender, the relationship between tradition and progress, and language as a medium for identifying, shaping, and articulating a culture. Edris’ work has been exhibited at the Seoul Museum of Art (2025), Art Dubai (2024), KBH.G – Kunststiftung Basel H. Geiger (2023), Manarat Al Saadiyat (2022, 2019, 2018), the Middle East Institute Art Gallery in Washington D.C. (2021), Venice Art Projects (2021), Sharjah Biennial (2019), Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah (2016, 2014) and Oratorio di San Ludovico in Venice (2011). She completed the Salama bint Hamdan Emerging Artist Fellowship program in 2015, and participated in a residency at Fondazione Cini, Venice, in 2011. In 2019, she presented her first solo exhibition at 1X1 Gallery, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai.
About Lamya Gargash (b. 1982, Dubai, UAE, where she lives and works)
Lamya Gargash is a visual artist working primarily in photography and film. Her practice explores the aesthetics of overlooked and transitional spaces within Emirati society, focusing on the architectural and social residues of rapid urban change. Through images of abandoned homes, budget hotels, and domestic interiors such as the majlis, she traces narratives of memory, absence, and cultural identity. Gargash presented her Familial series in the UAE’s first national pavilion at the 53rd International Art Exhibition at La Biennale di Venezia. Her artist book Presence (2006), published by The Third Line, was later exhibited internationally, including solo presentations in Cologne and Bologna. Gargash’s work has also been shown at the FotoFest Biennial and screened at festivals including the Locarno Film Festival. She received first prize at the Emirates Film Competition (2004) for Wet Tiles. Gargash holds degrees from the American University of Sharjah and Central Saint Martins, London.
About Taus Makhacheva (b.1983, Moscow, Russia; lives and works between Dubai, UAE and Moscow, Russia)
Taus Makhacheva creates works that explore the restless connections between historical narratives and fictions of cultural authenticity. Often humorous, her art considers the resilience of images, objects, and bodies emerging out of stories and personal experiences that complicate notions of empires. Her methodology involves reworking materials, landscapes, and monuments, pushing against walls, opening up ceilings, and proliferating institutional spaces with a cacophony of voices. Her work is held in the collections of Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Art Gallery of Ontario, Sharjah Art Foundation and Van Abbemuseum. Selected exhibitions include the Bukhara Biennial (2025), the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale (2024), the Gwangju Biennale (2023), and the 57th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2017).
About Bana Kattan (b.1986, Abu Dhabi, UAE; lives and works in New York, US)
Bana Kattan is Curator and Associate Head of Exhibitions at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project and has been appointed curator of the National Pavilion UAE at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2026. Previously, she served as Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Curator at the NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery. Her recent projects include solo exhibitions with Wafaa Bilal (2025), Maryam Taghavi (2024), and Mona Hatoum (2023). Kattan holds an MA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a recipient of the Barjeel Global Fellowship and Getty-CAA International Program Grants.
About Tala Nassar (b. 1997, Amman, Jordan; lives and works in Boston, US)
Tala Nassar is a curator and researcher whose work focuses on modern and contemporary Arab art. She currently works at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Nassar holds an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Art and Art History from New York University Abu Dhabi. She was the inaugural David Webb Museum Fellow at the New York University Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, where she later served as Associate Manager of Curatorial Projects. She served as Assistant Curator for Khaleej Modern: Pioneers and Collectives in the Arabian Peninsula at the NYUAD Art Gallery (2022) as well as Curatorial Research Assistant for Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim: Between Sunrise and Sunset for the National Pavilion UAE at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2022), and Artists and the Cultural Foundation: The Early Years at the Cultural Foundation, Abu Dhabi (2018).
About the National Pavilion UAE – La Biennale di Venezia
The National Pavilion UAE is an award-winning pavilion that curates the untold stories about the UAE’s arts and architecture through its participation in the International Art and Architecture Exhibitions organized by La Biennale di Venezia. It provides a high-profile platform for curatorial concepts that address critical international conversations from a distinctive local perspective.
For every participation in the International Art and Architecture Exhibitions of La Biennale di Venezia, one of the world’s most significant and rigorous cultural platforms, the National Pavilion UAE appoints and works with curators, artists, and contributors to conceive, research, and develop an exhibition and accompanying publication that advance and preserve understanding of the UAE’s cultural landscape.
Since 2009, the National Pavilion UAE’s exhibitions have explored the nation’s cultural evolution, including experimental twentieth-century artists and the diverse contemporary scene. In 2021, the National Pavilion UAE’s exhibition, titled Wetland and curated by architects Wael Al Awar and Kenichi Teramoto, was awarded the Golden Lion for best National Participation at the Biennale Architettura 2021, coinciding with the National Pavilion’s 10th participation in the International Art and Architecture Exhibitions of La Biennale di Venezia.
In parallel with its exhibitions in Venice, the National Pavilion UAE engages with communities in the UAE to support the growth of the local cultural and creative industries, through public programming and professional opportunities. Alongside an extensive pool of artists, curators, researchers, and partners who have contributed to its exhibitions over the years, the UAE’s Venice internship program has provided training and hands-on experience to more than three hundred interns, many of whom are now working in the cultural sector.
The National Pavilion UAE is an independent non-profit organization, commissioned by the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation and supported by the UAE Ministry of Culture.
