"With all those pavilions, some nations struggle to stand out. Not Belgium."

The Belgian pavilion shines in Venice

Video
Two people dressed in black climb a large wooden structure covered with white embossed plaques and three mounted drums inside the Belgian pavilion in Venice.
© Reinout Hiel

The New York Times wasn’t the only outlet to be deeply impressed by IT NEVER SSST. Miet Warlop’s performative exhibition is certainly a spectacular affair, causing quite the furore – and long queues – at the 61st Venice Biennale since its debut in early May. When you step inside the pavilion, you enter a space where chants, music, dance and plaster-cast words are never on hold. Yet despite this breakneck drive, the ritual manages to provide moments of catharsis in times of collective disorientation.

  • A person in black clothing swings a large blue flag inside the Belgian Pavilion in Venice.
    © Reinout Hiel
  • Four people dressed in black sit and crouch on wooden benches at the Belgian Pavilion in Venice, with white rectangular plaster panels displaying various words. A drum rests on the steps beside them.
    © Reinout Hiel
  • Two people in dark clothing kneel on a wooden platform in the Belgian Pavilion in Venice, facing each other with gloved hands raised, before tiered benches adorned with white rectangular plaster words and drums.
    © Reinout Hiel

This is the first time that a performance takes centre stage in the Belgian pavilion at the Biennale. Every day, and for seven months straight, the pavilion fills up with plaster words that sweep through the space like a whirlwind, thanks to the tireless performers who carry them, pass them on and smash them to pieces. Meanwhile, the performance and soundtrack flow seamlessly into one another, creating a relentless energy. 

In this tempestuous setting, the words seem to lose their grip. Scattered across the wooden panels that line the walls, they appear abandoned, forgotten by time. Like the remnants of an old karaoke machine, waiting for a new breath, a new arrangement.

A lot of people, in the moment we are living in, might feel like stomping their feet, shouting, crying, and hitting something with a stick. At the Belgium pavilion, that sense of release bursts through the doors.

The Art Newspaper

The Belgian pavilion is the talk of the town and features prominently in all the staff picks and ‘Pavilions That Have the Venice Biennale Buzzing’ lists. It goes without saying that Kanal is absolutely delighted to be the institutional partner of the project and to be hosting IT NEVER SSST in Brussels in March 2027.

The who’s who of IT NEVER SSST
Last-minute updates about performances in the Belgian pavilion?
More on the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia

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