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Montreal Artist Abbas Akhavan to Represent Canada at the Venice Biennale
The multidisciplinary artist's site-responsive installation, Entre chien et loup, has transformed the Canada Pavilion into a flourishing garden for this year's international art exhibition
Published: July 19, 2026
Montreal-based artist Abbas Akhavan has been selected to represent Canada at the 2026 edition of the Venice Biennale, one of the most prestigious international showcases for contemporary art. Commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada, his exhibition, titled Entre chien et loup, has become the latest presentation to occupy the Canada Pavilion at the historic Giardini della Biennale.
Akhavan, an Iranian-Canadian artist known for his incisive, site-responsive practice, was previously acquired by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, which holds his early-career work Study for a Garden. His installation for the pavilion features giant water lilies of the genus Victoria, whose seeds travelled from the Royal Botanic Gardens to flourish in the Venetian setting throughout the run of the exhibition.
The National Gallery of Canada has commissioned artists for the Canada Pavilion since the 1950s, with past representatives including Kapwani Kiwanga and Stan Douglas. The Biennale itself, one of the oldest and most closely watched exhibitions in the international art calendar, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to Venice each edition, giving national pavilions significant visibility among curators, critics and collectors.
The pavilion has continued to evolve throughout the run of the Biennale, with the National Gallery of Canada sharing updates on the water lilies as they grow and change with the Venetian seasons. The living, growing quality of the installation has drawn particular attention from visitors and critics, who describe it as a work that resists a single, fixed reading.
Akhavan's selection adds to a growing list of Canadian artists gaining international recognition this year, alongside major domestic exhibitions such as Qillaniq at the National Gallery of Canada and the shortlist announcement for the 2026 Sobey Art Award, underscoring a strong year for Canadian contemporary art on both the national and world stage.
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