Marking the finale of SEAWORLD VENICE, Florentina Holzinger’s contribution to the Austrian Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the artist and her team will present the Closing Étude on November 21, 2026, at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia in Venice, built by a Christian confraternity in the fourteenth century. SEAWORLD VENICE unfolds beyond the Giardini della Biennale in the format of Holzinger’s Études series, consisting of site-specific actions in public space—an ongoing body of work the artist has been developing since 2020. Curated by Nora-Swantje Almes, SEAWORLD VENICE is realized on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport, Division IV – Arts and Culture. The Études are commissioned by the lead partners: the Bukhman Foundation, Hartwig Art Foundation, and Thaddaeus Ropac gallery.
Retrieved from the lagoon during the Opening Étude, the bell, a central element in Holzinger’s work and SEAWORLD VENICE, rang every hour at the Austrian Pavilion. As an object suspended between the sacred and the secular, the bell carries multiple temporalities and meanings. It calls communities into being, announces moments of celebration and crisis, of life and death—and resonates as both a ritual instrument and a tool of authority. In a ceremonial procession, it now makes its way to the historical building for a final collective celebration.
Following the previous SEAWORLD VENICE Études and the live installation at the Austrian Pavilion, Florentina Holzinger and her team unite to bring their exploration of purification rituals and renewal cycles to a close by inviting audiences to a final dinner. This last Venice Étude traces a material transformation from solid to liquid, forging a relic. Containing all the bodily waste collected from pavilion visitors over the past seven months, the distilled remains serve as a monument for the future, which will be presented in front of the closed pavilion on November 22. As the bell falls silent and the water stops circulating, the Closing Étude draws the final curtain on SEAWORLD VENICE.
The Études series also takes the form of satellite projects that build narratives across different geographies. These projects have been presented at the Vienna Festival, the Nitsch Foundation, Kunsthaus Bregenz, and TRANSART – Festival for Contemporary Cultures in Bolzano.
SEAWORLD VENICE will be presented in adapted versions at Gropius Bau, Berlin (March 2027); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (June 2027); and Amant, Brooklyn, New York (spring 2028).
The Hartwig Art Foundation is the commissioner of the Closing Étude in Venice, and will also present a new Étude in Amsterdam in 2027.
Visitor Information
The Closing Étude will take place on Saturday, November 21, 2026, at 7 P.M. at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia di Venezia.
Address
Sestiere di Cannaregio, 3599
30121 Venice, Italy
