November 21, 2026 | 7 P.M.
October 21, 2026 (Venice, Italy) — 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).
Hartwig Art Foundation is the commissioner of the Closing Étude in Venice, and will also present a new Étude in Amsterdam in 2027.
NOTES TO EDITORS
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
SEAWORLD VENICE is realized on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport, Division IV – Arts and Culture. The lead partners and Étude commissioners are the Bukhman Foundation, Hartwig Art Foundation, and Thaddaeus Ropac gallery. The project is supported by the following partners: the Friends of the Austrian Pavilion, Eva Dichand, Phileas – The Austrian Office for Contemporary Art, and More Spirit Please. The institutional partners are Ursula Blickle Stiftung, Gropius Bau / Berliner Festspiele (Berlin), Amant (Brooklyn, New York), and Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna). Public funding is provided by Land Niederösterreich, Land Salzburg, Land Kärnten, and the City of Vienna. The full list of project partners can be found here: https://www.seaworldvenice.at/thank-you
About Florentina Holzinger
Holzinger’s works have been awarded the Nestroy (TANZ, 2020) and DER FAUST awards (Ophelia’s Got Talent, 2023) and have been selected by the Theatertreffen Berlin four times in a row (TANZ, Ophelia’s Got Talent, SANCTA, A Year without Summer). Besides her stage productions, Holzinger creates Études, an ongoing series of site-specific, one-off performances in public space that have been presented in collaboration with the Schinkel Pavillon Berlin, Bergen Kunsthall, Atonal Festival, and Wiener Festwochen, among others. Since 2021, she has been an associate artist at Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin and since February 2026 she is represented by Thaddaeus Ropac gallery.
About Nora-Swantje Almes
Nora-Swantje Almes is a curator with a focus on performance in the visual arts context and performative exhibition formats. She has been Curator of the Live Programme and Outreach at Gropius Bau Berlin since 2024. Prior to this, she headed the live programme at Bergen Kunsthall, Norway, for three years, where she developed the commissioned work Harbour Étude with Florentina Holzinger and her team in summer 2024. In her curatorial career, she has held positions at Glasgow International, Participant Inc., New York, Artangel London, and the Schinkel Pavillon Berlin.
Image Credits:
SEAWORLD VENICE, Florentina Holzinger © Celestia Studio, courtesy of Thaddaeus Ropac gallery