Biennale Venice visit 2026

This year, Art & Science students organised an excursion to Venice by themselves. Read their travel report written by Majedeh Sadat Shahvelayati.

A Trip to Venice: Biennale Arte 2026

On Monday, 28 September, the students of Art & Science made their way to their respective accommodations in Venice. Some arrived by overnight train, while others travelled by plane. They all eventually met on the main island.

The following day, our visit began at the Arsenale. From the very first encounter with the exhibition space, it became clear that space, light, and even smell were integral to the experience of the artworks.

One of the distinctive aspects of experiencing art at the Biennale each year is that the city itself becomes part of the experience. Moving between the Arsenale, the Giardini, and the exhibitions and pavilions scattered across the island continually reminded us of how the fabric of a city becomes intertwined with its exhibition spaces. The works ranged from immersive installations engaging all five senses to pieces exploring materials, living systems, and technological infrastructures.

For Art & Science students, who are continually involved in organising and participating in art exhibitions, encountering a curated exhibition on such a large scale offered an opportunity for inspiration and study. Observing how scientific concepts and artworks influence one another, and how each is in turn shaped by the other, provided valuable material for further exploration in our own practices.

When visiting the Biennale, you quickly realise that experiencing an exhibition as extensive as this in just two or three days requires careful and selective planning to avoid missing noteworthy works.

As always, Art & Science students served as guides for one another. During breaks throughout the day, over meals, and while resting or having a drink, conversations about art, critical discussions, and recommendations for further visits were constantly exchanged. These included opinions on which pavilions were worth waiting in long queues for, as well as recommendations for hidden gems scattered throughout the city that would have been much harder to discover without one another’s guidance.

After working through the visit checklists that had emerged from the students’ conversations throughout the day and late into the night, the visit came to an end for most students in the eastern part of the island, at the Giardini. Where the architecture and surrounding environment provided a setting for encountering different countries’ approaches to art, as well as an opportunity to explore the choices behind their selection of artists and artworks and to question the reasoning behind those choices.

Ultimately, the visit to Venice, the encounter with artworks from around the world, and the many discussions and exchanges of ideas provided a opportunity for inspiration, observation, and inquiry, opening up perspectives on a path in which curiosity and the exploration of connections between disciplines play a central role.