Benjamin Orlow presents 'Ritual City' at the Nordic Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2026

London-based Finnish artist Benjamin Orlow, together with artists Klara Kristalova (Sweden) and Tori Wrånes (Norway) present How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin? at the Nordic Countries Pavilion 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The exhibition runs from 9 May until 22 November 2026.

Benjamin Orlow’s work titled Ritual City fills the pavilion’s interior with a colossal sculptural form, improvised in situ from raw clay. Emerging from behind the trees, it takes the shape of a disembodied, partitioned figure, held in a precarious tension between cohesion and collapse. On the pavilion’s façade, a severed head is propped on steel piles, with wooden spikes shooting from its eyes. The sculpture echoes enduring mythological symbols of destruction and simultaneous rebirth. As the clay dries, cracks and disintegrates over the course of the exhibition, Orlow’s practice emphasises process over permanence: the body not an ideal to be realised, but a site of continual negotiation.

The exhibition transforms the pavilion into a sculptural, mythical environment where bodies, materials and architecture interact in shifting and unstable ways. The exhibition is commissioned by Kiasma and co-commissioned by Moderna Museet, Sweden, and OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway.

Across hybrid works that merge plant, animal and human forms, the artists harness the language of myth as a universal point of reference to explore cycles of decay, renewal and transformation, and the deep interconnectedness of all things. In an era marked by environmental disconnection, geopolitical instability and the disruption of borders and identities, myth becomes a lens through which to reflect on our shared human condition and to navigate contemporary global challenges.

Orlow examines historical transitions, material culture and human interactions with built environments. His sculptures are often monumental, embodying solitude or the metamorphosis inherent in life's cyclical nature. For La Biennale di Venezia 2026 Benjamin Orlow prepared a series of works called Ritual City, created between 2023–2025.

In February, the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art organised a conversation and studio visit with Benjamin Orlow. The audience had a rare opportunity to meet the artist at his studio and explore his upcoming work. The conversation was moderated by Anna Mustonen, the Chief Curator of The Nordic Pavilion and Kiasma, and London-based curator and writer Yates Norton.

In addition to his own practice, Orlow curates and manages the project space St Chads in London’s Kings Cross, focusing on sculpture and installation.

Benjamin Orlow has exhibited at Kunsthalle Seinäjoki (2025, Finland), Des Bains (2024, London, UK), Kohta Kunsthalle (2023, Helsinki, Finland), Horst-KANAL Centre Pompidou (2022, Brussels, Belgium) and Vasa Konsthall (2021, Vaasa, Finland).

The exhibition at the Nordic Pavilion is curated by Kiasma's Chief Curator Anna Mustonen. It is commissioned by Kiasma in collaboration with Moderna Museet and OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway.

"The exhibition invites visitors to journey through a dynamic interplay of imagination and reality that bridges Nordic cultural heritage with broader global contexts. Sverre Fehn's iconic architecture itself serves as a timeless backdrop that fosters a dialogue between art, culture, and the built environment.", – curator Anna Mustonen says.