Happiness @ Lowlands (21 – 23 August 2026)
Withdrawal of The Fortress from the Visitor’s Lion competition
Dries Verhoeven and Rieke Vos have joined a broad group of artists in withdrawing their names from the Visitors’ Lions Awards of the 61st Venice Biennale.
This decision follows the resignation of the official jury after a conflict with the Biennale’s organisers. The jury had previously announced that it did not wish to award prizes to countries whose leaders are accused by the International Criminal Court of serious crimes, including Russia and Israel.
Shortly afterwards, the Biennale introduced the Visitors’ Lions Awards, a public prize in which visitors vote for artists and national pavilions. In doing so, a politically charged situation is presented as a neutral competition, while Russia and Israel continue to participate without further contextualisation.
Reflecting on his decision, Dries Verhoeven said:
“The jury’s decision to withdraw was courageous and should have been taken seriously. The public award is a form of political distraction; moreover, the pavilions that attract the largest audiences in the Giardini and the Arsenale stand a greater chance of winning such an award. That is undesirable. Politics is more valuable than winning a prize.”
Steunverklaring voor ANGA
We are honored to be realizing a work in the Dutch Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale. At the same time, it is deeply troubling that Israel is granted a national pavilion at this edition. A state that has been credibly accused of genocide is given the opportunity to art-wash itself—ironically in the Sale d’Armi (The Armory).
We therefore support the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) in its effort to prevent Israel’s participation in the Biennale.
With pavilions for Russia and the warlike United States as well, this year’s exhibition might become a surreal time capsule, a stubborn continuation of the past, detached from reality. Or perhaps a spot on representation of a world where might makes right.
Studio Dries Verhoeven will be present in Venice, loud and clear. We believe one should always seize the opportunity to speak through art, as long as one is free to do so and can operate independently of the interests of the country one represents.
The desire to make an artwork about the obstinate preservation of a bygone time has only grown stronger.
We hope for a politically resonant edition of La Biennale.
Read more on the ANGA website.
Dutch Entry for the Venice Biennale (May 9 – November 22, 2026)
Dries will represent the Netherlands at the 61st edition of the Venice Biennale. In collaboration with curator Rieke Vos, performance art will be presented in the Dutch pavilion for the first time. The Venice Biennale will take place from May 9 to November 22, 2026.
With a performative intervention, Dries responds to the current state of uncertainty in the Netherlands and Europe. The Rietveld Pavilion, built in the optimistic post-war years, will not only serve as the venue for the presentation but will also become part of the intervention itself. Belgium (Miet Warlop) and Austria (Florentina Holzinger) are also inviting performance artists to this edition. Dries: “The geopolitical tension we are experiencing now is, to say the least, grim; it has been a long time since our future felt so uncertain. I want to make this unrest tangible within the ‘safe space’ of the Biennale. That I get to do this in the vicinity of artists like Miet and Florentina is an incredible gift.”
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Everything Must Go @ TAZ2026 (July 29 – August 8, 2026)
Everything Must Go is traveling to Theater Aan Zee 2026 Festival from July 29 – August 8. A performative installation that explores the moral frictions of late capitalism. Based on 24 interviews with people who occasionally ‘forget’ to pay, in which activism and consumerism become inextricably entangled. Visitors remain outside the installation. They peek into the aisle through the products on the shelves or observe the performer via CCTV footage, like surveillants in a present-day panopticon.
If you would like to read a recent New York Times review by Nina Siegal, please click here.