{"id":478506,"date":"2026-02-19T20:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/478506\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T20:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T20:21:11","slug":"artist-gabrielle-goliaths-attempt-to-reinstate-cancelled-venice-biennale-pavilion-dismissed-by-court-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/478506\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Gabrielle Goliath\u2019s attempt to reinstate cancelled Venice Biennale pavilion dismissed by court – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

The South African artist Gabrielle Goliath\u2019s urgent application to overturn the cancellation of her planned Venice Biennale pavilion has been dismissed by the country\u2019s high court. Goliath and the curator Ingrid Masondo, who submitted the application with her, will be challenging the decision. The judge, Mamoloko Kubushi, has, meanwhile, ordered them to pay court costs to the respondents, including Gayton McKenzie, the\u00a0country\u2019s\u00a0sport, arts and culture minister.<\/p>\n

Goliath and Masondo were selected to represent South Africa at the 2026 Venice Biennale on 6 December last year, by a five-person selection committee composed of imminent members of the country\u2019s art community. The pair were to present a new iteration of\u00a0Elegy\u2014Goliath\u2019s decade-long project that has centred on femicide and the murder of LGBTQI+ people in South Africa. The version in Venice was also due to address the Ovaherero and Nama genocide in Namibia in the early part of the 20th century, as well as the death of Hiba Abu Nada, a Palestinian poet who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023.<\/p>\n

On 22 December, McKenzie\u2014the leader of the right-wing Patriotic Alliance party who has been vocal in his support for Israel<\/a> in recent years\u2014wrote a letter to the organising committee in which he described the Abu Nada-related suite as \u201chighly divisive in nature\u201d and said it \u201crelates to an ongoing international conflict that is widely polarising\u201d. McKenzie called for the section to be changed, and when the artist refused the minister pulled the plug on the work, in early January. Goliath then took legal action against him.<\/p>\n

The hearing took place online last Wednesday (11 February), with Goliath\u2019s advocate,\u00a0Adila Hassim, arguing to have Goliath\u2019s pavilion reinstated as a matter of urgency.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the judge\u2019s decision, Goliath tells The Art Newspaper: \u201cWe will be appealing the court\u2019s decision. This is crucial, not just for our chances of presenting\u00a0Elegy\u00a0as the 2026 South African pavilion exhibition, but on account of the dangerous precedent we believe this ruling sets for the broader arts community in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attempt to overturn the decision comes, however, with significant time pressures, given the biennial’s final deadline for South Africa to submit it plans for the event passed on 18 February.<\/p>\n

Judge Kubushi gave no\u00a0reasons for her ruling. The judgment, delivered electronically, simply stated: \u201cHaving read the papers filed of record, heard counsel and considered the matter, it is ordered that: the application is dismissed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur legal team will need to request [an explanation]\u2014which is just another time-consuming hurdle for us in an already pressured situation,\u201d Goliath says. \u201cAs the selected artist-curator team, we are profoundly disappointed by Justice Kubushi\u2019s ruling. The judge dismissed the application in two sentences, and a full week after hearing the argument.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goliath and Masondo have also contacted Nosipho Jezile, South Africa\u2019s ambassador in Italy, who is the official commissioner of the South African pavilion, requesting that she contact the biennial to ask whether it would consider granting Goliath\u2019s team a further extension.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould they do so, we would have grounds to lodge an urgent appeal. If not, we will need to explore other pathways,\u201d Goliath says. \u201cThis is all to say that we will appeal this ruling, irrespective of whether we are able to realise the exhibition as planned.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Goliath and Ingrid Masondo<\/p>\n

Photo by ZUNIS_1 <\/p>\n

Goliath criticised the judge\u2019s order for her and Masondo to pay costs of the application.\u00a0\u201cThese are punitive measures, enacted against those the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture (DSAC) is mandated to support, and could certainly discourage others in the arts community from attempting to defend their constitutional rights in court,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The DSAC said in a statement that it welcomed the ruling. Asked whether the\u00a0ruling might inhibit artists from defending themselves, spokesperson Stacey-Lee Khojane told The Art Newspaper:\u00a0\u201cIt might be worth waiting for the full judgment to be released before engaging in speculation around the legal implications. There has never been any intention to inhibit art or artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goliath remains focused on trying to get Elegy to Venice. She says that if the biennial were to grant\u00a0them\u00a0even a short extension,\u00a0she and\u00a0Masondo would be in a position to lodge an urgent appeal,\u00a0\u201cin the hope of reclaiming the pavilion\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been working towards the various deadlines, frustrated by this process of cancellation, and are ready to submit any requested materials and plans,\u201d she continues.<\/p>\n

She and Masondo do not believe the deadlines are insurmountable.\u201cAt this stage it hinges on how the Biennale chooses to respond. If they grant us a window, there may be an exhibition this year in the South African Pavilion. If not, Minister McKenzie will have his way and the space will stand empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khojane confirmed that\u00a0there would not be a South African-government-backed exhibition in the space.<\/p>\n