«BVLGARI is a partner of the Venice Biennale» - FOTO
BVLGARI INAUGURATES ITS ROLE AS EXCLUSIVE PARTNER OF BIENNALE ARTE 2026 WITH TWO ART INITIATIVES IN VENICE: LOTUS L. KANG IN ITS PAVILION AT THE GIARDINI AND THE FIRST EXHIBITION OF FONDAZIONE BVLGARI, WITH LARA FAVARETTO AND MONIA BEN HAMOUDA, AT THE BIBLIOTECA MARCIANA.
Bvlgari inaugurates its role as the Exclusive Partner of the International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia until 2030. This significant commitment solidifies the Maison's strong and enduring bond with art, cultivated over years by promoting creativity as an expression of freedom, fostering cultural dialogue, and driving innovation. A further expression of Bvlgari’s dedication to perpetuate art and beauty for an ever-wider audience.
Two special initiatives mark the brand’s debut in the 2026 edition. The Bvlgari Pavilion within the Giardini della Biennale will host a new project by Canadian artist Lotus L. Kang, while Fondazione Bvlgari will present its first exhibition at Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana featuring two female Italian artists, Lara Favaretto and Monia Ben Hamouda.
“For Bvlgari, this partnership represents a natural, meaningful, and forward-looking extension of our long-standing and continuously strengthening commitment to the arts, with a particular focus on contemporary expression. As Exclusive Partner, we are proud to contribute to the creation of a dynamic and inspiring environment in which visitors, artists and curators can come together, engage in dialogue, experiment freely, and collectively imagine and shape the culture of the future,” commented Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bvlgari.
Lotus L. Kang at the Bvlgari Pavilion
For the Bvlgari Pavilion, Kang presents The face of desire is loss, an installation that continues her enduring engagement with time as unruly, sedimentary and non-linear. A series of unfixed photographic film anchor the exhibition, suspended from lengths of steel joist. This film will remain continuously sensitive to its environment, developing over the course of the Biennale as it is exposed to the light and humidity of the pavilion. Amidst the skins, Kang installs a series of new sculptural works, rendered from tatami mats, cast objects, spirits, and other changeable forms. Encasing the windows of the space with lengths of 35mm celluloid, Kang disperses the film’s duration into a flat, simultaneous plane, as stage lights cast shifting hues of interstitial light across the installation. “The face of desire is loss brings multiple time-spaces together, condensing them into an environment contingent on light, time and the viewer’s body in space. Collaged together in an assemblage that refuses fixity or singularity, the body-as-environment here is in a process of transmutation and transformation towards exhaustion, death and rebirth. Inside is turned outside and vice versa.” Lotus L. Kang
Fondazione Bvlgari at Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
For the first exhibition promoted by Fondazione Bvlgari, the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana - a venue that symbolizes the preservation and transmission of knowledge - hosts two site-specific installations that engage in dialogue with the Library’s heritage. Monia Ben Hamouda, in the Vestibule spaces, with Fragments of Fire Worship, and Lara Favaretto, in the Salone Sansovino, with the final chapter of Momentary Monument – The Library. With this significant presence in Venice, Fondazione Bvlgari renews its commitment to supporting contemporary talent by bringing together two female Italian artists whose talent has been recognized by major awards: Monia Ben Hamouda, winner of the biennial prize established in 2017 by the Maison in collaboration with MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts, now carried forward by Fondazione Bvlgari; and Lara Favaretto, the recipient of the Prize for Young Italian Art 2004–2005, with a work for MAXXI that was presented at the 51st Venice Biennale Arte, which she also took part in for the 53rd and 58th editions.
Fondazione Bvlgari extends beyond the Venetian context with an additional initiative in Milan, presenting Monia Ben Hamouda’s sculpture Ya’aburnee (يقبرني ) - (Untranslated Fragment I and II). The artwork, displayed in the garden of the Bvlgari Hotel Milano, will remain visible for the entire duration of the Biennale Arte 2026. Part of the artist’s investigation into the origins of artistic language and the possibility of rewriting art histories, it is composed of Tunisian thela stone, drawing on the material and symbolic weight of ancient inscriptions while resisting full translation or semantic closure. The title, an Arabic-Lebanese expression meaning “you bury me,” evokes the intertwining of love, death, and continuity, reflecting the wish for a loved one to outlive oneself. By proposing a language that cannot be fully possessed, the work resists closure and positions the viewer within partial intelligibility, confronting what remains irreducibly untranslatable.
Bvlgari’s commitment has extended in multiple directions over the years, embracing both the ancient and the contemporary. The preservation and enhancement of historical and artistic heritage are a constant source of inspiration for Bvlgari, generating new languages that merge knowledge of the past with the innovative spirit of the present, providing constant inspiration for future creations. This translates into tangible commitment through a wide range of initiatives supporting the treasures of the past, from its contribution to the restoration of the Scala d’Oro at the Doge’s Palace in Venice and the paintings by Paolo Veronese in the church of San Pietro Martire in Murano, to projects in Rome, underscoring the Maison‘s deep connection with the city. These include the restoration of the Spanish Steps, the polychrome floor mosaics of the Baths of Caracalla and the marbles of the Torlonia Collection. An equally important dialogue with contemporary creativity has led to a collaboration with MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, for the MAXXI Bvlgari Prize – in its 10th edition in 2027 - and to a partnership with the Whitney Biennial, both under the aegis of Fondazione Bvlgari since 2024, and finally to becoming Exclusive Partner of the International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
FONDAZIONE BVLGARI. Founded in 2024 to strengthen and expand Bvlgari’s cultural, philanthropic and social commitment, Fondazione Bvlgari is dedicated to creating lasting value in the fields of Art & Patronage, Education, Philanthropy, and Transmission of Savoir-Faire. Driven by a “give back” approach and a deep sense of responsibility toward the community, Fondazione Bvlgari partners with leading global organizations and builds long-term collaborations to empower future generations, nurture creativity and the arts, foster artistic expression and the preservation of cultural heritage, support vulnerable communities, and promote sustainable development.
