Pavilion of Zimbabwe at the 61st Venice Biennale: “Second Nature | Manyonga”

The Pavilion of Zimbabwe announces its participation in the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, opening in April 2026 under the artistic direction of Adriano Pedrosa and the central exhibition In Minor Keys.

Announcement of Pavilion of Zimbabwe at the International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia

Titled Second Nature | Manyonga, Zimbabwe’s national presentation brings together five artists whose practices reflect on adaptation, transformation, and resilience in an era shaped by technology, crisis, and imagination.

The Pavilion is commissioned by Raphael Chikukwa, Executive Director and Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, and curated by Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa, whose curatorial framework considers neuroplasticity as both metaphor and methodology.

In Second Nature | Manyonga, the notion of neuroplasticity extends beyond its biological meaning to describe the process through which external forces reshape human perception and memory. The exhibition brings together installations, prints, sculptures, and textiles that probe the threshold between the human and the technological, the natural and the synthetic.

The participating artists are:

• Felix Shumba: Presents a series of mixed-media installations that confront the historical and psychological residues of violence. Working with drawing, painting, and video, Shumba reconstructs archival imagery from colonial and postcolonial Zimbabwe to expose the enduring systems of control that shape collective memory.

• Franklyn Dzingai: Works primarily in printmaking, employing the reductive cardboard printing method to produce vibrant compositions that explore memory and social interaction. His works draw on personal archives, including family photographs and printed materials, to examine how individual recollection contributes to collective identity.

• Gideon Gomo: Creates sculptural assemblages that merge traditional stone carving with contemporary materials, including metal, copper, and found objects. His work reflects on ritual, transformation, and the continuity of cultural memory. Through material experimentation, Gomo redefines the language of Zimbabwean sculpture, positioning it within a dialogue between tradition and modernity.

• Pardon Mapondera: Works with recycled materials, including plastic bottles, straws, and thread, to create complex sculptural forms that comment on consumerism, environmental degradation, and social change.

  
  

The Pavilion of Zimbabwe at the 61st Venice Biennale runs from April 20 to November 23, 2026, offering visitors a thought-provoking exploration of contemporary Zimbabwean art on an international stage.