Challenge against South Africa's participation in Venice BiennaleWhich was canned by Guyton McKenzie, the Minister for Sports, Arts and Culture, has not succeeded.
The biennale is scheduled between May and November this year.
Artists Gabrielle Goliath, Ingrid Lehlohonolo Masondo, James Malcolm MacDonald and the Campaign for Free Expression approached the High Court seeking a ruling against the department.
The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, rejected his attempt to overturn the report and he was ordered to pay costs.
“The factual background is derived partly from the arguments of the applicants (Goliath, Masondo, MacDonald and Campaign for Free Expression) and partly from papers filed on record.
“The Government leases a pavilion in the Venice Biennale Arsenal area, Salle d'Armi Building (Biennale), for the exhibition of South African artistic works, with the aim of marketing South African artists. In the past, the Department ran an exhibition selection process for the SA Pavilion. In addition, it tendered submissions through an open call process and convened and supervised an independent selection committee.
“In November 2025, the Department announced that it would adopt a new approach, outsourcing the process to industry stakeholders for implementation. The new approach marked a significant evolution in the Pavilion's governance model, moving from a completely government-led process to one of sector-driven collaboration,” the decision reads.
The Department appointed Art Periodicals as Arsenal's implementing partner for the Venice Biennale Arte 2026.
“Art Periodicals was entrusted with the rights of use and access to the South African pavilion space at the Arsenale for the Venice Biennale for 2026, with full responsibility for raising the execution budget, contracting the production and delivering an exhibition at international standards with department protocols and oversight,” the decision reads.
The decision continued: “By appointment, Art Periodicals undertakes the task of convening a working group of curators from five South African institutions to solicit small proposals from artists/curators (by invitation), assess feasibility and impact, and run a focused, time-bound process to select exhibitors for 2026.”
Proposals were to be evaluated on “conceptual strength, artistic vision, feasibility and alignment with the pavilion's mission to strengthen South Africa's international cultural presence”.
The department said it would continue to finance the rental of South Africa's official exhibition venue.
However, Art Periodical announced the appointment of a selection committee consisting of four respected members of the art field, including academics, museum owners and art journalists.
Art Periodical published an open call for proposals for the 2026 SA Pavilion. Curators were invited to respond to a broad curatorial vision for the 2026 Biennial, with concepts that capture the vitality, nuance and complexity of South African art today, offering multiple interpretations of what cultural ownership could mean in a global context.
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