Florentina Holzinger

I have to admit that all the hype about the Austrian Pavilion at the 2026 Biennale di Venezia made me wonder if it was worth seeing. The crowds lined up for hours (the only pavilion experiencing this), and the expectation of a gaudy sideshow, had me leave it until the end. What I experienced was in fact, a performance, and surprising, but not in the way that I expected.

Roughly every hour, the crowd assembles for the show, first greeted by a crew of welcoming, smiling faces - the artists assembled from the world over to perform Florentina Holzinger’s vision. You soon find out that this will be an interactive performance, one in which the audience’s urine is needed, after processing and purification, to top up the various tanks used in the performance. While the audience provides their samples, one artist, female, nude except for their breathing mask, remains motionless in a tank flanked by the two portable toilets provided for the audience.

This first artist’s stillness invites the viewer to slow down, become introspective, and consider the world we live in, our ecosystems, our resources, and our impact on them. The effect is calming. Clean water. No movement. Peace. Everything seems as it should be.

Adjacent to this tank, in another part of the pavilion, another artist, also nude, jarringly starts up a water ski and proceeds to make tight circles in this second tank, ever increasing in speed and noise. Pulled away from the initial serenity of the performance, the viewer experiences agitation as the water displacement from the tank increases. This machine is too large for such a small tank. The laps are tight, fast, and loud. The effect on this tank’s ecosystem is ruinous. Restlessness increases as the message unfolds. Humanity’s carelessness in our use of waterways, resources, and ecosystems can have devastating consequences. Our machines and our structures destroy animal life directly and destroy where animals live their lives.

Gladly, we turn to the third tank hoping for some reprieve. Here we find ourselves looking at a sculpture, rotating slowly, set in a shallow pool of water. It penetrates the roof as a weather vane. Descending along its shaft are four, full-size bronze sculptures of women, nude, forming a graceful composition of what initially seems like a beautiful sculpture group, disquietingly - a deposition - a woman, arms outstretched, suspended, supported by the other women.

Slowly the mast turns. No strong sounds. No strong scents. One by one, two artists, women, nude, ascend the mast. Solemnly, clearly deep in thought, these women execute the graceful choreography of ascent that was written for them. The only noise being the clanging of the safety hooks as they are moved from level to level. Metalic. Restraints clamping into place at every step. Once they have reached the upper ranges, a third artist enters, nude, trans, and begins his ascent. Never reaching the top, as if limited by a hidden force, he begins to fall, while the other two begin their partial descent, reaching out to support the third artist, as he gracefully accepts his position in the live deposition, supported by two women. Symmetry along the weathervane’s shaft is complete - the female deposition and the trans deposition - arranged along the shaft that penetrates from ground, to water, until it breaks through the roof of the pavilion itself.

Elegant. Emotional. Not a sound is heard from the audience. I could feel my breathing slowing, almost if to hold my breath as we reached the climax of the performance. And then, the moment the artists end their performance, holding their tableau of the deposition, another artist, literally a live clapper, dangling inside a bronze bell, rings out the tolling bell. Everything stops.

The message is once again clear - exposing patriarchal power structures. Perfectly stated with a quiet, slow, deliberate performance piece. Inspired. At once we realize we are not really an audience in this performance. We are in fact, active participants in our world, the patriarchy, our societies, our religions, and their ruinous policies that destroy ecosystems and lives. Artists truly representing what is happening in our world today, nude, presenting themselves as they really are - like all other living organisms do - except humans. The humanity of the piece was gut wrenching - with a lump in my throat at the end I can definitely declare that this was true beauty.

No loud protest,

Only grace and beauty,

Beautiful bronze sculptures,

Beautiful performance,

Beautiful tableau,

Powerful,

No pretense,

No hiding,

No apology.

by John C. Clements

Think Art Magazine

In collaboration with Arroscia Residency