Gabrielle Goliath sues culture minister after Venice Biennale selection rejected

South African artist Gabrielle Goliath has filed a lawsuit in Pretoria asking a court to compel the country’s culture minister, Gayton McKenzie, to allow her to represent South Africa at the 2026 Venice Biennale with a work that pays tribute to a Palestinian poet killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The suit, filed on Thursday, accuses McKenzie of acting unlawfully and unconstitutionally by rejecting the recommendation of an independent panel that Goliath be the country’s representative. According to the legal filings, Goliath’s planned show, called "Elegy," is a video-based piece in which singers pay tribute to people killed by violence; the Venice presentation was to include three sections honoring a South African teenager murdered in 2014, two Namibian women killed by German colonial forces in the early 20th century, and the Palestinian poet.

McKenzie said in a letter included in the lawsuit that "it would not be wise nor defensible" to support art commenting on events in the Middle East while South Africa faces what he called "unjustified accusations of genocide," and in a news release said he would give the Biennale to artists who "promote our country." The ministry has also cited concerns about a reported offer from a "foreign power" to buy pavilion art; Goliath says the lawsuit identifies that contact as Qatar Museums and that the offer came to nothing.

Key Topics

Culture, Gabrielle Goliath, Venice Biennale, South Africa, Gayton Mckenzie, Qatar Museums