61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale

Alfredo Jaar is participating in the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale with the work The End of the World. This marks the artist’s fifth participation in this Biennale, following his inclusion in the 1986, 2007, 2009, and 2013 editions.

This year's exhibition, titled In Minor Keys and curated by Koyo Kouoh, opens to the general public 9 May, and will remain on view through 22 November 2026.

 

In The End of the World, which grew out of a multi-year research project assisted by the human geographer and political geologist Adam Bobbette, Jaar shines a spotlight on the struggle for resources, which is a central and ever more salient factor in international conflicts.

The site-specific work, a cube measuring 4 × 4 × 4 centimeters, is composed of several such resources: cobalt, rare earths, copper, tin, nickel, lithium, manganese, coltan, germanium, and platinum. These ten strategic metals are of vital importance in the fields of digital technology and electromobility, for high-tech applications and storage media.

As demand for them has grown steadily, their extraction has been accompanied by massive human rights violations and environmental destruction. Jaar astutely observes these lines of conflict that convulse our planet.

7 May 2026