by Alison Hugill // May 12, 2026
This article is part of our feature topic Scale.
Returning from last week’s preview of the Venice Biennale, the question of scale is on my mind. In recent years, biennials have had a tendency to downplay themselves, opting for curatorial themes that emphasize slowing down, practicing care, attuning to the microbial or microcosmic, to the local and communal. As world politics and climate devastation feel beyond our control, it makes sense that we would gravitate to these kinds of “minor practices.” Yet in their execution, mega-shows like the Biennale tell a different story: hundreds of artists’ works are crammed into a central exhibition with no breathing room, thousands of visitors descend upon a city that is already reeling from over-tourism and its ecological effects.
‘In Minor Keys’ purports to listen to the quiet notes, privileging works that speak of tender moments and pockets of intimacy and rest, with a focus on “enchantment, seeding, commoning and generative practices that invite collectivities.” While some works in the vast exhibition achieve this, the scale and spectacle of the Biennale itself evinces the possibility of their legibility within any kind of “minor” logic.
Florentina Holzinger, Austrian Pavillon at the 61st Venice Biennale 2026 // Photo by Anna Russ
Florentina Holzinger’s highly anticipated, standout commission for the Austrian Pavilion, ‘Seaworld Venice,’ at first appears as the antithesis to the Biennale’s stated curatorial theme. As Louise Trueheart writes of her forthcoming review as part of this topic, Holzinger’s medium, more than performance even, is scale. “She is a jock of a choreographer…she is primarily interested in how to scale up the body, how to push and train and win. So a lot of dramaturgical choices come out of that core largeness/largesse.” Trueheart argues that only with her relationship to scale clearly established is it possible to critique Holzinger’s work or politics: “she needs the small things to make the big things seem big, but how does she treat the small things?”
Lina Lapelytė: ‘We Make Years Out of Hours,’ 2026, installation view at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin // © Lina Lapelytė. VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2026, photo Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie / Laura Fiorio
In an essay about music as material, contributor Dagmara Genda considers the topic of scale as it relates to four exhibitions, all taking place at Hamburger Bahnhof. Exploring the work of Sâadane Afif, Petrit Halilaj, Annika Kahrs and Lina Lapelytė, Genda finds that the appropriation of music may resonate with gallery audiences while seeming superficial to music or theater specialists, highlighting how reception depends on context. In these exhibitions, Genda writes, “music is employed as a kind of remedy for the isolationism, the elitism and perhaps also the literalness of art.”
In another contribution to the topic, William Kherbek interviews artist Arash Nassiri about his recent exhibition ‘A Bug’s Life’ at London’s Chisenhale Gallery. Kherbek writes that “philosophers and artists have long evoked the perspective of non-human entities to understand various human conceptions,” and Nassiri’s show offers a “lighthearted exploration of the incongruities created by disparities in size and perspective.”
Arash Nassiri: ‘A Bug’s Life,’ 2026, installation view at Chisenhale Gallery, London, Co-commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery, London; Fluentum, Berlin; and Fondation Pernod Ricard, Paris, produced by Chisenhale Gallery // Courtesy of the artist, photo by Andy Keate
On a similar note, Carolin Kralapp explores the work of Shilpa Gupta in her current exhibition ‘What Still Holds’ at Hamburger Bahnhof. The exhibition’s central, monumental sculptural installation ‘TRUTH’—featuring oversized letters that visitors physically navigate—emphasizes how large-scale works can amplify themes of language, power and control. Gupta’s work, she argues, “contrasts intimate textual elements with vast spatial immersion, inviting reflection on artistic intent and market value.”
Shilpa Gupta: ‘What Still Holds,’ 2026, installation view at Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart // © Shilpa Gupta, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, photo by Luca Girardini
Exploring scale through musical registers as well as curatorial intentions, this topic considers the art world’s preoccupation with size. Artists often work at extremes, and scale can also be read as a matter of time—whether deep, geological considerations or the slowed measurement of pacing. While conceptually there seems to be a renewed curatorial interest in the smaller things, the success of works like Holzinger’s latest Venice offering remind us that the “go big or go home” mentality of the art world still reigns.
