Photo: Pirje Mykkanen
Klara Kristalova, Benjamin Orlow and Tori Wrånes will transform the Pavilion into a mythical landscape that evokes cycles of decay, renewal and transformation.
The Nordic Countries Pavilion will present How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin? at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, running from 9 May to 22 November 2026. Curated by Anna Mustonen (Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma), this collaborative exhibition by Klara Kristalova, Benjamin Orlow and Tori Wrånes will transform the Pavilion into a sculptural, mythical landscape that transcends cultural and national boundaries. The exhibition is commissioned by Kiasma and co-commissioned by Moderna Museet, Sweden, and OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway.
The exhibition unfolds through a series of interconnected installations inspired by Nordic folklore, fairytales and stories such as the Kalevala – the 19th-century creation epic of Finland and Karelia – but resonating beyond. Across hybrid works that merge plant, animal and human forms, the artists harness the language of myth as a universal point of reference to explore cycles of decay, renewal and transformation, and the deep interconnectedness of all things. In an era marked by environmental disconnection, geopolitical instability and the disruption of borders and identities, myth becomes a lens through which to reflect on our shared human condition and to navigate contemporary global challenges.
Each artist contributes a distinct yet complementary practice. Klara Kristalova (b. 1967, Prague, Czech Republic; lives and works in Norrtälje, Sweden) creates ceramic figures that combine fairytale imagery with the human body and the natural world, infused with uncanny details to suggest moments of vulnerability and transition. Benjamin Orlow (b. 1984, Turku, Finland; lives and works in London, UK) produces monumental sculptures that give physical form to cycles of transformation, drawing on historic motifs and material culture. Tori Wrånes (b. 1978, Kristiansand, Norway; lives and works in Oslo and Kristiansand, Norway) works across music, performance and sculpture to construct dreamlike, otherworldly environments that alter our perceptions and shift how space is experienced.
Together, their works span sculpture, sound, performance and spatial intervention, ranging from the monumental to the intimate. The installations extend across the interior and exterior of Sverre Fehn’s iconic 1962 Pavilion, a building defined by its porous relationship with the surrounding landscape and activated as an integral part of the exhibition. The result is a shared, evolving ecology where art, architecture and nature intersect, and the exploration of transformation becomes an ongoing, embodied experience.
The exhibition’s title, How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?, refers to a famous philosophical thought experiment – a symbol of unanswerable questions and contested limits. Here, it becomes a way of asking how many bodies, beliefs and ways of being can coexist within a shared space. Through myth, material and spatial encounter, the exhibition opens a space for reflection on coexistence in an increasingly polarised world, collectively inviting visitors to consider their relationships to one another, to the natural world, and to time itself.
Anna Mustonen, Chief Curator at Kiasma, commented: “This exhibition begins with a question about limits – how much can a space, a body, or a system sustain. In a time marked by such pressures and uncertainty, I wanted to create a situation where coexistence is not idealised, but tested. The artworks ask visitors to experience tension, proximity, and vulnerability as shared conditions, shaped as much by architecture as by myth, history and memory.”
Kiira Miesmaa, Director of Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma and commissioner of the Nordic Countries Pavilion 2026, commented: “The Nordic countries share a cultural heritage that goes beyond geography, creating fertile ground for meaningful artistic collaboration. United by values such as social equality and community support, our cooperation not only reflects these principles but also reinforces the vital role of art in society.” The co-commissioners are Ruben Steinum, Director of OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway, and Gitte Ørskou, Director of Moderna Museet.
The exhibition is supported by Finnish Cultural Foundation, Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, Kiasma Support Foundation, Ministry of Education and Culture, Nelimarkka-Foundation, Niemistö Art Foundation Ars Fennica, Saastamoinen Foundation, Tiftö Foundation.
Kristalova’s contribution centres on a large fallen tree. In Lust for Life, creatures inhabit the trunk, emerge from its surface, and cling to it. Positioned along the length of the tree, the figures are made from a range of materials—ceramic, bronze, wood, and other composites—their surfaces catching and holding light, set in delicate tension with the tree’s weight and roughness. Often associated with the domestic and the decorative, these materials carry a different register of labour and value. The creatures appear both sheltered by the tree and exposed upon it, held in a state of careful imbalance. Rather than functioning as symbols or narrative subjects, they register as conditions—watchfulness, endurance, quiet dependency—marking the tree not as a mere support, but as a shared ground they inhabit. (...)
Kristalova’s chimeras draw on memory, imagination, art history, and a belief in the dignity of all living forms. While fairy tale remains omnipresent, psychology is central—reflecting on what it means to endure, to be carried by structures that are never neutral, and to coexist within environments that are simultaneously material, mythic, and internal. These figures do not resolve tension; they hold it, inhabiting provisional forms that support, carry, and quietly register pressure.
–Anna Mustonen
(from the catalogue text)
About Klara Kristalova
Klara Kristalova (b. 1967, Prague, Czech Republic; lives and works in Norrtälje, Sweden) creates figurative ceramic sculptures that blend fairytale-like imagery with themes of isolation, transformation and psychological depth. Many of Kristalova’s works incorporate both aspects of the human body and elements of nature, such as animals, insects, flowers, and trees. Infused with uncanny details and observations from her daily life and surroundings, her oeuvre is grounded in an exploration of transitional states essential to both human and ecological life.
Her work has been exhibited internationally, with solo shows at Perrotin, Paris (2024) and Lehmann Maupin, London (2023), and featured in Strange Clay at Hayward Gallery, London (2022). Other notable exhibitions include Skellefteå Konsthall (2025), Human After All at Princessehof Museum, Netherlands (2020), Norton Museum of Art, USA (2014), Bonniers Konsthall, Sweden (2012), and SFMOMA, USA (2011).
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