Netherlands (The) 2026

Title: The Fortress
Commissioner: Eelco van der Lingen, Mondriaan Fund
Curator: Rieke Vos
Exhibitor: Dries Verhoeven

This presentation marks the first time performance art is brought to the Dutch Pavilion. The project responds to a contemporary state of geopolitical uncertainty perceived within the Netherlands and Europe.

The pavilion, constructed during the post-war period, serves as both the location and the subject of the intervention. The work aims to make tangible a sense of unease within the context of the Biennale. The advisory committee of the Mondriaan Fund selected the proposal for its translation of global political developments into a visual performance and its distinctive use of the pavilion.

Dries Verhoeven is a visual artist and theatre maker whose installations and performances reflect on moral frictions in late-capitalist society. Rieke Vos is an art historian and curator of contemporary art.