Russia 2026

Title: The tree is rooted in the sky
Commissioner: Anastasiia Karneeva;
Exhibitors: Antonio Buonuario, DJ Diaki, Marco Dinelli, Timofey Dudarenko, Faina, Oleg Gudachev, Atosigado, Hérica, Jaijiu, JLZ, Tatiana Khalbaeva, Alexey Khovalyg, Roman Malyavkin, Petr Musoev, Valerie Oleynik, Alexey Retinsky, Mikhail Spasskii, Lukas Sukharev, Alexey Sysoev, Maria Vinogradova, Alexey Retinsky, Intrada Ensemble (Ekaterina Antonenko, Daria Khrisanova, Oksana Kuznetsova, Olga Talysheva, Veronika Okuneva, Serafim Chaikin, Artem Nikolaev, Bogdan Petrenko, Ilya Tatakov), Toloka Ensemble (Ekaterina Rostovtseva, Lizaveta Anshina, Antonina Sergeeva, Zhanna Gefling, Yaroslav Paradovsky, Vera Bazilevskikh, Sofya Ivanishkina), giorgino, Phurpa (Alexey Tegin, Nikita Korolev, Georgy Orlov-Davydovsky), Selfish “S.r.l.”

To mark the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the Russia Pavilion presents “The tree is rooted in the sky”, a collaborative project by young musicians, philosophers and poets from different geographies.

The project takes as its starting point Simone Weil’s image of a tree rooted not in the ground but in light descending from above. This paradox frames a tension between the visible and the invisible, between the source of meaning and its manifestation. Such a conceptual reversal expands habitual definitions and questions assumptions treated as immutable.

Developed in the context of the Biennale Arte 2026, “In Minor Keys”, the project reconsiders the musical minor–major binary and transposes it into a socio-cultural field, examining relations between ‘centres’ and ‘peripheries’. It underlines the contingency of such divisions and their frequent political instrumentalisation.

From 5 to 8 May, invited artists from Argentina, Mexico, Mali, Brazil and various regions of Russia take part in a daily programme unfolding as a continuous sonic process, evoking a music-festival atmosphere. Working across hybrid formats that evade strict genre definitions, they question habitual and canonical modes of interpretation.

Despite geographical distance, the participants share experience of working at the margins of cultural ‘centres’ that define norms and hierarchies. This position of externality opens multiple viewpoints, challenging monological understandings of the world.

The tree functions not as a static symbol but as a living organism, a network of relations shaped by its ecosystem. The works encourage attentive listening and slowness, resisting immediate comprehension and consumption typical of contemporary cultural events.

Voice-based works form a shared sonic field in which meaning emerges as process rather than message. Some participants preserve musical materials at risk of disappearance, while others draw on local folklore, renewing it within contemporary production. Their interaction opens new musical, sonic and performative possibilities.