DENMARK’S PAVILION AT VENICE BIENNALE EXAMINES PORNOGRAPHY, SCIENCE, AND HUMAN REPRODUCTION
For the 61st edition of the world's oldest contemporary art exhibition, Denmark selected Maja Malou Lyse and curator Chus Martínez to represent the country at the Giardini.
The Danish Arts Foundation has opened Things To Come, an exhibition by Danish artist Maja Malou Lyse (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1993) at the Danish Pavilion in the Giardini, Venice, as part of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Curated by Chus Martínez, the show can be seen until November 22, 2026.
The exhibition title references the 1936 science-fiction film based on H.G. Wells' The Shape of Things to Come. It departs from recent scientific studies suggesting that exposure to virtual sexual stimuli can measurably increase sperm motility — a finding that positions image consumption not merely as a cultural act, but as one with direct biological consequences. Set against a global decline in male fertility, the show investigates the paradoxical role of contemporary media as both toxin and antidote.
Two works make up the exhibition. The film Things To Come, developed in collaboration with the collective DIS, is presented in the Brummer gallery and conceived as a musical filmed in a real sperm bank and a special effects studio. It follows a group of porn actors who reunite to create a work at the threshold of a fertility crisis. The second piece, the installation Stars in My Pocket, occupies the Koch Room and brings together cryogenic boxes used in fertility banks, clips of the online "sperm races" phenomenon, and a spatial narrative environment.
The pavilion's architecture was developed with Common Accounts, founded by Igor Bragado and Miles Gertler. A publication designed by Studio Claus Due is expected from Mousse Publishing in early summer 2026.
Things to Come can be seen until November 22, 2026 at the Danish Pavilion, Giardini, Venice (Italy).
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