BETWEEN DOG AND WOLF: CANADA BRINGS TWILIGHT TO THE VENICE BIENNALE

Abbas Akhavan (Tehran, Iran, 1977) represents Canada at the 61st International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia 2026. The exposition, titled Entre chien et loup, reimagines the Canada Pavilion as a monumental Wardian case – a 19th-century innovation for transporting plants across the globe. It was comissioned by The National Gallery of Canada (NGC), curated by Kim Nguyen, and will be on display until November 22, 2026.

Over the past two decades, Abbas Akhavan has honed a poetic and thoughtfully site-specific practice. With each project, he enters into a protracted conversation with a place: its architecture, economies, human and non-human inhabitants, and their rhythms. Gardens and organic matter in general—along with cultural heritage and historical iconography, particularly the fluidity of symbols throughout history, contexts, and conflicts—have been recurrent preoccupations and foundational themes in his work. 

Entre chien et loup reimagines the Canada Pavilion as a monumental Wardian case – a 19th-century innovation for transporting plants across the globe. The pavilion has been converted into a greenhouse for Victoria water lilies, referencing the plant’s prominent display in the Crystal Palace during the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. The giant lily became a natural wonder of the Victorian era and an emblem of Queen Victoria. Despite this relatively recent history, the water lilies, native to South America, belong to a family of plants (Nymphaeaceae) that has been in existence for more than 100 million years.

In collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Victoria cruziana seeds were sent to the Orto Botanico di Padova, where they were germinated before being relocated to the Canada Pavilion to reach maturity. The lilies transform the pavilion into a satellite garden while Kew Garden’s Waterlily House is closed for renovation.

Reflecting on how plants, animals and cultural symbols shift meaning across histories and geographies, the exhibition addresses the fugitive and imaginary qualities of national narratives. The title Entre chien et loup – literally “between dog and wolf ”– evokes the indeterminate nature of twilight, when distinctions blur and a wolf might be mistaken for a dog. In this liminal space, the public is invited to reconsider their relationship to the natural and built worlds.