Scotland + Venice is back

By Susan Mansfield, 18.05.2026

Bugarin + Castle, Nocturnal Amusements, part of the exhibition Shame Parade curated by Mount Stuart Trust for Scotland + Venice at La Biennale di Venezia in 2026. Image by Dimitri D’Ippolito. Courtesy of the artists and Scotland + Venice.

On a sunny afternoon last week in Venice, supporters of Scottish contemporary art gathered to celebrate the country’s return to the Venice Biennale. It’s been four years since the last exhibition in the city, a “pause” in which Creative Scotland conducted a review of the project which has been bringing Scottish work to Venice since 2003.

Now Scotland + Venice is back at the biggest festival of contemporary art in the world for its next three iterations, and among the curators, artists, funders and supporters gathered in the garden of its new exhibition space, the mood was one of jubilation. Launching this year’s exhibition, Shame Parade, by Glasgow-based duo Bugarin + Castle, Robert Wilson, chair of Creative Scotland, was in passionate voice.

“This space holds so much of what makes Scottish contemporary art extraordinary,” he told the assembled crowd. “It matters more than ever at a moment of profound global uncertainty when traditional alliances are being tested, multilateralism is under strain and communities around the world are living with conflict and displacement. We are making art together across borders, listening to the voices that have been silenced. This is not a luxury, it is a necessity.”

Shame Parade, which has been curated by Morven Gregor and the team at Mount Stuart Trust based on Bute, will be on show in Venice for the next six months at Olivolo, situated on a quiet square close to the twin hubs of the Biennale, the Giardini and the Arsenale.

The Venice Biennale is sometimes referred to as the Olympics of the art world, encompassing a vast international exhibition by a guest curator, “national pavilions” from nearly 100 countries and a wide- ranging “collateral” programme of other shows. Attracting some 700,000 visitors, including curators and art collectors from all over the world, it is regarded as one of the art world’s most important platforms.

Bugarin + Castle’s exhibition is inspired by medieval public shaming rituals in which spectacle, sound and costume were used to punish those whose behaviour was seen to transgress the norms, explored from a contemporary queer perspective. Davide Bugarin, who is originally from the Philippines, trained as an architect. Angel Cohn Castle is a graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, a lecturer in Fine Art at Newcastle University and the founder of Edinburgh queer caberet, Pollyanna, where the couple met and perform. Their 2023 interactive film ‘Sore Throat’ has been presented at Tate Modern, Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery and in New York and Manila.

A performative ethos infuses their work, which is characterised by meticulous production values, dramatic lighting and psychedelic candy colours. Their work for Venice - two sculptural installations and a five-channel film - has a glittering, subversive glamour, even as it dissects the complexities in the concept of shame. It’s visually sumptuous, but the auditory element is just as important: the work is also about words, and who is considered to have the right to speak.

Emma Nicolson, head of visual art at Creative Scotland, said the artists impressed the Scotland + Venice selection panel with their passion and energy. “They brought joy into the room. They talk about history and connections, the idea that Scotland can relate to the Philippines. They have internationalism in their practice, and this project has a really significant theme which resonated with the panel.”

Curator Morven Gregor praised the duo for bringing together a complex, multi-layered show in just 11 months. “Their work ethic is phenomenal, and they have such a broad skill set - architecture, performance, editing, design, writing and making. They’re hands-on with every detail. It has been an incredible joyful and inspiring experience working with them.”

“They have brought many of us together in answering the Scotland + Venice open call, and seem to be able to find just the right person for the job, wherever they are. Whether it’s musicians and truck artists from the Philippines, or fabricators in Glasgow and Florence, they build a community of the work and for the work. They know what they want and their enthusiasm and panache is catching.”

The carnivalesque energy feels appropriate for Venice, a city of carnival, and is also one of the strands in the main Biennale exhibition at the Giardini and Arsenale, which features 111 invited artists or collaborative partnerships from around the world. The show has been overshadowed by the unexpected death of the guest curator, Koyo Kouoh, in May 2025, and the project, In Minor Keys, was realised by her team according to her vision.

The text accompanying the show describes the motif of procession, carnival and gathering within the show: “In this canivalesque dimension, capable of suspending and subverting hierarchies, many artistic practices challenge archives and canons, reinterpret established symbols, and demystify dominant narratives through transhistorical, speculative, or rigorous approaches.”

The Venice Biennale runs until 22 November.