Dries Verhoeven: The Fortress

For the 61st Venice Biennale, artist Dries Verhoeven and curator Rieke Vos present a performance and architectural installation titled The Fortress. The duo takes the Venice Biennale itself as a starting point to explore Western society’s reflex for self-preservation amid major geopolitical uncertainty.  

The project marks a historic first: it is the first time the Netherlands is represented at the Venice Biennale  with a performance, and the first time the Rietveld Pavilion itself becomes an integral part of the artwork.

Designed by Gerrit Rietveld and built in the optimistic post-war years of the 1950s, the Dutch Pavilion can be seen as the epitome of openness, progress, and faith in the future. During the Biennale Arte 2026, however, this modernist monument transforms into the antithesis of itself. With steel shutters, the sunlit structure turns its back on the outside world, becoming a dark, fortress-like enclosure. Inside, the encroaching darkness manifests in a raw vocal performance.  

As Verhoeven notes: “Together with a group of thirteen international performers, we are presenting a work about the search for stability in a world out of balance. Through the raw sounds the performers produce, they give expression to the social state of disarray that I currently observe—and the tenacity with which we, even in art, sometimes cling to values of yesterday.”  

The artist and curator take the contradictions of the Venice Biennale, as they perceive them, as the starting point for this new work. They say: “The national pavilions at the Venice Biennale represent a world order from a bygone era. In the Giardini della Biennale, former world powers—mostly Western—still occupy the most prominent positions. Countries that in reality are closing their borders, declaring war, or committing genocide, stand side by side, in brotherly harmony. The art world attempts to uphold the idea of enlightened ideals and a hopeful common future.” The Fortress responds to this paradox. 

The Fortress is a site-specific artwork commissioned by Eelco van der Lingen on behalf of the Mondriaan Fund.  

Performances will take place between Wednesday–Sunday at 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm. On Tuesdays, the Pavilion will be closed and presented as a sculptural object. 

Performers (alternating): Jennie Bergsli, Melyn Chow, Maarten Heijnens, Jana Jacuka, Dengling Levine, Diane Mahín, Maya Mertens, Marlen Pflüger, Marie Popall, Lisen Pousette, Olivia Rivière, Harald Stojan, Misty Superdeluxe.