Marina Abramović exhibition 'Transforming Energy' announced at Gallerie dell'Accademia di Venezia for 2026
25 September 2025
Marina Abramović will be the first living woman artist to be honoured with a major exhibition at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice in 2026. 'Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy', presented during the 61st Venice Biennale Arte, will open on 6 May 2026 and be on view until 19 October 2026.
The exhibition marks the artist’s 80th birthday and establishes a profound dialogue between her pioneering performance art and the Renaissance masterpieces that have shaped the cultural identity of Venice. Curated by Shai Baitel, Artistic Director of the Modern Art Museum (MAM) Shanghai, in close collaboration with the artist, the exhibition unfolds across both the museum’s permanent collection galleries and its temporary exhibition spaces, a first in the institution’s history, embedding Abramović’s practice within the very heart of Venetian patrimony.
At its core, Transforming Energy is an encounter between past and present, material and immaterial, body and spirit. Visitors are invited to experience a series of interactive Transitory Objects, consisting of stone beds and structures embedded with crystals, by lying, sitting, or standing upon them, activating what Abramović calls “energy transmission.” Iconic works such as Imponderabilia (1977), Rhythm 0 (1974), Light/Dark (1977), Balkan Baroque (1997), and Carrying the Skeleton (2008) appear alongside projections of early performances, while new works created for the occasion bring her decades-long exploration of endurance, vulnerability, and transformation into sharp relief.
Find out more via the Gallerie dell’Accademia.
Image: Portrait of Marina Abramović, Photography by Carlo Bach © Marina Abramović. Courtesy Lisson Gallery.
