Panama’s Ministry of Culture has chosen the artistic project that will represent the nation at the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale in 2026. The winning proposal comes from the collaborative duo Antonio Jose Guzman and Iva Jankovic, selected through an open international competition. This announcement, made on November 7, 2025, confirms the country’s continued participation on one of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art stages.
A rigorous independent jury reviewed eighty-nine submissions before reaching its final decision. The selection process emphasized principles of openness and institutional transparency, aiming to strengthen the global projection of Panamanian contemporary art.
Official Endorsement of National Talent
Minister of Culture Maria Eugenia Herrera officially confirmed the selection, framing the participation as a consolidated national effort. She highlighted the collaborative nature of the project, which unites public sector institutions with private enterprise to showcase local talent.
Participating in the Venice Biennale consolidates Panama’s presence on the world’s most relevant platform for contemporary art, Herrera stated. [Translated from Spanish] Our pavilion is a national effort that unites the public sector, cultural institutions, and private enterprise to project Panamanian talent and strengthen our artistic ecosystem.
The minister’s remarks underscore the government’s commitment to leveraging international cultural events for diplomatic and artistic outreach. This will be Panama’s official national presentation at the exhibition.
A Rigorous International Jury Process
An international panel of six distinguished visual arts professionals from Latin America undertook the evaluation. Jurors included independent curator Rossina Cazali from Guatemala, curator and writer Miguel A. Lopez from Peru and Costa Rica, and art critic Gladys Turner Bosso from Panama. The jury also featured Jochen Volz, General Director of the Pinacoteca de Sao Paulo in Brazil, curator Carolina Alvarez Mathies from El Salvador and the United States, and Gianni Bianchini, National Director of Arts for Panama’s Ministry of Culture.
Each member assessed proposals independently using a standardized rubric. They focused on three primary criteria: conceptual strength and coherence, the artist or collective’s trajectory, and project viability and execution capacity. After submitting individual scores via email, jurors convened for two joint video conference sessions to deliberate and confirm the final selection based on the compiled results.
The Ministry of Culture’s designated Organizing Committee, which includes the Panama Canal Museum, the City of Knowledge Foundation, and the Art and Culture Foundation, coordinated the entire process. This structure ensured a transparent and merit-based outcome for the high-stakes selection.
Exploring Submerged Memories of the Panama Canal
The winning project by Guzman and Jankovic delves into the submerged histories of the so-called “lost towns” of the Panama Canal. Their work will investigate communities displaced during the creation of Gatun Lake and the establishment of the Canal Zone enclave in the early twentieth century. Using textiles, sound, and archival materials, the project examines intersections of the Black Atlantic and contemporary resonances of migration, displacement, and cultural resistance.
It invites reflection on memory, territory, historical reparation, and cultural interdependence. The artists will produce the work specifically for the Panama Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, which opens in April of that year. Panamanian curators Monica Kupfer and Ana Elizabeth Gonzalez will provide curatorial accompaniment for the presentation.
This thematic focus connects directly with Panama’s complex history and its position as a global crossroads. The project promises a profound meditation on the human cost of monumental infrastructure.
Artists with a Global Practice
Antonio Jose Guzman, born in Panama in 1971, and Iva Jankovic, born in Yugoslavia in 1979, maintain an artistic practice that combines textile, sound, archive, and memory to address histories of movement, identity, and diaspora. Their research incorporates artisanal collaborations, notably with the workshop of Sufiyan Khatri in Gujarat, India, and draws from Afro-Caribbean, Adinkra, and Mesoamerican visual references.
Their work has appeared in international institutions and biennials, including a recent exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Panama (MAC Panama). They have also presented at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Dakar Biennale, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lima. Their pieces form part of public and private collections across Latin America, Europe, and Africa.
The duo previously participated in the 2024 Venice Biennale’s international exhibition curated by Adriano Pedrosa. This 2026 edition, however, marks the first time they will represent Panama in its dedicated National Pavilion, a significant milestone for their careers and for the country’s contemporary art scene. Their selection signals a confident choice by the jury to support artists with a established international network and a deeply researched, conceptually robust project.
With the artist and curatorial team now in place, the focus shifts to the intensive production phase. The group has approximately sixteen months to fully realize their ambitious vision before the grand opening in Venice. The world will be watching when Panama’s pavilion unveils its story of lost towns and found histories in the spring of 2026.