EXHIBITION REVIEW: ANIMA MUNDI 2026
ITSLIQUID International Art Fair
Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello
Venice | May – July, 2026

ITSLIQUID Group is pleased to announce the great success of ANIMA MUNDI ART FAIR 2026, held from May to July 2026 at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello, during the 61st Venice Biennale.

ANIMA MUNDI ART FAIR 2026 featured a curated selection of more than 200 artists from over 40 countries, presenting painting, photography, sculpture, installation, performance, design and multidisciplinary practice across its three appointments: RITUALS (May 20 – June 04), CONSCIOUSNESS (June 19 – July 03), and VISIONS (July 17 – July 31).

In three months, ANIMA MUNDI has been a living, breathing organism at the heart of Venice – a space where soul, matter, and image converged, visited by a vibrant international community of art lovers, collectors, and creatives.

The festival takes its name and its spirit from the concept of Anima Mundi, the vital energy that flows through everything, the subtle force connecting all forms of existence – from the natural to the artificial, from the visible to the invisible. It is the living pulse of the world, the rhythm that sustains transformation, coexistence, and renewal. Plato gave voice to this idea in the Timaeus, describing the universe as a single living being endowed with soul and intelligence, containing within itself all other living entities, related to one another by nature.

How does this universal energy manifest itself today? ITSLIQUID invited artists, designers, and architects to take part in a collective exploration of Anima Mundi, investigating the subtle correspondences between soul and body, humanity and nature, organic and synthetic worlds, wild landscapes and urban architectures.

ANIMA MUNDI opened with RITUALS, the first chapter of the festival, inaugurated at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello on May 20, 2026. The exhibition unfolded through an intense photographic section, drawing viewers into a dialogue between the sinuous, fragmented bodies portrayed by Anna Bondavalli, suspended between light and shadow, and the sculptural corporeality explored by Rafael Montalvo. Sharing the same space, Marcus Koeser‘s drawing on canvas introduced a different visual language, in which an angelic figure absorbed the architecture and imagery of New York City. At the center of the room, the theatrical sculptures of Sam Lyung Wachter evoked marine forms and the slow disappearance of coral life, transforming the fragility of the ocean into a symbol of hope through vibrant colors and reclaimed materials.

Time emerged as a central presence in the photographic series of Christa Grenawalt, whose images of icebergs revealed ancient surfaces hidden for centuries within glacial depths, where light, matter, and color spoke of nature’s silent power. This investigation of materiality continued through the work of Laurry Ramirez Gallardo, Clayton Talmon de l’Armée, and Christopher B. Fowler, whose desert, sea, and natural landscapes became suspended spaces between perception and memory – Fowler’s unmanipulated gaze rendering rock, tree, and organic line as intense, tactile presence.

Moving deeper into the exhibition, matter abandoned its purely natural dimension to become a spiritual and symbolic threshold. In Malina Wieczorek‘s work, the female body dissolved into a membrane crossed by ancestral geometries, a tension toward the invisible echoed in Blanca Martí‘s canvases, expanding through space like fragments of a primordial, emotional universe. More instinctive and grounded, Alain Churlaud used pure pigment and layered surfaces to construct landscapes narrating an inner journey filtered through personal perception.

Interrupting this material immersion, the monumental faces of Izabela Wozna stood as silent, hieratic figures protected by symbolic structures evoking balance and resilience – a resilience that continued in the vibrant canvases of Nada Alowiad, where color became an immersive visual language. The section closed with Mary Carothers‘ “Beyond the Frame”, a reflection on landscape and contemporary perception through Claude glass, digital filters, and AI-generated imagery, questioning the boundary between reality and visual construction and inviting visitors to move through the space as if navigating a suspended memory between artifice and contemplation.

ANIMA MUNDI continued with CONSCIOUSNESS, the second chapter of the festival, which opened on June 19, 2026, bringing together more than 90 artists from over 30 countries in a vibrant, internationally attended opening night. Contemporary visual practice unfolded here as a continuous negotiation between perception, memory, emotion, and transformation, orchestrated as a narrative where every artwork spoke to the next.

The journey began with the paintings of Ja’Ski Watkins, where gestural abstraction balanced control and eruption through the recurring motif of the “Abstract Eye”, transforming the canvas into a space of introspection and renewed vision. This energy flowed into Nadine Collado‘s spontaneous abstract compositions, layered with rich texture and bold color, inviting viewers to construct their own emotional associations. The dialogue between inner experience and visual form deepened further in Elisa Koçeku‘s multidisciplinary practice, where art, design, and architecture converged to translate identity and memory into immersive spatial narratives.

In a similarly evocative register, Phi-Artiste (Sophie Duhem) transformed the familiar setting of a car interior into a suspended realm of reflection, where glowing light and color evoked passage, intimacy, and remembrance. This fascination with material and emotional transformation was at the heart of Arzu Ertekin‘s sculptural work, where accumulated life experience found expression through forms shaped by intuition and the physical resistance of metal. The dialogue between tangible form and ethereal atmosphere continued through Jérémy Senelier‘s nocturnal photographs, where light became both medium and memory, recording time and ritual through choreographed illumination. A similarly lyrical sensibility defined the paintings of Piotr Kulikowski, whose vibrant landscapes and still lifes moved between figuration and abstraction.

This search for psychological and formal balance was mirrored in Sandra Tibaut‘s sculptural design, translating strategy, intuition, and inner harmony into refined objects. Finally, Charlotte Stoffels‘ photographs brought the dialogue to a quiet crescendo, an attentive observation of everyday life revealing beauty rooted in imperfection and presence. Together, these practices proposed art as a space where material, image, and perception converge, revealing the connections between inner worlds and the realities that surround us.

With VISIONS, ANIMA MUNDI 2026 reached its third and final chapter, opening on July 17, 2026, and bringing together more than 100 artists from over 40 countries in a vibrant, globally attended celebration. Contemporary practice unfolded here as a continuous dialogue between perception, emotion, and transformation. The journey began with Danny Johananoff‘s photographs, where motion, color, and intuition dissolved the boundary between reality and sensation, capturing fleeting cross-cultural encounters. This fluid perception echoed in Magnus Østermann‘s introspective visual narrative, constructed between Berlin and Athens, where photography became an act of survival and catharsis, tracing personal disillusionment and resilience.

From this emotional terrain, the exhibition moved into the luminous practice of Philip Mariaud-Hottentot, whose compositions captured the shifting atmospheres of the southern French coastline. This engagement with light and materiality resonated with Adrï Menéghïni‘s dynamic abstractions – rooted in a dual trajectory as physician and artist – embracing imperfection as a generative force opening onto inner landscapes. The interplay of inner and outer worlds deepened in Andrew Gibbs‘ layered urban narratives, where architecture became a vessel for memory and loss, and found a conceptual counterpart in Patricia Graham‘s emotive paintings, merging abstraction and figuration in symbolic compositions of vulnerability and healing. This focus on inner experience extended into Vladan Marinkovic‘s myth-infused photography, where dreamlike scenes questioned ideals of creation and self-recognition. Finally, Diana Rîmbu‘s introspective practice brought the dialogue to a resonant close, positioning art as a language of the soul, inviting viewers to look beyond the visible toward reflection and quiet revelation.

Together, these diverse practices formed an intricate, immersive journey, where photography, painting, and mixed media converged to explore the delicate balance between inner worlds and external realities – revealing art as a powerful space of transformation, connection, and shared human experience.

Across its three chapters, ANIMA MUNDI ART FAIR 2026 offered a vibrant, ever-evolving platform for artists from around the world, giving space to diverse voices, media, and visions. From the ritual and material investigations of the first chapter, through the psychological and formal explorations of the second, to the visionary and introspective practices of the third, the fair traced a coherent arc – a living organism in continuous transformation, true to the spirit of Anima Mundi itself. By fostering total freedom of experimentation and dialogue, ANIMA MUNDI reaffirmed the power of art to connect soul and body, humanity and nature, and to envision new possibilities beyond the visible world

organized by ITSLIQUID Group
in collaboration with ACIT Venice – Italian-German Cultural Association | GOETHE INSTITUT
curator Luca Curci
general manager Giulia Tassi
project manager Amaride Ferrante
project coordinator Annachiara Recchia
collaborators Maria Elena Apollonio, Carlotta De Lucia
artists coordinators Maria Arban, Aaliyah Kiekens, Andrea Tapparini
graphic designer Sara De Rosa

VENUE
Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello
Associazione Culturale Italo-Tedesca (ACIT), Cannaregio 4118, Venice
Opening hours | Monday – Friday . 09.30 AM – 05.30 PM

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ABOUT US

ITSLIQUID Group is an international contemporary art platform connecting artists, curators, galleries, institutions, and creative professionals through exhibitions, art fairs, festivals, competitions, and cultural projects.

Founded in 2001 by Luca Curci, ITSLIQUID has developed a network of cultural partners worldwide, with exhibition spaces in Venice, Rome, London, and Barcelona.

ITSLIQUID offers a comprehensive range of services for creatives, including solo and group shows, dedicated interviews, featured articles, and online contests. The aim is to use new technologies to make art accessible globally and connect artists from around the world.

Database demographics: 35% in America, 40% in Europe, and 25% in other locations (Asia, Oceania, Africa, etc.).
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ITSLIQUID Group manages a variety of art spaces all over the world; among them, Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello in Venice and different historical buildings, ELEMENTS Contemporary Art Space in the London city centre and other partners worldwide. Since 2001, ITSLIQUID Group has organised over 350 international events, engaging more than 10,000 artists across over 60 global venues. Its initiatives have featured prestigious museums like the CCCB – Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona in Spain, the NCCA – National Center for Contemporary Arts in Moscow, the MuMo – Museum Montanelli in Prague, and the MUST Museum in Lecce, in addition to numerous galleries and private foundations. Thanks to its partnership with Sedition, ITSLIQUID has presented masters such as Bill Viola and Refik Anadol, offering high-level opportunities for young, mid-career, and renowned artists.

ITSLIQUID is based on fluidity, motion, connection and accessibility. Making things easy to do. Welcome.