Presented at the Nordic Countries Pavilion during the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin? brings together the distinct practices of Klara Kristalova, Benjamin Orlow, and Tori Wrånes in an immersive exhibition shaped by mythology, folklore, and collective memory.
The exhibition unfolds through a series of interconnected installations inspired by Nordic fairy tales, oral traditions, and mythological narratives, including references to the Kalevala, the 19th-century Finnish and Karelian epic centered on creation, transformation, and cosmic origins. Rather than approaching these stories as historical artifacts, the artists use myth as an active framework for reflecting on the uncertainties and fractures of the present moment.
Themes of environmental instability, shifting identities, geopolitical tension, and emotional displacement run subtly throughout the exhibition. Within this context, folklore becomes less an escape into fantasy and more a symbolic language through which contemporary anxieties can be explored collectively.
The exhibition extends across both the interior and exterior of the pavilion designed by Sverre Fehn in 1962, one of the architectural landmarks of the Venice Biennale. Known for its openness and seamless dialogue with the surrounding landscape, the building becomes an active participant within the exhibition itself. Natural light, vegetation, and the porous structure of the pavilion shape the rhythm of the installations, blurring distinctions between architecture, environment, and artwork.
Curated by Anna Mustonen, Chief Curator of Kiasma, the project was commissioned by Kiasma in collaboration with Moderna Museet and Office for Contemporary Art Norway. Together, the exhibition proposes mythology not as nostalgia, but as a living and adaptable structure through which contemporary realities can be interpreted, questioned, and emotionally processed.
Exhibition views of “How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?”, Nordic Countries Pavilion, Venice, 2026
Photo: (c) Tanguy Beurdeley