Santa Maria Ausiliatrice Complex, 2025 | Courtesy © Dicastery for Culture and Education, Vatican

In a world that produces images and noise without pause, the Vatican chooses to focus on listening. The Ear Is the Eye of the Soul is the title of the Holy See Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Art Biennale, a project bringing together 24 international artists, from Brian Eno to Patti Smith, FKA Twigs and Jim Jarmusch, around a surprisingly contemporary figure: Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th-century mystic, composer and scholar. Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers in collaboration with Soundwalk Collective, the exhibition unfolds across two locations away from the Biennale's busiest routes: the Mystical Garden of the Discalced Carmelites in Cannaregio and the Santa Maria Ausiliatrice Complex in Castello. In the monastic garden, twenty musicians, poets and artists reinterpret Hildegard's writings and visions through newly commissioned sound works. Participants include Meredith Monk, Terry Riley, Suzanne Ciani, Caterina Barbieri, Devonté Hynes, Moor Mother and Holly Herndon. Visitors experience the works through headphones, while an instrument created by Soundwalk Collective captures and reproduces the garden's sounds in real time. At Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, the project takes on a more historical and documentary dimension. An archive dedicated to Hildegard enters into dialogue with artist's books by Ilda David' and an architectural proposal by Tatiana Bilbao. The exhibition also features the final work of Alexander Kluge, who died in March 2026: a monumental installation of films and images arranged across twelve stations. The German filmmaker also gave the Pavilion its title. The choice of Hildegard, declared a Doctor of the Church in 2012, is no coincidence. Her work spans music, theology, medicine and the observation of nature, proposing a vision of knowledge in which rigid boundaries between disciplines disappear. With this Pavilion, the Holy See continues its dialogue with contemporary art, taking a less conventional approach to the representation of the sacred. Not images to contemplate, but sounds to listen to. And, above all, the time needed to do so.

© 2026 ARTE.it for Nozio Business