61. Biennale Arte – How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?

Comunicato stampa

The Nordic Countries Pavilion will present How Many Angels Can
Dance on the Head of a Pin? at the 61st International Art Exhibition
of La Biennale di Venezia, running from 9 May to 22 November
2026. Curated by Anna Mustonen (Chief Curator, Museum of
Contemporary Art Kiasma), this collaborative exhibition by Klara
Kristalova, Benjamin Orlow and Tori Wrånes will transform the
Pavilion into a sculptural, mythical landscape that transcends cultural
and national boundaries. The exhibition is commissioned by Kiasma
and co-commissioned by Moderna Museet, Sweden, and OCA –
Office for Contemporary Art Norway.
The exhibition unfolds through a series of interconnected installations
inspired by Nordic folklore, fairytales and stories such as the Kalevala
- the 19th-century creation epic of Finland and Karelia - but resonating

beyond. Across hybrid works that merge plant, animal and human
forms, the artists harness the language of myth as a universal point
of reference to explore cycles of decay, renewal and transformation,
and the deep interconnectedness of all things. In an era marked by
environmental disconnection, geopolitical instability and the disruption
of borders and identities, myth becomes a lens through which to
reflect on our shared human condition and to navigate contemporary
global challenges.
Each artist contributes a distinct yet complementary practice. Klara
Kristalova (b. 1967, Prague, Czech Republic; lives and works in
Norrtälje, Sweden) creates ceramic figures that combine fairytale
imagery with the human body and the natural world, infused with
uncanny details to suggest moments of vulnerability and transition.

Klara Kristalova, Loglady, 2024. Glazed stoneware. 71 x 114 x 25 cm | 2 3/4 x 44 7/8 x 9 13/16 inches. Photo: Claire Dorn. © Klara Kristalova / ADAGP, Paris, 2026.
Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin

Nordic Countries Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
May 9 - November 22, 2026
Curated by Kiasma’s Chief Curator, Anna Mustonen
Commissioned by Kiasma, Finland, in collaboration with Moderna Museet, Sweden,
and OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway.
HOW MANY ANGELS CAN DANCE ON THE HEAD OF A PIN?
KLARA KRISTALOVA

Benjamin Orlow (b. 1984, Turku, Finland; lives and works in
London, UK) produces monumental sculptures that give physical form
to cycles of transformation, drawing on historic motifs and material
culture. Tori Wrånes (b. 1978, Kristiansand, Norway; lives and works
in Oslo and Kristiansand, Norway) works across music, performance
and sculpture to construct dreamlike, otherworldly environments that
alter our perceptions and shift how space is experienced.
Together, their works span sculpture, sound, performance and
spatial intervention, ranging from the monumental to the intimate. The
installations extend across the interior and exterior of Sverre Fehn’s
iconic 1962 Pavilion, a building defined by its porous relationship
with the surrounding landscape and activated as an integral part
of the exhibition. The result is a shared, evolving ecology where art,
architecture and nature intersect, and the exploration of transformation
becomes an ongoing, embodied experience.
The exhibition’s title, How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a
Pin?, refers to a famous philosophical thought experiment, symbolic
of unanswerable questions and contested limits. Here, it becomes a

way of asking how many bodies, beliefs and ways of being can coexist
within a shared space. Through myth, material and spatial encounter,
the exhibition opens a space for reflection on coexistence in an
increasingly polarised world, collectively inviting visitors to consider
their relationships to one another, to the natural world, and to time
itself.
The exhibition is supported by Finnish Cultural Foundation, Galleri
Magnus Karlsson, Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, Kiasma

Support Foundation, Ministry of Education and Culture, Nelimarkka-
Foundation, Niemistö Art Foundation Ars Fennica, Saastamoinen

Foundation, and Tiftö Foundation.