Gabrielle Goliath to Seek Legal Action After Axed Venice Biennale Pavilion
The artist alleges that South Africa’s minister of culture acted unconstitutionally in canceling her commission, which included references to Gaza.
Artist Gabrielle Goliath is planning to take legal action against South Africa’s right-wing arts and culture minister after he decided to drop her Venice Biennale commission, which included references to Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Goliath and curator Ingrid Masondo, who were tapped by an independent committee in December to represent South Africa at the 2026 event, are preparing to file a court case against Gayton McKenzie, the country's minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, the Art Newspaper reported. Earlier this month, McKenzie, who also leads South Africa’s right-wing Patriotic Alliance, scrapped Goliath and Monsondo’s pavilion and performance series Elegy, expressing concerns that the pavilion would become a “proxy arena for geopolitical conflicts.”
Elegy would have addressed the "unfolding crisis of displacement and death in Gaza," among other forms of violence, a representative of Goliath's studio told Hyperallergic earlier this week. The performance also included references to the Israeli military's killing of the Palestinian poet Hiba Abu Nada and the femicide in South Africa.
In an affidavit reviewed by Hyperallergic, Goliath alleged that McKenzie made an “unlawful attempt” to “censor and silence our work.”
“He is unhappy because in addition to other themes, it deals with the tragedy of the women and children who have died in Palestine,” Goliath said.
Goliath said the minister asked the duo to remove the portion of the proposal that referenced Palestine and “began to threaten” to drop the duo’s participation in the Biennale. The lawsuit alleges that McKenzie’s actions amount to “unconscionable conduct by an organ of the state” and to violations of the country’s freedom of expression protections.
The legal filing is set to be filed in the High Court in Pretoria, one of the country’s three capital cities, on Thursday, January 22. South Africa's Department of Sport, Arts and Culture did not respond to Hyperallergic’s requests for comment.
The cancellation of Goliath's pavilion proposal was widely rebuked by artists and by the Venice Biennale selection committee as an act of censorship, a claim which the South African culture ministry rejected in a statement to Hyperallergic earlier this month.
A spokesperson for the ministry also alleged to Hyperallergic that an unnamed “foreign country was funding or partly funding this exhibition.” The South African news outlet Daily Maverick later reported that the Qatar Museums intended to purchase artworks from the South African pavilion at the end of the event.
According to Goliath's affidavit, Qatar Museums “engaged in exploratory discussions” with Art Periodic, the body tasked with selecting South Africa’s Biennale artists, about funding or purchasing works. But the lawsuit said this occurred before Goliath’s selection, and that no official effort to acquire or fund the pavilion has occurred.
Critics of the ministry's abrupt cancellation also characterized the move as a betrayal of South Africa's official stance in support of Gaza. McKenzie has made public remarks denying that Israel is committing genocide, despite findings by the United Nations and several human rights groups.
A letter signed by McKenzie attached to the lawsuit states that the performance ran contrary to the culture ministry’s “mandate to promote social cohesion, nation-building, and constructive dialogue.”
In another letter, McKenzie states that “it would not be wise nor defensible for South Africa to support an art installation against a country currently accused of genocide while we as South Africa are also fielding unjustified accusations of genocide.”
The minister’s actions are reportedly already under investigation by Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka, a high-powered watchdog official. Hyperallergic has contacted the Public Protector’s office for comment on the investigation.
According to a Venice Biennale spokesperson, participating countries had until January 19 to submit their proposals for their national pavilions.
Editor's note 1/27/26: This article was updated with quotes from Goliath's lawsuit.
