Pavel Brăila will represent Moldova at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (May 9 – November 22, 2026). This will be the first Pavilion of the Republic of Moldova at the biennale.

Titled On the Thousand and Second Night and curated by Adelina Luft, the project imagines alternative exits from a world in which borders may shift and security remains fragile. Inside the venue – Santa Veneranda, part of the Chiesa dei Santi Geremia e Lucia -, an ensemble of carpets suspended by drones will hover between floor and vault. In a reversal of roles, a technology increasingly tied to surveillance and armed conflict will act as an agent of support and protection.

As Pavel Brăila says, “it is a work about fragility, but also about our capacity to come together and imagine a safer world.” 

The Pavilion is supported by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova.

Pavel Brăila (b. 1971, lives and works in Chișinău) has participated in major international art exhibitions and film festivals. He is one of the few artists twice selected for the prestigious documenta (documenta 11, Kassel, 2002, and documenta 14, Kassel and Athens, 2017). Brăila also took part in Manifesta 10 (St. Petersburg, 2014) and created the artistic concept for the 1st Moldovan Pavilion at the World Expo (Milan, 2015). His film Definitively Unfinished was awarded at the Oberhausen International Film Festival 2009. In 2003, he was listed by Phaidon amongst the 100 best artists in the world (Cream 3). Brăila’s works have been featured in solo or group shows at Neue Nationalgalerie (Berlin), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), Tate Modern (London), The Renaissance Society (Chicago), Kölnischer Kunstverein, Moderna Museet (Stockholm), and many more.

Gaep presented the artist’s exhibition New Year’s Dissections in 2017. His second solo show with the gallery, Echoes of Harmony and Silent Cries, opens on February 27, 2026.

Find out more here.