British Pavilion

The Fine Art undergraduates will spend a month in the Italian city to develop their own projects and act as ambassadors for Lubaina Himid’s exhibition at the British Pavilion.  The Turner Prize winner’s Predicting History: Testing Translation, is a series of  large, multipaneled paintings which will explore the nature of belonging and how to make a home in a new place.

As part of the Venice Fellowships programme, they will also have the opportunity to engage with an international community of artists, researchers, art entrepreneurs, young leaders and change makers.

James Wheeler is in the second year of his Fine Art degree at Newcastle University. He said:  “I’m very excited to be a 2026 Venice Fellow and will be working in the British Pavillion during the month of June. 

“One thing that really interests me about Venice is its rich history of performance. In the 18th century, noble families would have their own marionette theatres in their homes to put on shows and entertain guests. Marionettes would resemble recognisable archetypes from Venice at that time. Narrative is important to me in my artwork and this form of storytelling is so intriguing. I can’t wait to learn more and open my practice with this new experience.”

Third year Fine Art student Vinita Gurjar said: “As a 2026 British Council Venice Fellow, I am particularly interested in dialogue, collective storytelling, and how contemporary art can create spaces for shared reflection across cultures.

“During the Venice Fellowship, I will develop Echoes Between Water, a research-led project exploring dialogue, memory, and cultural exchange within the context of the Biennale. The project gathers short conversations with visitors, artists, and participants about their experiences of place, migration, and artistic practice. These spoken reflections will be translated into a visual archive of drawings, written fragments, videos, and small material studies produced during the residency. By transforming everyday encounters into artistic responses, I examine how stories travel across borders and how shared moments of dialogue can shape collective cultural memory.”

Fellowships

The Fellowships are organised by the British Council and co-funded with Newcastle University’s Fine Art department.

Dr Katarzyna Falecka, Lecturer in Art History, said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with the British Council to ensure our students can benefit from this opportunity and contribute to one of the world's largest international exhibitions.

“This is not the first time that our students have had the opportunity to closely encounter Lubaina Himid's work: part of the artist's Turner Prize winning submission in 2017, Naming the Money, was originally commissioned by the University’s Hatton Gallery, located in our department. The following year, Himid also generously donated work to our annual Fine Art Auction, which is organised by our final year undergraduate students to raise funds for the Fine Art Degree Show. The Fellows' work at the British Pavilion this summer builds on our existing relationship with the artist, which we treasure."

The Fellows are not the only representatives from Fine Art at Newcastle University to attend this year’s Biennale. Fine Art lecturer Angel Cohn Castle is representing Scotland with her artistic partner Davide Bugarin. Their exhibition Shame Parade will explore overlapping geographies and time periods in a contemporary queer and trans reimagining of public shaming rituals. It will be on show from 9 May until 22 November. Last year, Owen Hopkins, Director of the Farrell Centre, curated Geology of Brittanic Repair for the Venice Architecture Biennale.