Date : 07.05.2026 – 08.05.2026

Location : Giudecca, Venice

Venue : CREA Cantiera Del Contemporaneo

Island Rarities is organized by curator-researcher Elena Posokhova  (MARLANDS), in collaboration with Venice-based artist Alessandra Craba and project manager  Giulia Saya, with support from the CREA Contemporary Art Center.

The 2026 Biennale unfolds under the theme In Minor Keys, a call to explore quieter, more intimate  artistic frequencies, modes of expression that resist spectacle in favour of subtlety, vulnerability,  and poetic persistence. It is precisely in this register that Island’s Rarities exists, not as a competitor  to the loud machinery of the international art world, but as something working alongside it, in a  different key. Where the Biennale speaks of minor tonalities as an artistic gesture, we speak of them  as a lived reality : the reality of artists who live and work in Venice yet remain invisible behind the  façade of the main event.

Venetian artists face pressures that rarely enter international discourse: mass tourism displaces  affordable studios and erodes the conditions needed for a sustained practice. Artist Alessandra  Craba speaks to this directly: ” […] not possible in Venice due to the lack of affordable studios  caused by the economic and social impact of overtourism. This condition is fundamental for the  continuity and qualitative growth of my painting practice.” This is not an abstract problem, it is the  concrete life of a real person in a city the world considers a home for art.

This event is an opportunity to explore the connections among island territories. The  objective is to create a place where we can rethink the context of the Venetian archipelago at a local  level, and at the same time consider it alongside other distant islands in the European landscape.  Islands are places of extraordinary concentration: culture, memory and resistance. This event is  about creating the conditions for a conversation that would otherwise not happen. There is also a  further resonance with the current moment: the growing interest in craft, in techniques rooted in  nature and material, in what is made by hand and grounded in territories. Island Rarities takes place  at CREA, in the famous district of Dorsoduro, a historic space tied to the tradition of gondola building. The place will become the setting for an open encounter between artists, professionals, and the public.

Participating artists include Alessandra Craba, Andrea Tagliapietra, Ariele Bacchetti, Bianca Francesca  Serafin, Camilla Dalmazio, Carlos Lopez Sanchez, Giulia Casula, Kishor Fiorin, Costanza  Nani, Luca Spano, Rob Van Der Berg, Elena Callegari, Yann Toma, as well as Klitsa Antoniou from Cyprus. Their presence signals one of  the event’s most essential ambitions: to open a dialogue not only within Venice, but across other island territories.

The program across the two days is designed as a dynamic and living encounter. Visitors will find  a curated showcase of materials, objects, and editions brought by participating artists, each piece  tied to a distinct project and practice. Artists will be present throughout, inviting dialogue and  engaging directly with the public in an interactive dedicated space. A networking session will also  bring together professionals to share knowledge, introduce their artists, and strengthen the  collaborative ties. This program is designed so that each and every participant can discover what  islands carry : depth, rootedness and memory. But it’s also the chance to understand the quiet  persistence of the artists who have chosen, time and again, to call them home.