Islands' Rarities
7 May - 8 May 2026
CREA Contemporary Art Center. (211/C 30133, Giudecca, Venice).
Organized by Elena Posokhova (MARLANDS) in collaboration with Venice-based artist Alessandra Craba
and cultural projects manager Giulia Saya.
Text by Elena Posokhova (curator-researcher, MARLANDS).
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 favor of subtlety, vulnerability, and poetic persistence. It is precisely in this register that the project "Island Rarities" exists, not as a competitor to the loud machinery of the international art world, but as something that works alongside it, in a different key.
Where the Biennale speaks of minor tonalities as an artistic gesture, we speak of them as lived reality: the lives of artists who live and work in Venice yet remain invisible behind the facade of the main event. "Islands' Rarities" is organized by curator-researcher Elena Posokhova (MARLANDS) in collaboration with Venice-based artist Alessandra Craba and cultural projects manager Giulia Saya, with support from the CREA Contemporary Art Center. The event will take place on May 7 and 8, 2026, at CREA (211/C 30133, Giudecca, Venice).
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: "[...] it is 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 that the world considers a home for art.
"For me, this event is an opportunity to explore the connections among island territories. The aim of the event is to create a space where we can rethink the context of the Venetian archipelago at a local level and simultaneously consider it alongside other distant islands in the European landscape. Islands are places of extraordinary concentration of culture, memory, and resistance."
With participation of over 20 artists from Venice, such as Alessandra Craba, Andrea Tagliapietra, Ariele Bacchetti, Giovanni Pellegrini, Elena Grigio, as well as Luca Spano from Sardinia and Klitsa Antoniou from Cyprus.
The program over 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 the event, inviting dialogue and engaging directly with the public in an interactive space. A networking session will also bring together professionals to share knowledge, introduce their artists, and strengthen collaborative ties.
This program is designed so that each participant can discover what islands carry: depth, rootedness, and memory. But it’s also a chance to understand the quiet persistence of the artists who have chosen, time and again, to call them home.
Alessandra Craba
