South African work banned from Venice Biennale to be shown outside main event

Gabrielle Goliath’s performance piece, Elegy, is, in part, a tribute to a Palestinian poet who was killed in October 2023 by an Israeli airstrike. Photograph: Anthea Pokroy

A piece of performance art that was blocked from representing South Africa at the upcoming Venice Biennale over its supposedly “highly divisive” tribute to a Palestinian poet will go on display at the world’s largest art exhibition after all.

South African artist Gabrielle Goliath’s project, Elegy, will be shown for three months from 4 May as a video installation at the Chiesa di Sant’Antonin church in the Castello district, a venue in the vicinity of the main site that is not part of the Biennale.