Why Monia Ben Hamouda's Venice Biennale Installation Demands Attention

To enter Fragments of Fire Worship is to acknowledge a language that is ever evolving. Presented by Monia Ben Hamouda at Venice Biennale 2026, the work takes the form of fragmented neon signs, installed in the vestibule of Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, one of Italy’s oldest public libraries founded in 1468 – a space dedicated to the preservation and ordering of knowledge. Unveiled through Fondazione Bvlgari's inaugural partnership with the fair, the installation reflects the maison's longstanding commitment to contemporary art and cultural patronage.

The setting is significant. Occupying a space between the introduction and archive, the work reflects what Ben Hamouda describes as “a controlled contradiction inside an institution built on the promise of permanence”. Rather than presenting a fixed text, it unfolds as writing in a suspended state. In a place dedicated to classification, preservation and transmission, fragmented forms interrupt the expectation that knowledge can ever be fully ordered or contained.

Questions about language and interpretation have long been central to Ben Hamouda’s practice. Born in Milan in 1991, the Tunisian Italian artist works between her birthplace and Kairouan, where a part of her family originates. A graduate of Brera Academy of Fine Arts, she grew up in an environment shaped by Islamic calligraphy as her father was a calligrapher. At the institute, writing was understood not only as a means of communication, but as image, gesture and form. In 2025, she was awarded the fourth edition of Maxxi Bvlgari Prize, further cementing her position as one of Italy's most compelling modern artists.

Many of these ideas converge in Fragments of Fire Worship. Rather than functioning as fixed text, the fragmented neon forms operate like a kind of writing in space. They resemble language without fully revealing themselves, inviting viewers to read while resisting complete interpretation. “My practice does not attempt to narrate identity,” she explains. “Instead, it tries to expose some of the conditions that produce it and the tensions that make it unstable.”