Kambui Olujimi, “North Star” Central Pavilion of the Giardini, Venice Biennale 2026

Kambui Olujimi Kambuli Olujimi’s exhibition “North Star” at the 2026 Venice Biennale aims to transport us into an infinite, ever-expanding space, much like the cosmos.

In 2022, the artist chartered a zero-gravity flight and invited seven African artists to share this experience with him and then paint their floating bodies.

It is this sensation of total lightness, without any physical constraints, that Kambuli Olujimi has succeeded in capturing in the ten paintings of his “North Star” project.

In his paintings, there is no longer any up or down; bodies cross paths, brush against one another, flit about, and spin round and round in dark or colourful universes where all that remains is the freedom to be oneself, liberated from Earth’s gravity.

As we look at these paintings, our gaze itself loses all sense of gravity and follows, without constraint, the curves of these bodies as they float, now freed from their physical form, within Kambuli Olujimi’s cosmic universe.

Kambui Olujimi