1–31 May 2026
Oratorio dei Crociferi, Venice

Carmen (2026) is a video installation by artist Ieva Lygnugarytė (b. 1998) that reactivates a little-known story from the early sixteenth century.

In 1523, the poet Nicolaus Hussovianus wrote A Poem about the Size, the Ferocity, and the Hunting of the Bison. As a diplomatic gesture, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania intended to send this poem together with a straw-stuffed European bison to Pope Leo X. The attempt sought to introduce a peripheral European region to the cultural center of Renaissance Rome. Alas, the gift never fulfilled its purpose. The pope died before it arrived, leaving both the poem and the animal unreceived as intended. The episode faded from historical memory.

Lygnugarytė’s film reinterprets this moment by reviving the poet as a figure seeking recognition beyond the margins of North-Eastern Europe. As the work unfolds, he gradually transforms into the bison itself, a shift that may imagine a desire to embody the symbol meant to represent his region, and to secure a place within a canon that excluded him.

Presented within Carmen: Utopias of Belonging, curated by Meral Karacaoğlan (b. 1997), Carmen will premiere in Venice, alongside the 61st Art Biennale 2026.

Song of the Bison 1523/2026