Maja Malou Lyse has been selected to represent Denmark at the 2026 Venice Biennale, making her the youngest Danish artist to participate in the event. Appointed by the Danish Arts Foundation’s Project Support Committee, the 31-year-old artist is known for her digital art, which champions women’s sexual and media rights.
“I think it’s amazing and overwhelming to be able to represent Denmark at the Venice Biennale as the youngest artist ever selected for a national pavilion,” Lyse said in a statement provided by Galleri Nicolai Wallner, which represents her. “It is absolutely surreal to be given this unique opportunity, and I am truly grateful that the committee has chosen to pass the baton on to me. I am ready to give the biennale some sex appeal.”
Born in 1993, Lyse received her MFA from the Royal Danish Academy in 2022. Her work spans multiple disciplines, including installation, performance, video, and text. In particular, the artist often reimagines visual stimuli from everyday life, such as television, social media, billboards, and tabloids, engaging with themes of desire and power.
Lyse has held solo exhibitions at non-profit art space Overgaden in Copenhagen and Brandts Kunst Museum in Odense, Denmark. Her work has been exhibited elsewhere in Denmark at venues such as ARoS Aarhus Art Museum and Kunsthal Charlottenborg. Meanwhile, her performances have been staged at Tate Modern in London and Moderna Museet in Stockholm. From 2018 to 2019, the artist hosted “Sex med Maja” (Sex with Maja), a TV series on Danish national TV, where she also explored themes of sexuality and social norms.
“We have chosen to appoint Maja Malou Lyse because she invests herself in her art with complete control and superiority as she explores objectification, identity, and societal norms,” Jakob Fenger, chair of the Project Support Committee, said in a statement.
In 2024, Inuuteq Storch became the first Kalaallit (Greenlandic) artist to present a major exhibition in the Danish Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale. Previous artists to represent Denmark include Uffe Isolotto in 2022 and Danish Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour in 2019.
The 61st Venice Biennale will take place from May 9th to November 22, 2026. Other announced artists for national pavilions include Zanzibar-born British artist Lubaina Himid for the United Kingdom; choreographer Florentina Holzinger for Austria; and French Moroccan artist Yto Barrada for France. The main exhibition will be curated by executive director and chief curator of Cape Town’s Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) Koyo Kouoh.
