Proposals for the United States Pavillion at the 2026 Venice Biennale
Institution: The Pritzker Center for Photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Artists: Clegg & Guttman
We propose an exhibition of new works by Clegg & Guttman, internationally recognized for their large format photographs representing powerful people and families. For more than forty years, the artistic duo has created portraits inspired by 17th century Dutch painting, linking the reverence for the emergent class of wealthy merchants in the early days of capitalism with the contemporary admiration for billionaire financiers. For the American Pavilion in Venice, Clegg & Guttman will create portraits of today’s most influential figures in the technology industry, visionary men leading the American economy into a heretofore unimaginable future of prosperity: Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey, Sam Altman, Tim Cook and Sunday Pichai. The exhibition design will recall the interiors of these techno-titans’ company offices, featuring lots of natural light, an event space for pop-up lectures by technologists, a nap pod, and high-speed internet. The exhibition will provide an international audience with deep insights into the entrepreneurial culture that makes America the great country that it is.
Institution: American Heritage Museum
Guest Curator: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
We propose a new focus for the American Pavilion in 2026. Instead of showcasing the works of an individual artist who is likely to be politically aligned with radical left-wing Democrats, we choose to foreground the artistry of our country’s defense industry. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will select a dazzling array of the finest weaponry made in America: missiles, drones, firearms, tanks and fighter planes designed by engineers from Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman and Boeing. Large format screens throughout the pavilion will feature film footage of this military hardware in action. The American Heritage Museum will also produce an immersive exhibit for the pavilion where visitors can imagine themselves piloting a B2 bomber just like the ones that were used in Operation Midnight Hammer in Iran to obliterate their nuclear sites. Defense Secretary Hegseth’s view that “might makes right” will be aptly conveyed by this transformational exhibition. International guests won’t date to mess with America after visiting the pavilion.
Institution: The National Portrait Gallery
Artist: Jon McNaughton
We respectfully submit a proposal for an exhibition of sublimely patriotic paintings by Jon McNaughton for the 2026 Venice Biennale. Celebrated for his heart wrenching portrait of President Donald Trump with his fist raised after surviving an assassination attempt in 2024, McNaughton has produced dozens of remarkably realistic paintings that glorify our country’s fearless leader, as well as many others that honor our Holy Savior Jesus Christ and highlight the timeless beauty of the American landscape. The proposed exhibition will feature McNaughton’s best known portraits of our great President, and will also include new works in progress depicting highlights from his second term in office, such as his visit to the Men’s Wrestling Championship in Philadelphia and his unveiling his plans to build a “Riviera of the Middle East” on the Gaza Strip during an historic meeting at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We have chosen McNaughton not only because he is a god-fearing Christian white heterosexual man, but also because his works champion American values and will foster greater understanding among the biennale’s visitors of our nation’s leadership position in the world.
