Oman has selected artist, architect, and curator Haitham Al Busafi to represent the country at the 61st Venice Biennale, which opens on May 9. Curated by Al Busafi himself and commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, the national pavilion will showcase Zīnah, a monumental installation combining sand, metal, and sound. 

Al Busafi, who was born in 1985 in Muscat, creates works that employ virtual reality (VR) technology, computational design, and architectural elements. Drawing on Omani cultural heritage, his immersive installations blend the physical with the digital to explore themes of history, ecology, and space. 

His project for Venice, Zīnah, centers on the Al-Zaanah, a traditional Omani silver decorative harness that is designed for horses. Beyond its practical and aesthetic purpose, it symbolizes mutual respect and care between animal and rider. In Zīnah, Al Busafi transforms the culturally significant object into a spatial, interactive experience. To be displayed in the Arsenale Artiglierie, the work will feature sand covering the floor, evoking the Omani desert, along with a cluster of silver forms hanging above. Each metal piece bears engravings by various artists, students, and members of the public of Muscat, which express the deep connection between humans and horses. This sense of collective authorship will continue throughout the exhibition: as visitors walk across the sand, their footsteps will cause the silver ornaments to swing and chime, resulting in a delicate soundscape. As Al Busafi explained in a press release, the Al-Zaanah “is not about possession or display, it is about recognition. A culture that adorns its horses is a culture that refuses to treat any companion as mere instrument, but as an extension of the self.”

H.E. Sayyid Saeed bin Sultan Al Busaidi, commissioner of the Oman Pavilion and undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth for Culture, noted: “Zīnah is rooted in a tradition that has never separated beauty from function, adornment from ethics, or craft from meaning. We present it in Venice as an offering, to the memory of Koyo Kouoh, whose vision honors precisely these values, and to every visitor who enters the space.” 

Emmanuelle Richter is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.