The Japan Foundation has announced three museum partnerships supporting its 2026 Venice Biennale presentation. Artist Ei Arakawa-Nash will develop separate projects with J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover, and The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in New York.

At the Japan Pavilion, Arakawa-Nash will present Grass Babies, Moon Babies, cocurated by Lisa Horikawa and Mizuki Takahashi. Visitors will select baby dolls and engage in caregiving activities, which will activate a QR code that generates a poem linked to an assigned birthday. These dates connect the artist’s personal history with broader historical forces affecting Japanese and diasporic communities.

The three partnerships extend the pavilion’s reach through distinct projects. On March 15, the Getty Museum will present 24 HOUR CARE (2026), a performance by the Asian American collective FAC XTRA RETREAT, as a preview of the Japan Pavilion exhibition. The work is co-produced by the museum and the Japan Pavilion. FAC XTRA RETREAT includes seven Asian American artists: Ei Arakawa-Nash, Patty Chang, Pearl C. Hsiung, Amanda Ross-Ho, Anna Sew Hoy, Shirley Tse, and Amy Yao. 

The Noguchi Foundation partnership brings selected works by Isamu Noguchi into the pavilion installation in Venice. Noguchi represented the US at the 1986 Venice Biennale, when the US Pavilion featured a solo presentation for the first time.

After the Biennale closes, Kestner Gesellschaft will present an adapted version of Grass Babies, Moon Babies in December, recontextualized for its Hanover audience.

The Japan Foundation will announce a collaboration with the Korean Pavilion on March 24 in Hong Kong.

Ashley Cheung is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.